Holly Rowe’s another postgame chat went viral, this time with BYU coach Kalani Sitake. The Cougars had just beaten No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 in Provo, which should have been the story. Instead, X users started picking apart how the interview was done and how sideline reporters handle these moments in general.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“ESPN’s Holly Rowe was literally squeezing BYU head coach Kalani Sitake’s shoulder and holding onto him during their postgame interview,” wrote ML Football on X. “She made sure he could not run off in the middle of the interview.”
The on-field interview itself was short and mostly easygoing. Rowe opened with the final seconds. “There’s four seconds left in this game,” she asked. “What do you say to your defense for that moment?”
“We told the players they wanted some pressure. We gave it to them, and it worked out for us,” Sitake replied. He credited his coaches and admitted he made some decisions in time.
Rowe then reminded him he had promised to throw haymakers and asked what went through his mind as the ball fell incomplete.
“We wanted to make some memories and got to be aggressive,” Sitake said.
Her last question asked how a win like this puts BYU in the national conversation.
“We’re going to stay humble and hungry, keep working,” the coach said. He added that he knows it sounds like coach talk, but it has worked so far.
The moment Rowe asked about turned out to be a big one. Notre Dame drove to the BYU 9-yard line, and with four seconds left, CJ Carr’s pass in the end zone fell incomplete. The Big 12 later said time remained on the clock when the ball hit the ground and that the replay crew incorrectly cleared the play. The conference said it would review its end-of-game officiating process.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 6-0. Bear Bachmeier threw for 224 yards, ran for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass.
The viral clip featuring Rowe’s exchange with Sitake is feeding on an earlier moment involving Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian from mid-September. After Texas completed a 20-point fourth-quarter comeback against then-No. 1 Ohio State, Sarkisian didn’t complete his postgame interview with Rowe. In her reaction, the ESPN sideline reporter looked displeased with Sarkisian’s behavior.
Sarkisian had also skipped his halftime interview with Laura Rutledge, saying ESPN had technical difficulties and he wanted to get back to his team for second-half adjustments. Sarkisian later said he should have been more patient.
Fans are now reading Rowe’s grip on Sitake through that lens, saying she held on so another coach would not walk away mid-interview.
“There really should be an X profile that does nothing but show clips of sideline reporters doing these hard-hitting interviews. Just leave Laura Rutledge out of it. She above reproach,” a fan wrote.
The jab at “hard-hitting” interviews comes from the Rowe clip, where Sitake answered three short questions about the final four seconds.
“It’s like she tries to instigate confrontation with the coaches and players. I hope she realizes that people watch to hear the coach/players and not to hear her ask the questions,” another fan commented in a frustrated, mocking tone.
“I’d refuse to speak to that clown,” a user commented rather bluntly.
However, some users also pointed out that ML Football’s caption was factually wrong. On a closer inspection, it appears that it wasn’t Rowe who was holding Sitake.
“What is insane is that you thought that was Holly’s hand,” one X user pointed out. “Thats the police officers hand not hers,” another user seconded.
These weren’t isolated comments; many users pointed out that the caption was factually wrong. However, ML Football has yet to offer a clarification.