Despite their perfect record and No. 11 ranking, the BYU Cougars were the underdogs heading into Saturday’s game against the Iowa State Cyclones.
But that had no bearing on the predictions from ESPN’s College GameDay crew.
Citing a consistently impressive showing from true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, among other strengths, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit all picked BYU to win over Iowa State.
And so did celebrity guest picker Nate Bargatze — but for an entirely different, non-sports related reason.
Nate Bargatze picked BYU to win over Iowa State
When it came time for Bargatze to weigh in with his prediction for the BYU versus Iowa State game, the comedian didn’t even hesitate.
“This is a business decision right here,” he said with a smile. “I’ve got four shows in Salt Lake City. BYU, baby!”
Bargatze chose wisely. After a rough start, the Cougars went on to pull off another win on the road, defeating the Cyclones 41-27 and remaining undefeated at 8-0.
When does Nate Bargatze come to Salt Lake City?
Bargatze’s “Big Dumb Eyes” world tour comes to Salt Lake City in December.
The comedian will perform four shows at the Delta Center Dec. 4-6.
He previously did four shows at the Eccles Theater in 2022 and three shows at the Delta Center in 2023. Bargatze spoke to the Deseret News at that time about the popularity of clean comedy in Utah.
“You always heard (Jim) Gaffigan and (Brian) Regan could go there,” he said in 2023. “You heard, ‘If you’re clean, you do really great in Salt Lake City.’ ... I actually now have a lot of close friends that live in Salt Lake City. And I actually end up there a lot.”
During one of his 2023 Salt Lake shows, Bargatze called Utah the “clean comedian’s Hollywood,” per Deseret News. That show overlapped with the 193rd Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the comedian thanked the crowd for sharing the weekend with him, as the Deseret News reported at the time.
“The crowds were so good,” he later said of the Salt Lake City shows, per Deseret News. “You have dreams of it happening like this, but every single time it’s overwhelming.”
Bargatze’s upcoming shows at the Delta Center come just a few months after he hosted the Emmys for the first time — a major moment in his career that he put his own stamp on with a $100,000 plan to keep acceptance speeches short.