I doubt the reporter would've had an
OSU slant, they seemed to be more interested in his interest in Arkansas which is what you'd expect. Which would give it more validity like you said considering he really would have no reason to try and appease any fans being that it was on a local TV station, and if he was trying to appease he would've said Arkansas led.
I never saw the CP interview, just heard about it. That's very weird that Jay Crawford would be talking up IU because I believe he's actually a Michigan fan.