Fox Sports college football analysts Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram II and Rob Stone had all the right things to say when they spoke to reporters Friday about coming to Provo for Saturday’s “Big Noon Kickoff” show.

They love the beautiful setting, are looking forward to a great atmosphere and invite everyone to join the party Saturday morning in the parking lot west of LaVell Edwards Stadium before BYU takes on Arizona in the afternoon (2 p.m. MT, Fox).

“We need BYU and Provo to stand up for us,” Ingram said. “Big Noon is the best college football party in the country. We have fun. We celebrate the game of football. We hope all of Provo and the entire BYU nation comes out.”

While shows like “Big Noon Kickoff” enjoy visiting venues across the country, the reality is that it often takes some success to get their attention. The national commentators said BYU earned it with what they did on the field in 2024.

“It’s one of the things that makes college football so special,” Quinn said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself by saying this, but I think back to TCU’s season (in 2022), and how that kind of momentum started the momentum that came after no one picked them to finish anywhere near the top . in the Big 12. When I look at it, I think part of what makes college football great is stories like this.”

Stone said he’s “a sucker for the underdog” and that makes him excited to see the Cougars start undefeated.

“I think BYU and the Big 12 are kind of inherently underdogs in the pecking order of college football,” Stone said. “To see a team that was picked 13th in the Big 12 in the preseason move up to 14th in the nation is amazing and should be honored. They have earned it and on Saturday they will have a big stage to further spread that story.”

Stone credits the underdog mentality for helping the Cougars get to this point with one of the best resumes in the game through the first six weeks.

“I think sometimes you use that disrespect as motivation,” Stone said. “I think BYU head coach Kalani Sitake knew how good this team was. His approach was that if people want to tone down our story, that’s no problem.

“That’s a story that could easily build some momentum around it. Nobody believes in us. If you believe in yourself, look at the things we can do. I think we all knew going into the season that the Big 12 was wide open, so why not BYU?

Ingram said he thinks the Cougars are a team with a “great identity.”

“They play tough defense,” Ingram said. “On special teams and on offense, they get it done. It’s just a very well-rounded team and obviously extremely well-coached. I think that’s why they’re undefeated and why they’ve turned this around from last year.”

He grinned as he talked about how much he loves these kinds of surprise stories.

“I think that’s why we love college football,” Ingram said. “Especially in this new age, you never know who is going to pop up and show up. And that’s what BYU has done. Now they have a real chance to make a run for the Big 12 and clinch the automatic berth (in the College Football Playoff). That’s exciting.”

Both Quinn and Stone took a moment to look at the big picture and see where a team like BYU fits in the modern world of college football.

“It’s definitely a rarity,” Stone said. “It’s an outlier, especially when you’re talking about the higher level of athletics, where there are so many transfer portals and NIL.

“People may not understand the Polynesian Pipeline that exists here in the Beehive State. They don’t understand what a mission is. And then of course you combine that with top athletics, not only at football level, but also in basketball and other sports. For me it is a very unique outlier that should be preserved.”

Quinn said he appreciates institutions like BYU, which represent more than just sports.

“That’s what they stand for,” Quinn said. “It’s a spirituality or a sense of faith. Obviously I’m getting a little close to that because of my ties to Notre Dame and the way everything is going right now.

“For me that is a reason to advocate for them, because it is not just about football. It’s about graduation. It’s about the academic part of it. It’s about the faith or the spiritual part of it.”

He believes those things are important and make a big difference during the formative years of college.

“It’s what separates college football from the NFL, and for a lot of these young people as well,” Quinn said. “It’s this time in their lives where they’re growing and developing, maturing into something. All those things kind of come together when you talk about college football at BYU and Notre Dame and TCU and Baylor, a few other places where they say a prayer before a sporting event. It makes you think about what it’s really about.”