— SEC football is moving to a nine-game conference schedule next year, which should help get more of its teams into the College Football Playoff.
Under the new format, each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away over four years. Each school will play three of its rivals every year.
— Over/under bet for this season:
Vikings’ QB JJ McCarthy, who was hurt last year and didn’t play, his over/under for passing yards this season is 3,600.5 yards.
Last year, Sam Darnold threw for 4,319 yards for Minnesota in their 14-3 season.
— Jacksonville Jaguars hired Liam Coen as its new head coach; he is seen as an offensive guru and QB Trevor Lawrence needs one of those.
Lawrence’s salary cap hit in 2026 is $39M, in 2027 it is $29M; Jaguars really need him to be the leader they expect him to be.
— Speaking of salary cap hits, Baltimore Ravens’ front office has some accounting to do; in 2026, Lamar Jackson’s cap hit is $74.5M, then in 2027, it will also be $74.5M, a huge amount of $$$. At some point, they need to spread that money out somehow.
— Steelers 19, Panthers 10
Game was tied 10-10 at halftime.
Steelers averaged 7.2 yards per play, Carolina 4.0.
Rookie K Ben Sauls kicked four field goals.
— GM of the Panthers Dan Morgan was in the TV booth during this game; he was saying how these practices against other teams during the week are really valuable. He said he wished they had them back when he played.
To an extent, it makes the actual exhibition games a little less relevant, but it helps the teams get better with less injury risk for the star players.
— Giants 42, Patriots 10
Giants led 14-10 at halftime.
QB DeVito was 17-20/198 passing, with three TD’s.
Undrafted QB Ben Woolridge played the whole game for New England.
— Famous birthdays, August 22nd:
Carl Yastrzemski, 86
Paul Molitor, 69
Wes Chandler, 69
Ty Burrell, 58
James Corden, 47
Adam Thielen, 35
Randall Cobb, 35
Maxx Crosby, 28
LaMelo Ball, 24
— Cincinnati Reds’ C Tyler Stephenson broke his thumb, is out for the year.
— Nationals 9, Mets 3
Mets led this game 3-0 in fourth inning.
James Wood hit his 26th home run, just his 2nd since the All-Star break.
New York is 5-16 in its last 21 games; they lead the Reds by half a game for the last Wild Card in the National League.
— Brewers 4, Cubs 1
Brice Turang homered, his 8th home run in 18 games.
Brewers’ bullpen got 13 outs, didn’t allow a run.
Cubs went 3-2 in this series, they trail Milwaukee by 7 games in NL Central.
— Red Sox 6, New York 3
Roman Anthony homered, knocked in three runs.
New York made four errors, gave up three unearned runs.
Red Sox are 6-1 against New York this season.
— Astros 7, Orioles 2
Jesus Sanchez went 5-for-5; he entered the game on an 0-for-29 skid.
Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz homered for the Astros.
Dylan Beavers hit his first MLB home run for the Orioles.
— A’s 8, Twins 3
Tyler Soderstrom went 4-for-4, has a 19-game hitting streak.
Minnesota is 2-7 in its last nine games.
A’s are 17-8 in their last 25 games.
— Royals 6, Rangers 4
Vinnie Pasquantino has homered in four straight games.
Royals have won six of their last seven games.
Royals trail Seattle by two games for the AL’s last Wild Card slot.
— Padres 8, Giants 4
Manny Machado drove in three runs for San Diego.
Padres trail the Dodgers by a game in the NL West.
Justin Verlander is 1-10, 4.64 this season.
