Author: Armadillo Sports

September’s Too……..is a good bar
1165 Central Avenue in Colonie, just west of Osborne Road

Golfers, bring your scorecards:
If you played nine holes, 9% off your bill
If you played 18 holes, 18% off your bill

Tuesday- $5 drafts all day long…….very good food
Wednesday- they have 12 TV’s to watch games
Thursday- Open Mic night, Eagles-Giants on TV
Friday- Jukebox karaoke, 8:00
Saturday- College football on TV, lot of music
Sunday- Watch NFL games, from 4:00-midnight

They have 12 TV’s and good food/drinks.
You can order food from them via Door Dash
Check it out, it’s a fun place

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Week 6 NFL info is posted
Thursday-Friday college football info is posted

Friday’s 6-pack:
College basketball roster continuity, by conference:
62%— Ivy League
57.9%— Patriot League
36.2%— MAAC
33.6%— Summit League
33.5%— Atlantic Sun
33.2%— Ohio Valley

Quote of the Day
“They just see that we’ve got a chance. Defense is doing a good enough job to help us out. Our playmakers gotta make plays in space. That’s what they see. That’s what they want — is to keep going. They’re just giving us an opportunity to make more of those plays happen.”
WR Ja’Marr Chase, talking about the Bengals trading for QB Joe Flacco

Friday’s quiz
Where did Joe Flacco play his college football?

Thursday’s quiz
In the movie The Bodyguard, when Whitney Houston’s character wins an Academy Award, Robert Wuhl was the MC of the ceremony. 

Wednesday’s quiz
In 2019, Arizona Diamondbacks traded Jazz Chisholm to the Marlins; Arizona got Zac Gallen in return for him. 

Giants 34, Eagles 17
Giants in first half: 28 plays, 193 yards, 20 points.
Eagles in 2nd half: 21 plays, 140 yards, no points, 2 turnovers.
Giants ran ball 39 times for 172 yards, were +2 in turnovers.
Giants were 11-16 on third down, Eagles 1-9

Rookie RB Skattebo ran ball 19 times for 98 yards, 3 TD’s.
Giants have won two of three games started by rookie QB Dart.
Barkley carried ball 12 times for 58 yards.
Eagles have been outgained in all six of their games.

— Dodgers 2, Phillies 1 (11)
Winning run scored on an error on a ball hit back to the pitcher.
Game was scoreless after six innings.
Both teams scored a run in the 7th.
Dodgers advance to the NLCS, starting Monday.

— Cubs 5, Brewers 0
Matthew Boyd got the first 14 outs, allowing two hits.
Ian Happ hit a 3-run homer in the first inning.
Game 5 is in Milwaukee Saturday.

— Southern Miss 38, Georgia Southern 35
Golden Eagles led 28-7 at halftime, hung on for dear life.
Southern Miss ran ball 48 times for 184 yards.
Georgia Southern had 3 turnovers, 12 penalties for 104 yards. 

— Tulane 26, East Carolina 19
Green Wave drove 75 yards, scored winning TD with 0:35 left
Tulane led 12-0 at halftime.
Tulane outgained ECU 458-340; they had 96 penalty yards.

— Jacksonville State 29, Sam Houston State 27
Gamecocks kicked a 52-yard FG at the gun for a road win.
Jax State outgained the Bearkats, 499-286.
Jax State ran the ball 63 times for 370 yards.

— Kennesaw State 35, Louisiana Tech 7
Dexter Williams threw for 284 yards, four TD’s.
Owls outscored Louisiana Tech 21-0 in second half.
Kennesaw converted 9-14 third down plays. 

Famous birthdays, October 10th:
Gene Tenace, 79
Ben Vereen, 79
Bradley Whitford, 66
Brett Favre, 56

Pat Burrell, 49
Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, 47
Troy Tulowitzski, 41
Andrew McCutchen, 39

Geno Smith, 35
Lourdes Gurriel Jr, 32
Vinnie Pasquantino, 28
Josh Giddey, 23

— Lebron James is going to miss the start of the NBA season; he is out 3-4 weeks because of sciatica on his right side.

— Only two NBA teams that have never had a Rookie of the Year: Nuggets, Heat. 

— Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray (foot) didn’t practice Wednesday/Thursday; if backup Jacoby Brissett starts Sunday against the Colts, he’ll be the 40th different quarterback to start a game this season.

— In 1970, NFL kickers made 59% of all their field goal attempts.

This year, NFL kickers are making 72% of their FG attempts from 50+ yards out.

— Houston Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016; this week, they cleaned house (kind of), firing:

assistant general manager
both hitting coaches
their catching coach
their trainer

Similar to what the Mets did last week; they kept their GM and their manager, which is kind of weird. If you’re that unhappy with the outcome, how do the managers/GMs keep their jobs?

— Most career postseason home runs:
Manny Ramirez 29
Jose Altuve 27
Kyle Schwarber 23
Bernie Williams 22

— In September, Washington Nationals rookie OF Daylen Like was the first player since Willie Mays in 1957 to hit 7+ triples and 6+ home runs in the same month.

— This season, there were 465 pitch clock violations, down from 602 last year, 1,048 in 2023.

The rule changes MLB put in have done a good job of shortening games.

— Top home run parks in the major leagues this season:
Los Angeles, Toronto, Baltimore, Philadelphia

Worst home run parks:
Pittsburgh, Texas, Arizona, Boston

— Couple nights ago, was watching YouTube late at night, and every MLB team has at least one podcast on there. Guys like me, sitting on their couch, spewing opinions about what went right or wrong this season. Some of them are good, some of them aren’t. 

First of all, I couldn’t talk for an hour straight like that- no way. They must have notes or a script to follow, but that’s not my thing. Two-person podcasts are better, by the way.

My question is this: If you’re a major league player, and you make a few million $$$ a year, do you ever listen to these podcasts? Do you dismiss these nerdy types as wannabe athletes and ignore them?

Two guys do a podcast about the Cincinnati Reds; you would never know that the Reds made the playoffs this year, for only the second time in 12 years. Lot of criticism.

— Tigers 9, Mariners 3
Mariners led this game 3-0 in the fifth inning.
Javier Baez went 2-for-4, with 4 RBI
Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres also homered.
Game 5 is in Seattle on Friday

— Cubs 4, Brewers 3
Cubs scored four runs in the first inning and made them stand up.
Chicago bullpen got the last 15 outs, allowed only two hits.
Jake Bauers homered for Milwaukee.
Game 4 is at Wrigley Thursday.

— Blue Jays 5, New York 2
Blue Jays used 8 pitchers; no one got more than five outs.
Nathan Lukes was 2-5, with two RBI
Toronto wins series 3-1, moves on to the ALCS.

— Phillies 8, Dodgers 2
Ranger Suarez had 5 IP as the bulk reliever, allowed only one run.
Schwarber hit two home runs, had three RBI
Trea Turner was 3-for-5, with two RBI
Game 4 is Thursday in Los Angeles

— Wednesday was the last day this year with more than two baseball games.

— Mets went 83-79 this year, missed the playoffs, then fired the pitching coach, both their hitting coaches, their 3rd base coach, their catchers’ coach and the bench coach.

Somehow the “strategy coach” didn’t get fired; not really sure what he does, but if a team fires six of their coaches, how good could their strategy have been?

Turns out the strategy coach is a 35-year old ex-pitcher who went to Princeton, majoring in economics. He pitched in 119 games for Toronto, posting a 4.33 ERA in 120.2 IP.

David Stearns, who runs the Mets’ front office, went to Harvard, where he was a writer for the school’s newspaper.

Famous birthdays, October 9th:
Freddie Patek, 81
Shera Danese, 76
Brian Downing, 75
Robert Wuhl, 74

Scott Bakula, 71
John O’Hurley, 70
Mike Singletary, 67
Kenny Anderson, 55

Dexter McCleon, 52
Mark McLemore, 45
Derek Holland, 39
Starling Marte, 37

— Cleveland Browns traded 40-year old QB Joe Flacco to division rival Cincinnati Tuesday, and Flacco will start for the 2-3 Bengals this week in Green Bay.

Flacco has a career record of 116-95, 10-6 in playoff games.

The move leaves Cleveland with two rookie QB’s, Dillon Gabriel/Shedeur Sanders, as well as journeyman Bailey Zappe, who is 4-5 in nine NFL starts.

— Browns don’t have a bye week after playing in England Sunday, which is unusual, Team that didn’t have a bye week after playing overseas are:

11-6 SU/9-8 ATS.  Browns are +5.5 in Pittsburgh Sunday.

— Indianapolis Colts lost their kicker (knee) for the year last week; they signed Michael Badgley as their new kicker. Badgley kicked for the Colts in 2021.

— Virginia off to a 5-1 start this season; they beat Louisville 30-27 in OT last week, in a game where they got outgained, 383-239, but the Cavaliers scored two defensive TD’s, and held Louisville to 54 rushing yards on 27 tries.

— Best college football teams against the spread this year:
6-0 Memphis
5-0 Louisiana Tech
5-0 Texas Tech
5-0 Utah State
4-0-1 Ohio State

— This past week was the first time the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs all lost in the same since Week 9 of the 2017 season, when Josh Allen/Lamar Jackson were still in college.

— 5-0 college teams that haven’t been 5-0 in a while
1959- North Texas
1974- UNLV
2013- Texas Tech
2014- Georgia Tech
2016- Texas Q&M
2022- Ole Miss

This is the time of year where seasons overlap; college basketball starts November 3rd. Here is an early look at the Big East Conference:

— Butler (15-20, 6-14 LY)
haven’t made the NCAA’s since 2018.
shot 37% behind the arc last year (#31)
added senior G Jackson, first-team Horizon League all-star LY
6-7 senior Ajayi scored 17.2 ppg for Pepperdine two years ago, then bolted to Gonzaga, but only scored 7.4 ppg LY, so he is at his third school in three years.

— UConn (24-11, 14-6 LY)
made NCAA’s last 5 years, won 2/last 3 national titles.
last two years, played slow pace (#343/#330)
are deeper this year, expect to play faster.
brought in transfer point guards, from Georgia/Dayton.
62% of their scoring from LY is back, which is a lot.
odd stat; they lost their last four visits to Seton Hall.

— Creighton (25-11, 15-5 LY)
made last 5 NCAA’s, making Sweet 16 three times.
top four scorers from last year are gone.
added five transfers TY, including two from Iowa.
were 3rd-worst team in country at forcing turnovers LY.
have better depth this year (#295/bench minutes LY)

— DePaul (14-20, 4-16 LY)
haven’t made NCAA Tournament since 2004
have been .500 in conference games since 2007.
48.8% of scoring is back from LY, which is good.
only Big East team whose leading scorer is back.
added 5 transfers this year.
shot 34.4% on arc LY; transfer RJ Smith shot 38.6% on arc, at Colorado.

— Georgetown (18-16, 8-12 LY)
made 1 of last 8 NCAA Tourneys (2021)
last four years, they’re 12-67 in conference games.
added six transfers TY, including three big guys
junior PG was once Ivy League Rookie of Year at Harvard
need better shooting (shot 32.3% on arc LY)
were 10-3 out of conference LY, but they played easiest non-conference schedule in country.

— Marquette (23-11, 13-7 LY)
made NCAA Tournament last four years, going 3-4.
under Smart, they’re 61-27 in Big East games.
forced turnovers 21.7% of time LY (#18)
were #3 in country in turnover margin LY.
were #279 in rebounding margin LY.
lost top three scorers from LY, get PG Jones back (was hurt LY)

Famous birthdays, October 8th:
Chevy Chase, 82
Sigourney Weaver, 76
Enos Cabell, 76
Mike Morgan, 66

Tony Eason, 66
Emily Procter, 57
Matt Damon, 55
Monty Williams, 54

Olmedo Saenz, 55
Nick Allen, 27
Hunter Goodman, 26
Isaiah Collier, 21

— Providence (12-20, 6-14)
missed NCAA’s the last two years.
best player was hurt LY, then bolted to St John’s.
Friars lost 10 of their last 11 games LY.
were #346 LY in forcing turnovers.
added three transfers to bolster their backcourt.
shot 35.6% on arc LY (#76); 45.5% of their shots were 3’s (#50)

— Seton Hall (7-25, 2-18 LY)
LY, had #356 eFG% offense.
LY, had #335 eFG% defense.
forced turnovers 22.2% of time LY (#8)
their NIL budget is $1.5M, about 1/3 of most Big East teams.
haven’t made NCAA’s since 2022.
senior F Fisher played last 3 years at: Texas Tech, DePaul, Pacific

— St John’s (31-5, 18-2 LY)
made NCAA’s LY for first time since 2019
have 11 games this year at Madison Square Garden; high expectations.
were #317 in bench minutes LY.
Shot 30.1% on arc last year (#340)
added 6 transfers this year, 4 of them guards.
big guy Ejiofor scored 14.7 ppg LY, grabbed 8.1 rebounds/game.

— Villanova (21-15, 11-9 LY)
were 31-29 in Big East in 3 years under Neptune (0-0 in NCAA’s).
Kevin Willard is new coach; he’s made NCAA’s 7 of last 9 years.
Villanova’s subs played #358 minutes LY.
Willard added 11 transfers; they’re deeper, will play faster.
Last 4 years, Devin Askew has played for Cal, Texas, Kentucky, Long Beach State

— Xavier (22-12, 13-7 LY)
made NCAA’s twice in last seven years.
Richard Pitino is new coach (27-11 conference games last 2 years)
Pitino’s Lobos were in top 25 in tempo all four years he was there.
Pitino added 10 transfers TY; six of them scored double figures LY.
Those six transfers come from smaller programs:
Belmont, Boise State, Evansville, Montana, North Dakota, Valparaiso

Jaguars 31, Chiefs 28
Chiefs led 14-0 midway thru the second quarter.
Jaguars drove 60 yards, scored winning TD with 0:23 left.
LB Lloyd had 99-yard pick-6 to put Jaguars ahead 21-14.
Jaguars have 14 takeaways, are +8 in turnovers.

Jaguars in first half: 31 plays, 156 yards, 7 points.
Jaguars in second half: 24 plays, 175 yards, 17 points.
Chiefs had won 23 games in row when they led by 14+ points.
Chiefs are 15-24 ATS in last 39 games coming off a win.

— Dodgers 4, Phillies 3
Snell-Luzardo were in 0-0 pitchers’ duel after six innings.
Will Smith had a 2-run single in LA’s 4-run 7th inning.
All-time, Phillies are 0-8 in playoff series when they lost the opener.
Series head west with Dodgers leading, 2-0

— Brewers 7, Cubs 3
Both teams hit 3-run homers in first inning.
Milwaukee used 8 pitchers; Misiorowski was only one to get 6+ outs.
Cubs only had one hit after the second inning.
Series heads to Wrigley with Milwaukee leading, 2-0

— College football conference trends (in conference games):
American
Home teams 4-9 ATS
Favorites 9-4 ATS

ACC
Road teams 12-8 ATS

Big 18
Underdogs 12-7 ATS

Big X
Favorites 12-7 ATS

Conference USA
Home teams 5-2 ATS

Mid-American
Home teams 7-3 ATS

Mountain West
Home teams 3-4 ATS

SEC
Home underdogs 4-0 ATS
Home teams 11-5 ATS

Sun Belt
Home teams 9-1 ATS

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
Home teams 1-4 ATS divisional games
4-6 ATS non-divisional games

AFC North
4-11 ATS non-divisional games

AFC South
8-5 ATS non-divisional games

AFC West
6-7 ATS non-divisional games

NFC East
8-6 ATS non-divisional games

NFC North
7-5 ATS non-divisional games

NFC South
Non-divisional road underdogs 5-3 ATS

NFC South
Home teams 0-4 ATS divisional games
7-5 ATS non-divisional games

— This is only the 4th time ever that every NFL team has a loss by Week 5.

Famous birthdays, October 7th:
José Cardenal, 82
Judy Landers, 67
Dylan Bakler, 66
Priest Holmes, 52
Omar Miller, 47

Evan Longoria, 40
Chase Daniel, 39
Mookie Betts, 33
Jesus Sanchez, 28
Tutu Atwell, 26

— NBA season starts in a couple weeks; NBA uses their preseason to market their game all over the world. Just this month, they’ll have games in:

Adu Dhabi
Australia
China
Puerto Rico
Vancouver, Canada

In regular season, they’ll have NBA games in England, Germany, Mexico City.

— White Sox IF Colson Montgomery hit 21 home runs this year in 71 games, the most home runs EVER by a player who didn’t hit a home run before the All-Star break.

— St Louis Cardinals are probably going to make big changes this winter:
2024: 83-79…….2,869,783 fans at home games (35,872/game)
2025: 78-84…….2,250,007 fans at home games (27,777/game)

Cardinals missed the playoffs the last three years; last time they missed the playoffs 4+ years in a row was 1988-95.

— Texas Rangers hired Skip Schumaker as their new manager; he went 84-78 managing the Marlins in 2023, then went 62-100 last year and he surprisingly resigned.

— Saturday night, Fresno State held off Nevada 20-17 in the Mountain West; Fresno held the ball for the last 8:42 of the game to preserve their win. 15 plays, 68 yards, no punts.

— Sunday in England, Dillon Gabriel was 41st quarterback to start for the Cleveland Browns, since 1999.

— Time flies; the NHL season starts tonight, with three games scheduled. 

Titans 22, Cardinals 21
Arizona led 21-6 with 13:00 left; RB Demercado appeared to run for a 72-yard TD to salt the game away, but he dropped the ball just before he crossed the goal line; it became a touchback.

Arizona’s first four drives: 22 plays, 173 yards, 21 points.
Arizona rest of game: 42 plays, 185 yards, no points.
Cardinals lost their last three games by total of five points.

Rookie QB Ward threw for 265 yards in his first NFL win.
Titans’ last three drives: 25 plays, 205 yards, TD-INT-FG
WR Ridley caught five passes for 131 yards.
Tennessee also scored a TD when Arizona picked off a Ward pass with 5:00 left, but the guy fumbled and the Titans recovered it in the end zone for a TD. 

Broncos 21, Eagles 17
Eagles led 17-3 after the third quarter.
Broncos in first 3 quarters: 45 plays, 171 yards, 3 points.
Denver in 4th quarter: 27 plays, 190 yards, 18 points.
Down 17-10, Denver scored a TD with 7:36 left; they went for 2 points and the lead, and made it, talking the lead for good. 

Eagles’ last five drives: 20 plays, 54 yards, no points.
Eagles are 4-1, but they’ve been outgained in all five games.
Philly converted 2-11 third down plays, Broncos 5-16.
Philly is 7-10-1 ATS in last 18 games as a home favorite.

Buccaneers 38, Seahawks 35
Buccaneers kicked a 39-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
Tampa Bay is 3-0 on road, with wins by 1-3-3 points.
Tampa Bay is 13-2 ATS last 15 games as a road underdog.
Mayfield threw for 379 yards, two TD’s.

Both teams averaged 10+ yards/pass attempt.
Seahawks’ first 3 drives: 15 plays, 95 yards, no points.
Seahawks’ last six drives: 30 plays, 311 yards, 35 points, one INT
Seattle is 7-13-1 ATS in last 21 games as a home favorite.

Panthers 27, Dolphins 24
Carolina drove 78 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:59 left.
RB Dowdle ran ball 23 times for 206 yards and a TD.
Panthers outgained Miami, 418-248.
Carolina won both its home games, scoring 30-27 points.

Miami led 17-0 with 5:00 left in first half.
Dolphins ran the ball 14 times for only 19 yards.
Dolphins are 0-3 on road, giving up 30.3 ppg.
Under McDaniel, Miami is 9-13-1 ATS in games with spread of 3 or less points.

Vikings 21, Browns 17
Vikings drove 80 yards in 10 plays, scored game-winning TD with 0:25 left.
Under O’Connell, Vikings are 28-10 SU in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
Under O’Connell, Vikings are 20-13-3 ATS as a favorite.
Vikings are first team in ’25 to gain more than 277 yards vs Cleveland.

Rookie QB Gabriel threw for 190 yards, 2 TD’s in his first NFL start.
Rookie RB Judkins ran for 110 yards on 23 carries.
Minnesota converted 3-9 on third down, Cleveland 3-15.
In their 1-4 start, Browns have scored 16-17-13-10-17 points.

Patriots 23, Bills 20
New England led 6-3 at halftime.
Patriots kicked a 52-yard FG with 0:15 left for the win.
Patriots scored 33-42-23 points in wins, 13-14 in losses.
New England is 2-0 on road (33-27 @ Miami/23-20 here)

Bills outgained NE 363-338, but had 3 turnovers (minus-2)
Buffalo in first half: 27 plays, 125 yards, 3 points.
Buffalo in 2nd half: 36 plays, 263 yards, 17 points.
Patriots are 2-5 SU/5-2 ATS in last seven visits to Buffalo.

Famous birthdays, October 6th:
Tony Dungy, 70
Alfredo Griffin, 68
Elisabeth Shue, 62
Rubén Sierra, 60

Jeremy Sisto, 51
Freddy Garcia, 49
Jake Bauers, 30
Bryson Stott, 28

Herb Jones, 27
Trevor Lawrence, 26
Kyle Pitts, 25
Jonathan Kuminga, 23

— Blue Jays 13, New York 7
Toronto led 11-0 in the fourth inning.
Daulton Varsho was 4-for-5, scoring 4 runs, with 4 RBI
Toronto leads series 2-0; Game 3 is Tuesday in New York.

— Mariners 3, Tigers 2
Julio Rodriguez won the game with an 8th inning double.
Skubal pitched 7 innings, but Tigers got only three hits.
Series is tied, 1-1; Game 3 is Tuesday in Detroit. 

Texans 44, Ravens 10
Texans’ first five drives: 36 plays, 266 yards, 31 points.
QB Stroud threw for 244 yards, four TD’s.
Houston outgained the Ravens, 417-207.
Texans won last two games 26-0/44-10, after an 0-3 start. 

QB Jackson didn’t play; Baltimore trailed 24-3 at halftime.
Baltimore’s first six drives: 28 plays, 112 yards, 7 points.
Ravens gave up 41-38-37-44 points in their four losses.
Ravens are giving up 409.4 yards/game.

Saints 26, Giants 14
Giants led 14-3 New Orleans early in the second quarter.
Rattler threw an 87-yard TD pass to Shaheed.
Howden returned a fumble 86 yards for TD on first play of 4th quarter.
Saints converted 7-15 on third down, Giants 3-10

Giants’ first two drives: 16 plays, 129 yards, 14 points.
Giants rest of game: 53 plays, 207 yards, no points.
Giants are 5-9-1 ATS in last 15 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Giants committed 5 turnovers, had 8 penalties for 95 yards.

Cowboys 37, Jets 22
Cowboys in first half: 32 plays, 298 yards, 23 points.
Dallas led 23-3 at halftime.
Since 2021, Cowboys are 12-6 ATS as a road favorite.
Dallas scored 40-40-37 in wins/tie, 20-14 in losses. 

Jets are 10-17 ATS in last 27 games as a home underdog.
Jets are 6-19-1 ATS last 26 games vs NFC teams.
Jets are 8-16-1 ATS in last 25 games coming off a loss.
Jets are 8-17-1 ATS last 26 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Colts 40, Raiders 6
Indy went 3/out on their first five drive.
Colts’ next six drives: 47 plays, 295 yards, six TD’s.
Colts are 3-0 at home, scoring 33-29-40 points.
Under Steichen, Indy is 7-2 ATS as a home favorite.

Raiders drove 80 yards, kicked FG on their first drive.
Raiders’ next six drives: 26 plays, 121 yards, no points.
Las Vegas lost last four games, giving up 20-41-25-40 points.
Raiders are 20-26-1 ATS in last 47 games coming off a loss.

Commanders 27, Chargers 10
Washington’s first two drives: 8 plays, 30 yards, no points.
Washington’s next four drives: 27 plays, 177 yards, 20 points.
QB Daniels is 16-7 as an NFL starter.
Commanders are 7-3 ATS last 10 games with a spread of 3 or fewer points.

Chargers’ first two drives: 18 plays, 119 yards, 10 points.
Chargers rest of game: 47 plays, 221 yards, no points.
QB Herbert has been sacked 16 times in Chargers’ first five games.
Chargers’ WR Keenan Allen caught his 1,000th career pass.

Lions 37, Bengals 24
Lions led 14-3 at halftime.
Detroit’s first two drives in 2nd half: 12 plays, 108 yards, 14 points.
Lions won last three games, scoring 52-38-34-37 points.
Detroit is +7 in turnovers in its last four games.

Bengals lost last three games, by a combined 113-37.
Lions are 12-2 ATS last 14 games as a road favorite.
Detroit is 16-7 ATS in last 23 games vs AFC teams
Detroit is 25-11 ATS last 36 games coming off a win.

— UCLA 42, Penn State 37
Bruins, with an interim head coach, were 24.5-point underdogs.
UCLA led this game 27-7 at halftime.
Nico Iamaleava threw for 166 yards, 2 TD’s, ran for 128 yards, 3 TD’s.

— Miami 28, Florida State 22
Carson Beck threw for 240 yards, four TD’s
Hurricanes led 28-3 after three quarters, hung on for the win.
Miami was +3 in turnovers; they had 12 penalties for 98 yards.

— Florida 29, Texas 21
Florida gets its first I-A win in four tries.
Gators had scored total of 33 points in their three losses.
Texas is 0-2 on road, losing this game, also 14-7 at Ohio State.

— Alabama 30, Vanderbilt 14
Game was tied 14-14 at halftime.
Crimson Tide outgained Vandy, 486-333.
Alabama threw for 340 yards (11.0 Yards/attempt)

— UNLV 31, Wyoming 17
October 4th, and it snowed in Laramie, Wyoming.
5-0 Rebels led this game 24-3 at halftime.
UNLV ran for 153 yards, was +2 in turnovers.

— Upsets of the Day:
UCLA (+24.5) 42, Penn State 37
Ball State (+14.5) 20, Ohio U 14
Arkansas State (+13.5) 31, Texas State 30
Akron (+8.5) 28, Central Michigan 22

Virginia (+7.5) 30, Louisville 27 OT
Florida (+6.5) 29, Texas 21
Wake Forest (+6.5) 30, Virginia Tech 23
Temple (+6.5) 27, Tex-San Antonio 21

— Brewers 9, Cubs 3
Milwaukee scored six runs in the first inning.
Jackson Chourio had 3 RBI, but aggravated his leg injury.
Freddy Peralta got 17 outs, allowed two runs.

— Blue Jays 10, New York 1
Alejandro Kirk hit two home runs.
Leading 2-1, Blue Jays scored four runs in 7th, four more in 8th.
This was Toronto’s first win in a playoff game since 2016

— Dodgers 5, Phillies 3
Teoscar Hernandez hit a 3-run homer in the 7th inning.
Phillies led 3-0 after five innings.
Tyler Glasnow got 5 outs, in his first relief stint in seven years.

— Tigers 3, Mariners 2 (11)
Zack McKinstry had the game-winning single in the 11th inning.
Detroit used 8 pitchers; they were 2-8 with RISP.
McKinstry’s hit was Detroit’s only hit after the fifth inning. 

— Famous birthdays, October 5th:
Trace Armstrong, 60
Jeff Lebo, 59
Rex Chapman, 58

Grant Hill, 53
Kate Winslet, 50
Jesse Palmer, 47

Travis Kelce, 36
Zack Littell, 30
Michael Hoecht, 28

— Virginia 30, Louisville 27 OT
Virginia led 24-14 after three quarters.
Louisville forced OT, kicked 50-yard FG with 1:08 left.
4-1 Louisville outgained the 5-1 Cavaliers, 383-237

— Clemson 38, North Carolina 10
Clemson’s first four drives: 16 plays, 253 yards, 28 points.
Tigers passed for 399 yards (10.2 yards/attempt)
North Carolina is 1-3 vs I-A teams, giving up 34-48-38 points in losses.

— Washington 24, Maryland 20
Maryland led this game 20-0 in the third quarter.
Washington’s last five drives: 45 plays, 298 yards, 24 points.
Maryland’s last four drives: 19 plays, 52 yards, no points.

— Appalachian State 27, Oregon State 23
App State led 17-0 in first quarter; they were +3 in turnovers.
Beavers outgained App State, 456-354.
Oregon State QB Murphy threw for 358 yards, 2 TD’s, 2 INTs

— Texas Tech 35, Houston 11
Tech QB Morton threw for 345 yards and a TD.
5-0 Red Raiders led 25-11 at halftime.
Tech outgained Houston, 552-267. 

How NFL teams do on first drive of a half:
(All teams 4 games/8 halves, except SF/Rams (5/10))

NFC East
Dallas:
outscored 34-7 on first drive of a half
outgained 197-88 on first drive of games

Giants:
10-10 on first drive of each half
last three weeks, Giants gained 190 yards on first drive of game.

Eagles:
outscored opponents 27-14 on first drive of a half
scored TD on first drive in 3 of 4 games. 

Commanders:
outscored 16-10 on first drive of a half
first drives of a game: 17 plays, 43 yards

NFC North
Bears:
outscored opponents 28-10 on first drive of a half
have four takeaways in first drive of a half (+4)
first drive of half: 4 TD’s, 4 three/outs.

Lions:
outscored 35-27 on first drive of a half
Allowed a TD on first drive in all four games
39 plays, 325 yards, four TD’s

Packers:
outscored opponents 24-3 on first drive of a half
opponents’ first drive of game: 17 plays, 38 yards, no points

Vikings:
outscored opponents 17-13 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive, last 4 halves: 12 plays, 8 yards, 4 punts

NFC South
Falcons
outscored opponents 23-10 on first drive of a half
first drive of game: 28 plays, 197 yards, 13 points.

Panthers
outscored opponents 24-20 on first drive of a half
Last two games, had TD drives of 61-76 yards on their 1st drive.

Saints
outscored 27-14 on first drive of a half
Last 2 games, gave up 3 TD’s and FG on first drive of the half. 

Buccaneers
outscored 24-13 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of half: 28 plays, 253 yards, 24 points

NFC West
Cardinals
outscored opponents 16-10 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of game: 15 plays, 42 yards, no points

Rams
outscored opponents 27-20 on first drive of a half
in their two losses, opponent scored a TD on their first drive.

49ers
outscored opponents 17-0 on first drive of a game
Last 2 games, 49ers averaged 64.3 yards/1st drive of a half

Seahawks
outscored opponents 27-10 on first drive of a half
last three games, have 3 TD’s, 2 FG’s on first drive of half.

Famous birthdays, October 4th:
Susan Sarandon, 79
Tony LaRussa, 81
John Wathan, 76
Truck Robinson, 74

AC Green, 62
Mark McLemore, 61
Liev Schreiber, 58
Kurt Thomas, 53

Tony Gwynn Jr, 43
Derrick Rose, 37
Dakota Johnson, 36
Oneil Cruz, 27

AFC East
Bills
outscored opponents 52-24 on first drive of a half
1st drives of a half: 70 plays, 560 yards, 7 TD’s, FG

Dolphins
outscored 34-20 on first drive of a half
opponents average 74.3 yards/opening drive of game.

Patriots
outscored 31-14 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of game: 24 plays, 201 yards, 21 points. 

Jets
outscored 33-13 on first drive of a half
Opponents on 1st drive of half: 3 TD’s, 4 field goals

AFC North
Ravens
outscored 38-37 on first drive of a half
last two games, started game with TD drives of 80-70 yards

Bengals
outscored 28-17 on first drive of a half
allowed TD on first drive in three of four games

Browns
outscored opponents 14-10 on first drive of a half
Last 3 games: 13 plays, 19 plays on first drive of 3rd quarter

Steelers
17-17 on first drive of each half
first drive of 2nd half: 15 plays, 30 yards, no points

AFC South
Texans
outscored 17-10 on first drive of a half
first drive of 2nd half: 23 plays, 58 yards, no points

Colts
outscored 24-22 on first drive of a half
1st drive of half: one TD, 5 FG’s, 2 turnovers

Jaguars
outscored 20-13 on first drive of a half
Opponents on 1st drive of 3rd quarter: 27 plays, 245 yards, 14 points

AFC West
Broncos
outscored opponents 14-10 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of half: 66 plays, 341 yards, 7 FG’s

Chiefs
outscored opponents 27-20 on first drive of a half
1st drive of 3rd quarter: 32 plays, 224 yards, 21 points

Raiders
17-17 on first drive of each half
last 3 games, threw three INT’s on first drive of a half. 

Chargers
outscored 24-19 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of 3rd quarter: 41 plays, 228 yards, 17 points

— Tigers 6, Guardians 3
Dillon Dingler hit the go-ahead homer in the 6th inning.
Tigers broke game open, scoring four runs in 7th inning.
Detroit-Seattle will meet in the ALDS.

— Cubs 3, Padres 1
Taillon allowed two baserunners in four scoreless IP (60 PT)
San Diego was 0-8 with runners in scoring position.
Cubs play Milwaukee in the NLDS.

— Bronx 4, Red Sox 0
Rookie Schlittler struck out 12 in eight scoreless IP.
Bronx scored all four of its runs in the fourth inning.
New York-Toronto will meet in the ALDS.

— 49ers 26, Rams 23 OT
SF stopped the Rams on 4th-and-1 to end the game.
Rams forced OT, kicking a 48-yard FG with 0:02 left
Rams also fumbled on the 49ers’ 1-yard line with 1:02 left.
49ers’ five games have all been decided by 5 or fewer points.

SF WR Bourne caught 10 passes for 142 yards.
49ers’ first two drives: 25 plays, 163 yards, 14 points.
49ers won six of last eight visits to Los Angeles.
Underdogs are 5-0-1 ATS in last six series games.

— New Mexico State 37, Sam Houston State 10
New Mexico State led 13-10 after the third quarter.
Aggies threw ball for 255 yards (9.4 yards/attempt)
Aggies were 9-13 on third down, Sam Houston 3-11

— Knicks 99, 76ers 84
Exhibition game was played in Abu Dhabi.
Knicks outscored Philly 28-18 in second quarter.
Knicks played 19 different players, 76ers played 13 guys.

— Movie of the Day: All the President’s Men (1976)- Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Tremendous cast: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam, Ned Beatty, Meredith Baxter.

—Famous birthdays, October 3rd:
Dave Winfield, 74
Greg Foster, 57
Janel Moloney, 56

Anquan Boldin, 45
Courtney Lee, 40
Mike Gesicki, 30

CJ Abrams, 25
CJ Stroud, 24
Abdul Carter, 22

Seven baseball players who could be free agents this winter:
— Pete Alonso 1B- Has $24M option with the Mets for next year, but can probably make way more than that, even though he is 31. Last five years, he’s hit 195 homers, played in 158 games a year. Durable and productive; Mets will probably re-sign him.

— Luis Arraez 1B/2B- Won three of last four batting titles, slumped to .292 this year. Does not have a lot of power, not real fast, average fielder, but he gets a lot of hits.

— Bo Bichette SS- Hit .311 this year with an .840 OPS. Led the league in hits in 2021/2022; he had an injury-plagued season last year. Had 94 RBI this season.

— Alex Bregman 3B- Can opt out of the last two years of his contract, which would pay $80M; had an .821 OPS this year, his best since 2019. It is assumed that he will opt out.

— Kyle Schwarber OF/DH- Is 33 years old, but he hit 56 homers, had 132 RBI this year, has 187 homers the last four seasons. Philly is an excellent hitters’ park; should he stay there?

— Kyle Tucker OF- Hit 134 homers the last five years, has career OPS of .865. Hurt his hand in July and struggled in second half of season.

— Framber Valdez, P- Is 32 years old; over last four years, is 57-35 in 121 starts. He’s pitched in the playoffs five of the last six years. 

— ESPN had a good day Wednesday; three of the four Wild Card series are tied 1-1, so we have three winner-take-all games Thursday. Winner-take-all games get good ratings. 

Here is the schedule:
3:00 Tigers @ Cleveland
5:00 Padres @ Chicago
8:00 Red Sox @ New York

This is the first time since 1981 there are three winner-take-all games on the same day.

— Guardians 6, Tigers 1
Cleveland scored five runs in the bottom of the 8th.
Rocchio, Naylor homered in that 8th inning.
Flaherty vs Cecconi is Thursday’s matchup.

— Padres 3, Cubs 0
San Diego bullpen got 16 outs, allowed one baserunner.
Machado hit a 2-run homer in the fifth inning.
Darvish vs Taillon is Thursday’s matchup.

— New York 4, Red Sox 3
Austin Wells had game-winning hit, in the 8th inning.
Trevor Story knocked in all three Boston runs.
Early vs Schlittler is Thursday’s matchup.

— Dodgers 8, Reds 4
Mookie Betts went 4-for-5, with three RBI
Spots 7-9 in Dodger batting order went 7-12 with five runs scored.
Dodgers move on to play the Phillies in the next round.

— Monday in New York City, Mets’ president of baseball operations David Stearns hosted a press conference the day after the Mets’ season ended without the Mets making the playoffs, even though their payroll was $340,085,003.

What went wrong? Mets were 45-25 on June 13th, then went 38-54 the rest of the season.

Lot of tough questions at the news conference, Stearns kept his cool, it is all part of the job, but it had to be a rough couple of hours for him.

Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso earned a combined $125,975,000 this year, that’s $126M for three guys, but three really good guys, money well spent. Some of the other high-paid players didn’t do so well. 

$22,009,731- Sean Manaea
$20,250,000- Brandon Nimmo
$19,500,000- Starling Marte
$17,000,000- Frankie Montas
$7,500,000- Jesse Winker

These are the guys that Stearns has to answer for; the Marlins had a payroll of $69,510,827 and they went 79-83, only four games behind the Mets.

By way of comparison, Stearns’ old team, the Milwaukee Brewers had the #23 payroll this year, $115,136,217, and they got a first round bye in the playoffs.

— Famous birthdays, October 2nd:
Lorraine Bracco, 71
Dave Beard, 66
Mark Rypien, 63
Kelly Ripa, 55

Aaron McKie, 53
Tyson Chandler, 43
Joe Ingels, 38
Lance McCullers Jr, 32

— Brian Snitker won’t be back as manager of the Atlanta Braves next year; he went 835-691 in 10 years managing the Braves, winning the 2021 World Series, but Snitker is going to be 70 in a couple weeks, and the Braves went 76-86 this year, their first losing season since 2017.

— Colorado Rockies went 43-119 this year; they fired GM Bill Schmidt this week, largely because their team really sucks- the last three years, they’ve lost 323 games. Colorado had winning years as recently as 2017-2018, but that seems like a long time ago.

— Red Sox P Garrett Crochet threw 100+ pitches in 16 games this season, the most of any major league pitcher this year.

— Movie of the Day: Hustle (2022)- A basketball scout discovers a great ballplayer in Spain, and sees the prospect as his chance to move up from scouting to being an assistant coach.

Adam Sandler is the scout, Queen Latifah is his wife, Robert Duvall has a cameo as the owner of the 76ers, and a lot of NBA players appear in the movie.

If you like basketball, you’ll like this movie. It is really good.

— Cleveland Browns will start rookie QB Dillon Gabriel Sunday when they play the Vikings in London; Browns scored only 14 ppg in their 1-3 start.

Gabriel will become the 41st different quarterback the Browns have started since returning to the NFL in 1999, the most in the league during that time.

— Last 25 years, 2018 Houston Texans are the only team that started a season 0-3 and made the playoffs that year.

— Pitches thrown by the starting pitchers the last couple days:

Tigers- Skubal 107, Mize 62
Guardians- Williams 88, Bibee 87

Red Sox- Crochet 117, Bello 28
Bronx- Fried 102, Rodon 91

Padres- Pivetta 85, Cease 69
Cubs- Boyd 58, Imanaga 67 (opener Kittredge threw 20)

Reds- Greene 65, Littell 52
Dodgers- Snell 91, Yamamoto 113

— Tigers 2, Guardians 1
Cleveland had tying run on third, no one out in 9th inning, but didn’t score.
Tarik Skubal struck out 14 guys in 7 IP, throwing 107 pitches.
Zach McKinstry knocked the game-winning run in with a sac bunt in 7th inning.

— Cubs 3, Padres 1
Chicago’s bullpen got 14 outs, didn’t allow a baserunner.
Suzuki/Kelly hit back/back home runs in fifth inning.
Top three hitters in San Diego’s lineup were a combined 0-11. 

— Red Sox 3, Bronx 1
Yoshida’s 7th inning pinch-hit single was a game-winner.
Max Fried got 19 outs, didn’t allow a run.
New York’s bullpen gave up three runs in 2.2 IP.
Bronx had bases loaded, none out in 9th inning, but didn’t score. 

— Dodgers 10, Reds 5
Hernandez, Ohtani both homered twice for the Dodgers.
Pitching in his hometown, Reds P Greene gave up 5 runs in three IP
Blake Snell allowed four hits in seven IP. 

— Since the current best-of-three Wild Card series began in 2022, road teams have won 8 of 12 series including three of four last year. 

How big is Game 1?  The winner of Game 1 has won all 12 series, 10 of those in a 2-game sweep.

— Toronto Blue Jays have a bye this week; they’re hosting intrasquad games at Rogers Centre this week, to keep their players sharp. Fans can attend for $10.

First pitch is 4:00, with gates opening at 3:15. Games “will be four to five innings and structured as informal scrimmages, featuring players from the Blue Jays and AAA Buffalo Bisons”

— Angels parted ways Tuesday with manager Ron Washington, interim manager Ray Montgomery. 73-year old Washington was 99-137 managing the Angels; he had health issues this year and missed most of the season.

— Giants’ SS Willie Adames hit 30 home runs this year, the first player to hit 30 homers in one season for San Francisco since Barry Bonds, in 2004.

— Famous birthdays, October 1st
Julie Andrews, 90
Rod Carew, 80
Mark McGwire, 62
Zach Galifianakis, 56

Matt Cain, 41
Brie Larson, 36
Dustin Hopkins, 35
Robbie Ray, 34

Xander Bogaerts, 33
Cedric Mullins, 31
Otto Lopez, 27
Jordan Whittington, 25

— College football conference ATS trends:
American- Home teams 1-7 ATS in conference play.
ACC- Non-conference home favorites are 6-11 ATS
Big 18- Underdogs are 9-4 ATS in conference games. 

Big X- Home favorites are 6-3 ATS in conference games.
C-USA- Home teams are 6-3 ATS in non-conference games.
MAC- Home teams are 5-0 ATS in conference games.

Mountain West- Teams are 21-10 ATS in non-conference games.
SEC- Underdogs are 8-4 ATS in conference games.
Sun Belt- Home teams are 4-1 ATS in conference games.

— NFL divisional ATS trends:
AFC East- home teams 1-3 ATS in divisional games.
AFC North- teams are 4-8 ATS in non-divisional games.
AFC South- teams are 5-5 ATS in non-divisional games.
AFC West- teams are 5-5 ATS in non-divisional games.

NFC East- teams are 6-4 ATS in non-divisional games.
NFC North- home teams are 4-1 ATS in non-divisional games.
NFC South- home teams are 1-4 ATS in non-divisional games.
NFC West- teams are 7-3 ATS in non-divisional games.

— Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill dislocated his left knee Monday night, is out for the rest of this year and maybe longer- he’ll need multiple surgeries.

— There is a survivor pool at the Circa Sportsbook in Las Vegas that has over 12,000 entries; this past week, 784 people got knocked out when the Chargers lost to the Giants.

— Sunday was Davante Adams’ 64th career game with 50+ receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.

That is 5th-most in the last 25 years, behind:
73- Larry Fitzgerald
69- Antonio Gates
68- Terrell Owens
66- Mike Evans

— Tampa Bay kicker Chase McLaughlin kicked a 65-yard field goal, the longest outdoor field goal in NFL history.

— Random trivia: Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Germany, one of which was in the 200-meter sprint, where he set a new Olympic record. 

The person who won the silver medal in the 200-meter sprint was Matthew Robinson, who also broke the Olympic record in that race. He had a younger brother who was became a lot more famous, baseball player Jackie Robinson.

— Dolphins 27, Jets 21
Jets ran ball for 197 yards, but had 13 penalties for 101 yards.
Jets lost first four games, giving up 34-30-29-27 points.
Only one of their four losses was by more than six points.
Jets are 3-12-1 ATS last 16 AFC East road games.

Miami’s first five drives: 42 plays, 235 yards, 24 points.
Under McDaniel, Miami is 13-8-2 ATS as a home favorite.
Dolphins won 10 of last 12 series games.
Jets are 0-10 SU/1-6-3 ATS in last nine visits to Miami.

— Broncos 28, Bengals 3
Broncos dominated game, outgaining Cincy 512-159.
Denver is 2-0 at home; they didn’t allow a TD either game.
JK Dobbins ran ball 16 times for 101 yards.
Bo Nix threw for 326 yards, two TD’s. 

Zac Taylor is 45-32-1 SU when Joe Burrow plays, 8-24 when he doesn’t.
In four games, Bengals have run ball 76 times for only 200 yards.
Denver was 8-14 on third down, Bengals 2-11.
AFC North teams are 5-7 ATS in non-divisional games.

— Future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy will not return as manager of the Texas Rangers; he won the World Series with Texas in 2023, went 78-84/81-81 the last two years. Texas had an awful lot of injuries this past year. 

Overall, Bochy has won four World Series titles, three with the Giants.

— Speaking of the Giants, they fired Bob Melvin Monday, a few weeks after they extended his contract thru next year. Giants went 81-81 this year, but new GM Buster Posey didn’t hire him. Lot of times GM’s want to hire “their guy” as manager.

A 3-time Manager of the Year who won the award in both leagues, Melvin has a career regular-season record of 1,678-1,588 with 8 postseason appearances for five different teams. Melvin made the playoffs six times in 10 years with the A’s; he is a very good manager.

— Minnesota Twins fired manager Rocco Baldelli after they went 70-92 this year, while the team was going a tumultuous season in the front office, owner-wise. Baldelli made the playoffs three times in seven seasons managing the Twins.

— How the five biggest baseball payrolls made out this season:

$350,300,236- Dodgers won NL West
$342,377,486- Mets went 83-79, missed the playoffs
$300,187,616- Bronx is #1 Wild Card in AL
$290,286,320- Phillies won NL East
$255,380,936- Blue Jays won AL East

— How the five smallest baseball payrolls made out this season:
$67,950,708- Marlins went 79-83, 41-40 on the road
$78,824,978- White Sox went 60-102, 19 games better than last year.
$79,118,043- A’s went 76-86, seven games better than last year.
$84,423,338- Pirates went 71-91; they were 44-37 at home.
$87,629,788- Rays went 77-85 playing home games on a minor league field.

— Famous birthdays, September 30th:
Angie Dickinson, 94
Dave Magadan, 63
Eric Piatkowski, 55
Jenna Elfman, 54

Jamal Anderson, 53
Kenley Jansen, 38
Aaron Holiday, 29
Jesus Luzardo, 28

— After the Jaguars upset San Francisco 26-21 Sunday, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh accused Jacksonville and its head coach, Liam Coen, of using a sign-stealing system.

In the week leading up to the game, Saleh claimed that Coen and the Jaguars use an “advanced” legal sign-stealing system while speaking with reporters.

After Sunday’s win, all Coen said was; “Not a big deal. We’ll keep that between us.”

— Arkansas Razorbacks fired football coach Sam Pittman Monday, named Bobby Petrino their interim coach. Arkansas was 32-34 under Pittman, losing their last three games, including a loss to Memphis when the Razorbacks blew an 18-point lead.

Petrino is 119-56 as a college coach; he was Lamar Jackson’s coach at Louisville. He also was 34-17 as coach of Arkansas, back from 2008-11.

— Weird college football stat: Under Lincoln Riley, USC is 0-12 ATS as a road favorite, in games not played in California.

— Houston Astros missed the baseball playoffs this year for the first time since 2016.

— Baseball is a long season, lot of ups and downs:

Cleveland Guardians made the playoffs, despite a 10-game losing streak from June 26-July 6.

— Detroit Tigers also made the playoffs.
From July 9th-26th, Tigers went 1-12…..from September 16-24, they went 0-8.

— Mets had a lot of expectations this year with such a big payroll- that put a lot of pressure on them, and they wound up missing the playoffs, losing 2 of 3 games in Miami over the weekend. Mets finished 83-79. 

Mets were 45-25 on June 13th; rest of the season, they went 38-54. 

After Sunday’s win, Miami’s team had a team picture taken in front of their dugout, like they were celebrating something. Marlins finished 79-83, going over their season over/under win total by 15.5 games. They had a very good season. 

Packers 40, Cowboys 40 OT
Green Bay led 13-0; PAT after 2nd TD was blocked, run back for 2 points.
Packers in 2nd half/OT: 47 plays, 329 yards, 27 points
Green Bay was 10-14 on third down, Dallas 4-11.
Packers are 4-12-1 ATS last 17 games as a road favorite.

Dallas won its first home game 40-37 in OT, then this happened.
Last three games, Cowboys allowed 506-385-489 total yards.
First three Dallas drives: 11 plays, 35 yards, 3 punts
Last seven Dallas drives: 57 plays, 406 yards, 38 points

Jaguars 26, 49ers 21
Jaguars are 3-1 for the second time in the last 18 years.
Jaguars have 13 takeaways already, are +9 in turnovers.
Jaguars ran punt back 87 yards for TD to grab a 26-14 lead.
Jacksonville held last three opponents to 48-87-83 rushing yards.

49ers turned ball over on two of first three series.
49ers were 8-13 on third down, Jacksonville 4-14
49ers had 12 penalties for 90 yards, Jaguars 5 for 54.
Last 2+ years, 49ers are 7-13-1 ATS in games coming off a win.

Bears 25, Raiders 24
Bears drove 73 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:34 left.
Bears blocked 54-yard FG on last play to preserve the win.
Chicago had four takeaways for second game in a row.
Chicago was 7-16 on third down, Las Vegas 2-8.

Raiders led 14-9 at halftime.
Las Vegas ran ball 31 times for 240 yards.
Ashton Jeanty carried ball 21 times for 138 yards.
Bears are 7-13-3 ATS in last 23 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Giants 21, Chargers 18
Rookie QB Dart threw for 111 yards, ran for 54 more in his first NFL start.
Giants’ first four drives: 34 plays, 154 yards, 13 points.
Giants’ last six drives: 36 plays, 107 yards, 8 points.
Under Daboll, Giants are 10-6-1 ATS vs AFC teams.

Giants were 7-15 on third down, Chargers 4-12.
Bolts held last three opponents to 218-265-250 total yards.
Chargers had 14 penalties for 107 yards, Giants 8 for 43
Rookie RB Hampton ran ball 12 times for 128 yards and a TD.

Eagles 31, Buccaneers 25
Eagles blocked punt for TD for the game’s first score.
Eagles led 24-6 at halftime, hung on for dear life.
Mayfield threw INT in red zone midway thru 4th quarter.
Eagles are 5-2 ATS in last seven games as a road favorite.

Buccaneers outgained Philly, 376-200.
Tampa Bay turned ball over on three of their last five drives.
Tampa Bay is 3-7 ATS last ten games as a home underdog.
NFC South teams are 5-7 ATS in non-divisional games.

Rams 27, Colts 20
Stafford’s 88-yard TD pass to Atwell (1:33 left) was a game-winner.
Rams’ last two drives: 12 plays, 171 yards, 14 points.
Stafford threw for 375 yards, three TD’s.
Nucua caught 13 passes for 170 yards and a TD. 

Rams had 13-play, 96-yard drive to take 13-10 lead at half.
Rams are 9-3-1 ATS last 13 games vs AFC opponents.
Colts had three turnovers, and 11 penalties for 88 yards.
Colts didn’t turn ball over in their first three games. 

Famous birthdays, September 29th:
Ian McShane, 83
Tim Flannery, 68
Craig Lefferts, 68
Andrew Dice Clay, 68

Hersey Hawkins, 59
Erika Eleniak, 56
Zachary Levi, 45
Calvin Johnson, 40

Kevin Durant, 37
Tyler Mahle, 31
Ashley Frangipane, 31 (Halsey)
Lucas Havrisik, 26

Chiefs 37, Ravens 20
Ravens gave up 41-38-37 points in their three losses.
Star QB Jackson left game with an ankle injury.
AFC North teams are 4-7 ATS in non-divisional games.

 Chiefs’ first four drives: 34 plays, 223 yards, 20 points.
Mahomes threw for 270 yards, 4 TD’s, to four different guys.
Chiefs won seven of last eight games vs Baltimore.
Chiefs are 11-7 ATS in last 18 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Steelers 24, Vikings 21
Steelers led 14-6 at halftime of first-ever game in Ireland.
Steelers scored 34-21-24 points in wins, 17 in their loss.
Steelers have run ball 87 times for only 259 yards.
Steelers are 27-14-1 ATS last 41 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Rodgers threw an 80-yard TD pass to Metcalf.
Vikings QB Wentz threw for 350 yards, but also two INTs.
Vikings scored 27-48 points in their wins, 6-21 in losses.
WR Jefferson caught 10 catches for 126 yards, 

Texans 26, Titans 0
Tennessee is 0-4 SU/ATS, losing by 8-14-21-26 points.
Titans have three TD’s, 10 FG’s on their 44 drives.
Tennessee is 3-12 ATS in last 15 games as an underdog.
Texans outgained Tennessee, 353-175.

Texans led this game 6-0 at halftime.
This was Houston’s first shutout since 2010.
Houston was 6-15 on third down, Tennessee 2-11.
Texans’ first four drives of 2nd half: 31 plays, 190 yards, 20 points. 

Falcons 34, Commanders 27
QB Penix was 20-26/313 passing, with two TD’s.
Falcons’ first three drives: 28 plays, 181 yards, 17 points.
Atlanta led 17-10 at halftime.
Falcons outgained Washington, 435-294

Falcons were 6-12 on third down, Commanders 1-8.
Washington is 0-2 on road, losing 27-18/34-37.
In its wins, Commanders ran ball for 220-201 yards.
Its losses, Commanders ran 51-147 yards. 

Bills 31, Saints 19
Saints’ first nine drives ended in Buffalo territory.
Bills led by only 14-10 at halftime.
Buffalo won its first four games,. scoring 41-30-31-31 points.
Last 3+ years, Bills are 3-8-1 ATS as a double digit favorite.

Saints lost first four games, 20-13/26-21/44-13/31-19.
Since 2018, Saints are 19-9-1 ATS as a road underdog.
Rattler is 0-10 as an NFL starting QB.
New Orleans has been outscored 85-33 in first half of games.

Lions 34, Browns 10
Detroit led this game 20-7 at halftime.
Lions scored 52-38-34 points in their last three games.
Lions are 16-8 ATS last 24 games as a home favorite.
Detroit is 15-7 ATS in last 22 games vs AFC teams

Browns scored 16-17-13-10 points in their four games.
Cleveland is minus-6 in turnovers this year.
Browns are 6-15-1 ATS last 22 games coming off a win.
Browns allowed only 277 yards, most they’ve given up this year.

Patriots 42, Panthers 13
Down 6-0, Patriots ran a punt back 87 yards for a TD.
Patriots also ran a punt back 61 yards to set up another TD.
NE’s first four drives: 21 plays, 151 yards, 21 points.
Patriots scored 33-42 points in wins, 13-14 points in losses.

Carolina drove 76 yards for a TD on first drive.
Carolina’s next five drives: 30 plays, 93 yards, no points.
Panthers are 6-14-1 ATS last 21 games as a road underdog.
Carolina is 7-15 ATS in last 22 games vs AFC opponents.

— Playoff picture with postseason starting Tuesday:
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cubs, Padres, Reds
AL: Blue Jays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Tigers

— Ole Miss 24, LSU 19
QB Chambliss passed for 314 yards and a TD.
Last year, Chambliss was playing at D-II Ferris State.
Rebels led 17-7 at halftime.
Ole Miss outgained LSU, 480-254.

— Tennessee 41, Mississippi State 34 OT
Tennessee forced OT, scoring a TD with 1:55 left.
Vols’ QB Aguilar threw for 335 yards and a TD.
Miss State ran ball 57 times for 198 yards.

—Texas A&M 16, Auburn 10
Aggies are 4-0 for the first time since 2016.
Auburn gained total of 177 yards, was 0-12 on third down.
A&M outgained them 414-177; they were only 3-14 on third down.
Aggies ran the ball 47 times for 207 yards.

— Alabama 24, Georgia 21
Alabama led 24-14 at halftime.
Crimson Tide was 13-19 on third down, Georgia 2-8.
Kirby Smart is 1-7 as a head coach vs Alabama.
Georgia’s home winning streak ends at 33. 

— Upsets of the Week:
Virginia Tech (+10.5) 23, NC State 21
Virginia (+6.5) 46, Florida State 38 OT
Illinois (+6.5) 34, USC 32
Hawai’i (+6.5) 44, Air Force 35
California (+6.5) 28, Boston College 24
Hawai’i (+6.5) 44, Air Force 35
Cincinnati (+4.5) 37, Kansas 34

— Illinois 34, USC 32
Illini kicked a 41-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
USC had taken a 32-31 lead on a TD with 1:55 left.
Illinois QB Alymyer threw for 328 yards.
USC QB Maiava threw for 364 yards, two TD’s.

— Georgia Tech 30, Wake Forest 29, OT
Wake Forest led 17-3 at halftime.
Tech forced OT, kicking a 33-yard FG with 0:02 left in regulation.
Tech scored 7 points in OT; Wake scored a TD, but went for two points and the win- they didn’t get it.
Tech’s two ACC wins are by a total of four points.

— Cincinnati 37, Kansas 34
Bearcats drove 75 yards, scored on a 2-yard TD with 0:29 left.
Lot of offense; total yards- Cincy 603 yards, Jayhawks 597.
Cincinnati had four TD’s called back because of penalties. 

— Oregon 30, Penn State 24 OT
Oregon led 17-3 with 11:00 left in the game.
Penn State tied it on a TD with 0:30 left.
Ducks outgained Penn State, 424-276.
Game was 3-3 at halftime. 

— Memphis 55, Florida Atlantic 26
Tigers have won nine in a row, the country’s longest active win streak. Memphis’ lead was only 17-16 at halftime.
Tigers ran ball 46 times for 291 yards (6.3 yards/carry). 

— Famous birthdays, September 28th:
Brigitte Bardot, 91
Steve Largent, 71
Todd Worrell, 66
Irving Fryar, 63

Johnny Dawkins, 62
Janeane Garofalo, 61
Mira Sorvino, 58
Ryan Zimmerman, 41

Chem Birch, 33
Tyler Shough, 26
Riley Greene, 25
Spencer Rattler, 25

— Vanderbilt 55, Utah State 35
#18 Commodores are 5-0 for first time since 2008.
QB Pavia threw for 321 yards, five TD’s, also ran for a TD.
Only 8 of Vanderbilt’s 65 plays came on third down.

— San Diego State 6, Northern Illinois 3
Aztecs kicked a 25-yard FG at the gun for the walk-off win.
Both teams kicked FG’s on their first drive, then no one scored again until the last play.
Total yardage: San Diego State 266, Northern Illinois 179

— Minnesota 31, Rutgers 28
Scarlet Knights led 14-0 early, 21-14 at halftime.
Gophers drove 72 yards, scored winning TD with 3:19 left.
Minnesota won despite running ball 18 times for only 35 yards.

— Playoff picture with one day left in the regular season:
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cubs, Padres, Reds
AL: Blue Jays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Tigers

— Reds 3, Brewers 1
Cincinnati bullpen got 14 outs, didn’t allow a hit.
Gavin Lux went 2-for-4, scored two runs.
Reds take over the NL’s last Wild Card slot.

— Marlins 6, Mets 2
Sandy Alcantara threw 100 pitches, got a win in his last ’25 start.
Down 2-0, Marlins scored six runs in the fifth inning.
Connor Norby hit Miami’s 9th pinch-hit homer this season.

— Padres 7, Diamondbacks 4
Fernando Tatis hit a 4th inning grand slam that broke the game open.
Luis Arraez had four hits for San Diego.
Loss puts Arizona on the verge of missing the playoffs.

— Red Sox 4, Tigers 3
Ceddanne Rafaela hit a walk-off triple off the centerfield fence.
Red Sox clinch their first playoff spot since 2021.
Detroit/Cleveland remain tied atop AL Central. 

— Rangers 7, Guardians 3
Alejandro Osuna hit a 3-run homer in the first inning.
Jack Leiter struck out 10 hitters for Texas.
Guardians have lost consecutive games for first time since September 2nd.

— White Sox 10, Nationals 9
Colson Montgomery hit a 2-run homer in ninth inning.
White Sox led 8-2 after the fifth inning.
Luis Garcia Jr hit three home runs in a losing cause.

— Angels 4, Astros 3
Mike Trout homered twice, now has 403 career home runs.
Houston led 3-0 in the 4th inning.
Loss puts the Astros on the verge of missing the playoffs.

— Baseball has changed a lot thru the years; here are the numbers of pitchers these guys hit against in the season where they hit 60+ home runs:

1927 Babe Ruth 60 homers, faced 64 pitchers/7 teams
1961 Roger Maris 61 homers, faced 101 pitchers/9 teams
2022 Aaron Judge 62 homers, faced 256 pitchers/20 teams
2025 Cal Raleigh 60 homers, faced 290 pitchers/28 teams

— Famous birthdays, September 27th:
Dickie Post, 80
Ken Geddes, 79
Mike Schmidt, 76

Steve Kerr, 60
Rob Moore, 57
Gwyneth Paltrow, 53

Chris Herren, 50
Christian Wood, 30
Mitchell Parker, 26

The great actor Wilford Brimley was born 91 years ago today.

— Virginia 46, Florida State 38 OT
Virginia led 14-0 early in the second quarter.
FSU forced OT, scoring a TD with 0:36 left in regulation.
Seminoles ran for 256 yards, outgained Virginia 514-440.
Both teams turned the ball over three times.

— Arizona State 27, TCU 24
Sun Devils scored 10 points in the last 1:50 to pull off a comeback win.
TCU led 17-0 midway thru the second quarter.
ASU outscored the Horned Frogs, 497-269

— Washington Commanders are going with backup QB Marcus Mariota again the week, in Atlanta. Commanders beat Las Vegas 41-24 LW with Mariota under center. Star WR Terry McLaurin is also expected to miss Sunday’s game.

— In the last 25 years, the 2018 Houston Texans are the only team to start a season 0-3 and still make the playoffs.

— Over is 17-5 in Lamar Jackson’s last 22 starts.

— Playoff picture with 2 days left in the regular season:
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cubs, Padres, Reds
AL: Blue Jays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Tigers