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Dating back to August, there’s not a college football team in the country that has improved more than the Florida Gators in the eyes of Las Vegas. 

Former Vegas bookmaker Ed Salmons told us in last week’s “Whispers” that he had already increased the Gators’ power rating by more than a touchdown. 

Then Florida destroyed Ole Miss 52-28. 

“I have Florida and Alabama rated the same right now,” Salmons told me this week. “You stay aggressive with the Florida number because the perception is so high.

“I would have Georgia -5 against Florida for a neutral-site game played tomorrow. It would’ve been close to -14 in the summer.”

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The issue now is that the Gators have finally captured the public’s attention. Florida is as high as -5.5 this Saturday at Mizzou.  

That game would’ve been close to a pick ‘em two weeks ago. 

“Oh, it’s Mizzou or pass,” Salmons said.

Elsewhere, Lincoln Riley lost another massive game at USC, as Oregon went into Southern California and emerged with a 41-27 victory.

Did we learn more about the Ducks or Trojans?

“I think we learned a lot about Oregon’s resilience,” Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel told me. 

“Despite losing their starting quarterback, they still had the depth and toughness to win comfortably and cover the number. While the loss to Oklahoma State was a setback, Oregon showed they remain a dangerous team with the talent to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation if they continue to perform at this level.”

Professional bettor Slice thinks backup quarterback Dylan Raiola is actually better than starting quarterback Dante Moore. 

Is Oregon back-up QB Dylan Raiola better than starter Dante Moore? (Getty Images)

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“Let’s not forget, Raiola was a much better recruit coming out of high school,” Slice said. “Dante Moore’s PR team is just outstanding. I don’t know how he was considered a top-two pick in last year’s NFL Draft.

“He stunk at UCLA, and now he’s a top quarterback at Oregon? Stop.

“It speaks to the skill and speed inside the Oregon system. Quarterbacks that make quick decisions will always thrive there.”

Salmons is on a hell of a run in this column, giving us Ohio State +2 at Texas, Houston +8 against Texas Tech, and Florida -3.5 over Ole Miss the last three weeks.  

Anything this weekend?

“Arizona -7 looks cheap,” he opined. “I make it closer to -10. All Cincinnati does is run the ball. I’m not sure they’re ready to play from behind. Be ready for the Tucson heat, too.”

To the NFL, the Buffalo Bills, Las Vegas Raiders and Minnesota Vikings are all 3-0 ATS this season. Green Bay, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay are 0-3. 

And don’t look now, but all four teams inside the AFC North have the same record at 2-1. 

I didn’t see that one coming. 

The Browns are exceeding expectations through the first few weeks of the NFL season. (Getty Images)

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“The Browns have been the NFL team that has impressed me the most so far this season,” Feazel admitted. 

“Expectations were extremely low entering the year, especially with concerns surrounding an inept offense. However, Todd Monken has done an outstanding job transforming that unit and making this team competitive thus far. 

“While I still don’t view Cleveland as a playoff contender come January, they have shown far more life, confidence and upside than expected, with plenty of encouraging signs emerging through the opening weeks.”

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Who better to weigh in on the Heisman Trophy conversation than a former Heisman winner himself?

Robert Griffin III earned college football’s most prestigious award in 2011, throwing for 4,293 yards and 37 touchdowns while leading the nation with 14.8 yards per completion. Now, Griffin, who serves as an analyst for FOX Sports, analyizing which players are worthy of joining him on the list.

Here are RGIII’s top five Heisman Trophy candidates through Week 5 of the 2026 season:

1. Kamario Taylor, QB, Mississippi State

Kamario Taylor leads the FBS with 14 touchdowns in 2026. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

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Griffin’s take: “The one, the only Kamario Taylor from Mississippi State. Last week, he went 27-for-38 for 360 yards, three touchdowns, and the last one was a 24-yard game-winner with 3:57 left in the game to beat No. 19 Missouri. That’s Mississippi State’s first top-25 win since Dak Prescott in 2014. On the season, he has a 69.2% completion percentage, he’s thrown for 1,192 yards, 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions. … Plus, he’s got another 185 yards rushing yards. He’s ruining the SEC right now.”

2. Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State

Jeremiah Smith broke his own single-game receiving record in Ohio State’s Week 4 win over Illinois. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)

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Griffin’s take: “Let’s just keep it real. This guy is a monster. He could have went pro his freshman year. [He had] 12 catches for 217 yards and four touchdowns against Illinois. Career highs all across the board. This guy is unguardable.”

3. Jadan Baugh, RB, Florida

Jadan Baugh leads FBS with 13 rushing touchdowns. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Griffin’s take: “Florida’s back, y’all. [Baugh had] 29 carries for 142 yards and three touchdowns in an absolute beatdown against Ole Miss. This guy has four straight 130-yard games and 11 touchdowns in four weeks. For the season, he’s averaging 7.2 yards per carry and 150 yards a game. Welcome to the Heisman conversation, Jadan Baugh.”

4. Darian Mensah, QB, Miami (FL)

Darian Mensah leads all FBS players  with 14 touchdown passes. (Photo by Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Griffin’s take: “Once again, [Mensah went] 23-for-27, 338 yards and three passing touchdowns and a rushing score against Central Michigan. I just want to see him do it against better competition because, right now, he’s rewriting all the quarterback record books.”

5. Nate Sheppard, RB, Duke

Nate Sheppard leads all FBS players with 644 rushing yards through four weeks. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

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Griffin’s take: “He leads the FBS in rushing yards. [He had] nine carries against William & Mary, but he turned those nine carries into 116 yards and a score with 12.9 yards per carry. Nate Sheppard, you might not know the name, but this guy’s got game.”

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College sports aren’t exactly slowing down this week.

The Protect College Sports Act passed in an overwhelming “Yes” vote in the Senate on Monday night, College Football Playoff stakeholders are meeting this week in Chicago to discuss expansion, oh, and there’s a full slate of games this weekend. Week 5 features three games with both teams being ranked in the AP’s Top 25, a handful of other ranked teams face potential trap games against some possibly plucky opponents and one school is finally debuting its nearly $900 million stadium on Friday.

Dizzy from all that? Same.

Let’s get into one of the other big storylines this weekend.

The Main Event: Northwestern’s New Stadium

This week made me think back to my first few weeks living in Chicago.

I was a high school sophomore, and I’d only been in town for a few weeks after moving from Washington, D.C., where I’d spent my entire childhood. We had an off day from JV football practice one September Saturday, and my mom snagged tickets for a Vanderbilt-Northwestern football game.

Sure, why not? 

As I looked at Ryan Field that evening, it wasn’t exactly what I’d imagined in checking my second Big Ten football stadium off my list. My parents were Michigan grads, and I’d grown up going to games at the Big House. This was, uh, not exactly that.

No more.

Northwestern debuts the new Ryan Field on Friday when Penn State comes to town — a $862 million project funded in large part from contributions by the Ryan family. 

More crucial, however, is that the project may well be a preview of future college football stadium construction as schools grapple with marrying affordable premium offerings with dwindling attendance.

“I joked for a long time: If we’re right in these bets that are different than the way stadiums normally done, you’ll see echoes of it in some other buildings over time,” Pat Ryan Jr., who has overseen the development of the project, told me. “And if we’re wrong, well, we’ll have a one-of-a-kind stadium because no one will ever do it again.”

I caught up with Ryan — the stadium was named for his father, Pat Ryan Sr., in 1997 after major contributions to the university — this week ahead of the opening of the stadium to talk about the project, why it’s meant so much to his family and why this isn’t just a colossal moment for Northwestern, but one that could signal a shift in how programs build their homes moving forward.

Ben Portnoy: Can you walk me through the genesis of this stadium project and what the vision was for what we’ll see on Friday?

Pat Ryan Jr.: There’s a real, proven, best practices-driven approach to how you build a football stadium. In college, the general rule has been: You either do a big renovation of an old building where you’re adding seats and suites, or if you’re a [Group of Six] or FCS program, you build a more basic but new stadium. That’s been the playbook.

The old Ryan Field, which hosted Northwestern football games.  (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

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In the NFL, you have people building smaller seating capacity, but a larger building and a larger budget. We pursued, for the first time in college, the NFL model. That was a big departure, and I think that was very startling for people. 

Of course, people said, “Will anyone ever do a project this big again?” and, of course, the answer is Nebraska is doing a billion-dollar renovation, and Florida’s doing a billion-and-a-half-dollar renovation. The difference for us isn’t the dollars. It’s actually what we did with them and how we did it. By starting from scratch, it allowed us to really reimagine what it could be like now.  … We decided to do some things very differently, and we made some bets that people would tell us we shouldn’t have made, but I think we feel like those bets are going to pay off.

BP: To that end, what do you see as the most unique features of the building? What makes this so different from other stadiums?

PR: This is a bigger building than the old building. Our ticketed area is 520,000 square feet larger than the old stadium, but we have a capacity that’s 12,500 less. What do we do with that? The answer is by getting rid of the worst seats. I call it the “death of the nosebleed.”

Workers continue their construction of Northwestern University’s Ryan Field in 2025. The stadium’s exterior was complete at this point. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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When you get rid of the nosebleeds, you don’t just get rid of bad seats. But if you’re willing to be bold with it, you actually have an opportunity to get rid of your worst seats, make your good seats great, and it makes your great seats the best anywhere. 

What we did was, not only got rid of bad seats, but that allowed us to push all the other seats forward, and we used an engineering concept called “cantilevering.” Instead of just being a steep rake like you see in a lot of traditional bowls, this has this deck that’s three layers stacked, or it’s like a layer cake. It’s three layers stacked. And we invested in the structural steel to push all of those closer. Our furthest seat on the home sideline is 136 feet from the sideline, and in a traditional stadium like a Notre Dame or a Michigan, that seat would be 235 feet.

BP: The student section setup has also drawn headlines. Can you explain a bit of the design idea there?

PR: We started with each individual fan, and we had a conversation with them, and each group leader said, “What would make their experience magical?” It starts with the student athletes, and, for them, it’s really straightforward. They want to have an energized home field advantage. You start with that. 

They said, “Well, the heartbeat of any college football stadium are the students.” What do they want? Well, they want to matter. They want to be in it. They want to have a great time. They want to be together as a community, and they want to have an impact on the game. 

Now we have a challenge, which is: We have, by far, the smallest student body in the Big Ten, with just a bit over 8,000 students, and so what we’ve done very differently than others is [say]: How do we create a force multiplier for our students? Because when you have 14-, 15-, 20,000 students come to a game, you don’t need a multiplier effect. But we’ve been averaging 1,500 students a game the last couple years, so you need something, so we built this “Wildcat Wall.”

We basically said, “Who are the most intense fans in sports?” If you went to watch the World Cup, you know it’s hard to compete with European football fans because they don’t get amplified sound. They have to bring all the energy and all the noise, and they’re really hardcore, and they do it without the benefits of the technology that we in the U.S. have grown accustomed to. 

We’ve basically imported what is effectively a European soccer concept, European football concept, which is this safe-standing supporter section. … It’s a set of aluminum bleachers that are at a 33-degree angle, 65% slope, and what you’re going to see is that the intensity of putting 2,000 students on top of the end zone where you might normally have 50 is going to bring thunder.

(Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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BP: This project has taken five years, but you’re finally going to unveil it on Friday. What’re you most looking forward to when people get to come see this themselves?

PR: What I’ve really enjoyed with the kind of preview events we’ve done, and I’m going to enjoy even more, is people actually getting in here and getting a chance to see what the building is, what makes it different and how that can be magical.

When you see your seat, and you see how close to the action you are, there’s something magical about that.

Best Deal I Saw This Week

(Photo by Scott Marshall/Getty Images)

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More trophy games coming to college football? Hell yeah.

Wyoming and North Dakota State have dubbed their now-annual matchup the “Battle of the Basins,” and it will be sponsored by North Dakota Petroleum Council.

For all the jokes about oil money in college football, glad Wyoming and North Dakota State are just getting to the point here. The trophy is also going to include a drill bit (!!) — we love to see that.

Great work, everyone involved here.

Best Quote I Saw This Week

“Three wins against these guys. I guess if you’re interested in winning football games, you’re from this area, you should go to Oregon. You want to go to a Chris Brown concert, you should go here.” — Dan Lanning following Oregon’s Week 4 win over USC.

Dan Lanning didn’t exactly, uh, mince words following his latest win over USC on Saturday night. The dirty hit on Dante Moore likely didn’t help the post-game situation either, but the Ducks’ head coach was throwing haymakers in the post-game press conference.

Then again, Oregon has won all three meetings with USC under Lanning. Talk your talk.

More Money In CFB

The Joel Klatt Show

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The Los Angeles Rams, who were historically heavy favorites to win the Super Bowl at the start of the year, are now among the NFL’s early-season bottom feeders with their 1-2 start.

On the surface, that record shouldn’t be cause for concern. In fact, they still hold a 70% chance of reaching the postseason (according to The Athletic) and they have -250 odds to make the playoffs. However, the Rams’ start has been poor enough that the Buffalo Bills have surpassed them as the betting favorite to win it all. 

And the road to the 1-2 start hasn’t been pretty as Sean McVay’s Rams are licking their wounds. They bungled their travel plans to Australia, where they got drilled by the San Francisco 49ers. This past Sunday, they suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos, blowing a 16-0 lead before a questionable defensive pass interference call in the final minutes helped decide the game. 

After apologizing to local media for leaving his media availability early minutes after his team’s loss in Mile High City, the always positive McVay continued to find a silver lining in the disappointing start to his team’s season. 

“The only real growth occurs through some of these adverse moments, and you certainly don’t want it,” McVay told reporters this week. “I know this; we’ve talked a lot about it, and this is when you get a chance to lean in. I love the resiliency of this group.” 

But as McVay searches for the positives, maybe he should be focused on the negatives. I predicted in the offseason that the Rams would not reach the postseason this year before amending that take after the Rams traded for Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald unretired. It’s worth going back and revisiting the reasons for suggesting one of the best rosters put together this century might wind up on the outside looking in this postseason, though. 

Mainly, I pointed to an aging roster, led by a 38-year-old quarterback coming off his best year statistically as a pro — leading to some natural regression, and playing one of the toughest schedules in the league, with the second-most travel miles in the NFL.

Seeing Matthew Stafford wince in pain after throwing an interception and trying to tackle Denver safety Talanoa Hufanga on his return for a score brought back memories of L.A.’s 5-12 Super Bowl hangover after winning it all in 2021. The Rams entered that season with high expectations as they returned the nucleus of that Super Bowl team. Those expectations were squashed, though, when Stafford suffered a back injury that kept him out for the second half of that season. It’s one of the reasons Los Angeles spent a first-round pick on his eventual replacement, Ty Simpson.

And Father Time is undefeated, even if Stafford insists he’s OK. 

“A little elbow, but I came back and threw the ball the rest of the game and I was fine,” Stafford responded when asked after the game about his elbow issue. 

Stafford has unfortunately looked his age this season, failing to play at the MVP level he performed at a year ago. He led the league in passing yards (4,707), passing touchdowns (46) and finished second in passer rating (109.2) in 2025, totaling just eight interceptions last season.

This year through three games, Stafford is third in passing yards (872), tied for ninth in passing touchdowns (6) and 17th in passer rating (88.1). Only Drake Maye (6) has more than Stafford’s four interceptions this season.

Specifically, Stafford struggles when pressured. Stafford is 13-of-36 (36.1%) for 171 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions when pressured, according to Next Gen Stats. He’s been sacked five times in those situations, posting a 28.8 passer rating. 

Last season during his MVP campaign, Stafford completed 84-of-155 (54.2%) of his passes for 1,040 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions when pressured. He was sacked 23 times in those situations, posting an 86.0 passer rating.

Matthew Stafford has struggled with pressure much more this season than he did last year. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

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With the fourth-oldest roster in the NFL, the Rams are already showing their age. Garrett, 30, lasted one game before going on injured reserve to fix a knee injury he aggravated during training camp. Garrett’s missed two games and will miss two more before he’s eligible to come off injured reserve, but could be out longer. Cornerback Jaylen Watson, who was brought in to help revamp the secondary over the offseason, left the loss to the Broncos early due to a shoulder injury and is expected to miss Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Even the young players for the Rams are getting hurt. Physical, but oft-injured No. 1 receiver Puka Nacua has missed the last two games with a groin injury. McVay said Nacua’s expected to return this week, but there was some discussion that the star wide receiver could end up undergoing surgery if the injury persists. Second-year tight end Terrance Ferguson is also expected to miss time due to an ankle injury he suffered in the loss to the Broncos. 

In total, the Rams currently have six players listed on injured reserve, with a few other players (like Ferguson and Watson) set to miss time and could join that list, too. 

Los Angeles is in the middle of a tough, five-game slate to start the year. After losing at Denver, the Rams travel to Philadelphia — a place they have struggled in years past — to face the Eagles. The franchise is 1-5 in games at Philadelphia since 2002, with the lone win coming in the COVID-impacted 2020 season. 

Myles Garrett is set to miss at least two more games after undergoing knee surgery. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

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Then, the Rams head back to the West Coast to host Josh Allen and one of the best teams in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills. Los Angeles could be looking at 1-4 before getting a reprieve by hosting former offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur and the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6. Their schedule is set to get easier in November after closing October with a matchup against the surging Las Vegas Raiders, but they have the Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks (twice) and the 49ers in the final month of the season. 

While missing the playoffs is on the Bingo card, McVay said it’s been a challenging start to the season — and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“A lot of people are afraid to put themselves out there, give everything that you got towards something and if you fall short, you feel that pit in your gut and God dang does it get you,” McVay told reporters this week. “It gets you good, but it’s all about the response. 

“I’m excited to be on this journey with this group. I love the men in this locker room. I love our coaching staff. I love the staff and our ownership group. I just want to do my part to try to influence and affect positive changes. These represent opportunities to be what you say. I see better than I hear, and talk is cheap. I want us to be able to move forward the right way, go back to work and be solution-oriented.” 

  Old-School AFC West Rumble Returns

Hall of Fame offensive lineman Will Shields played for the Kansas City Chiefs when the Raiders were the big bully on the block. Back then, as a young rookie, Shields was blocking for fellow Hall of Famer Marcus Allen as the running back took it to his former team, the Raiders.

So, Shields, recently added to the Hall of Fame selection committee, understands what Raiders Week means as the Chiefs head to Las Vegas in a battle of the 3-0 AFC West rivals.

“Who do you pick as your nemesis? Who do you pick as the gold standard that you want to be better than? I think that’s what happened, especially in the 1970s and 80s,” Shields told me. “Those were the teams you wanted to be like and beat up on – and show that you’re just as good. And that’s how you set up that mantra.” 

Will Shields is one of 56 Hall of Famers who’ve participated in the Chiefs-Raiders rivalry. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

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These heated AFC West rivals have been competing since 1960, with the Raiders owning the series in the ‘70s and ’80s before the Chiefs’ recent domination following Andy Reid’s arrival and Patrick Mahomes’ ascension. The Chiefs have also won 16 of the last 20 games and nine straight AFC West titles before the Denver Broncos won the AFC West last season. 

But in their shared history, this is the first time the Chiefs and Raiders have each begun the season with a 3-0 record. The two teams combined for nine wins last year, both missing the playoffs. However, the Chiefs rebounded nicely from a 6-11 record, with new addition Kenneth Walker III leading the way. And the Raiders surprised the league by going undefeated to start the year under new head coach Klint Kubiak, with 38-year-old Kirk Cousins expertly guiding the offense. 

So, Sunday’s game will serve as a real barometer for where Las Vegas stands amid its surprising start, just like the Raiders’ matchups with the Chiefs did decades ago. Raiders icon and Hall of Fame cornerback Michael Haynes told me he could count on a chess match twice a year facing the Chiefs during his time with the Raiders in the 80s.

“Playing against them and doing really well, it was going to take coaches calling the right plays, everybody playing effectively and not letting them do what they’ve been doing (laughs),” Haynes told me. “They were going to come out and play their ‘A’ game, and they knew that’s what they were going to have to do to beat us.”

That feeling is held by current Raiders stars, too. Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby enjoys matching up against Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Crosby has sacked Mahomes five times, the most of any NFL player.  

“He knows what it is,” Crosby said. “It’s war — there’s no other words needed. It’s as simple as that. I can’t wait.” 

Maxx Crosby has put up strong sack numbers against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in his career. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)

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And as the Raiders gear up for war, former members of the Chiefs are excited to see what unfolds in Sunday’s game.

“It’s pretty cool that it’s being revived,” Shields told me. “It gives someone an opportunity to play hard, beat up on each other and enjoy the banter back and forth. It’s not a mean-spirited rivalry, but you’re trying to control the AFC West.” 

Los Angeles Chargers safety Genesis Smith, a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft, turned heads with his two-interception performance against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills — part of five turnovers generated by the Bolts’ defense in their loss. Smith was part of an entire University of Arizona secondary selected in this year’s draft — a rare accomplishment for a college football school. The Wildcats joined LSU (2020) and The Ohio State University (2017) as the only schools to accomplish this feat. 

Along with Smith, Treydan Stukes (second round) and Dalton Johnson (fifth) went to the Raiders, while Michael Dansby went in the seventh round to the Seattle Seahawks. At 6-2 and 202 pounds, Smith tested well at the NFL Scouting Combine, posting a 42.5 vertical and a 10-foot, 8-inch broad jump. Smith finished with five career interceptions for the Wildcats.

FOX Sports NFL draft analyst Rob Rang, who also works as a scout for the CFL’s B.C. Lions, evaluated Smith out of college and thinks the Chargers selected a mature, versatile playmaking safety who will continue to develop. 

“He’s an explosive athlete who tested really well, and you can see it on tape,” Rang told me. “He’s got range and that classic size. He’s got above-average size, speed and range at the free safety position. And it gives you an awful lot of flexibility for the coverages that you want to run with him.” 

Rang noted a little inconsistency in Smith’s tackling in his tape from college but says that’s something he can clean up if he’s willing to work on it at the next level. 

Rang said, off the field, Smith fits the Chargers’ profile of wanting mature athletes who handle their business away from the facility.

“Talking to some of the scouts there, they just described him as really mature, on and off the field,” Rang told me. “I know with the Chargers that’s a big deal for them. They place a high priority on guys being high-character dudes.”

  Top 5 On The West Side

5. Denver Broncos 

The Rams dropped out of the top five with a road loss to the Broncos, who’ve picked up two straight impressive wins. Quarterback Bo Nix now has seven fourth-quarter comebacks and nine game-winning drives since the start of last season, which is the most in the NFL in that span. 

4. Las Vegas Raiders

Free-agent pickup linebacker Nakobe Dean has been the anchor of the Las Vegas defense, leading the team in tackles with 27. But he’s also tied for the league lead in fumbles with three. 

3. Seattle Seahawks

Sam Darnold surprisingly struggled in his return from injury with a two-interception performance against the Commanders. Jaxon Smith-Njigba continues to dominate, though, logging his third straight 120-plus-yard game to open the season. 

2. San Francisco 49ers

Brock Purdy is playing at an MVP level, but will he have to complete passes to himself by the end of the year with this injury-plagued roster? Star wide receiver Mike Evans joined the ever-growing list of Niners receivers to go down with an injury in their Week 3 win over the Cardinals. 

1. Kansas City Chiefs

Kenneth Walker has made Mahomes’ job easier, and the defense is playing better than expected. Walker’s 442 scrimmage yards are the third-most in the league through the first three weeks. 

“He understands what’s going on. He needs to take care of the ball. There’s some things fundamentally where we can focus on and we’re going to continue to give him the ball, we trust him. We know that he’s going to work hard to do his part as well.”

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald on rookie running back Jadarian Price, who’s already lost two fumbles this season.

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Dan Lanning is having flashbacks to Oregon’s 56-22 loss to Indiana in the 2025 College Football Playoff semifinals. Except they’re colored in blue and gold. 

With a bye week and change to spare before the 15th-ranked Ducks (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) host No. 23 UCLA (4-0, 2-0) on Saturday, Oct. 10th, Lanning is preparing for a team and a coach he’s very familiar with.

“We’re about to play a UCLA team that reminds me a lot of Indiana from last year,” Lanning said at his Tuesday media availability. 

To his point, the similarities between UCLA and Indiana are eerie. Both had flailing football programs at schools known for men’s basketball. Both are being rebuilt by a coach who came over from James Madison. 

To turn around their program, the Hoosiers plucked Curt Cignetti from JMU after he helped the school jump to the FBS level. Two years later, the Bruins hired Chesney after he led the Dukes to a CFP appearance. Cignetti brought his coordinators Bryant Haines and Mike Shanahan from JMU to Indiana as Chesney did with Colin Hitschler and Dean Kennedy. Cignetti brought 13 players from JMU to Indiana ahead of his first season. Chesney brought 11. Cignetti’s Hoosiers’ have carried over 20 transfers in both seasons as he identified players that matched his system, rather than superstars. Chesney brought in 43 transfers for his first season at UCLA, synchronizing quickly for an exciting start to the season. 

“Why I draw some comparisons to Indiana — a lot of guys traveled with (the coach) to their next stop,” Lanning said. “Extremely well-coached team. You’ve got two coordinators that were with (Chesney) before, so they’ve been together for a while, a lot of continuity.”

In Cignetti’s first season at Indiana, the Hoosiers outdid expectations, qualifying for the College Football Playoff and competing valiantly against eventual-runners up Notre Dame. The following year, Indiana had a perfect season and defeated Miami in the CFP national championship. Now, in Bob Chesney’s first season at UCLA, he and the Bruins are surprising everyone, dominating each opponent they’ve faced to achieve a 4-0 record heading into their bye week. 

Bob Chesney and UCLA defeated Maryland 54-3 in College Park last Saturday. (Photo by Jim Sabo/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

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Ironically, Oregon’s path in the CFP last season included matchups with Chesney and JMU and Cignetti and Indiana. The Ducks defeated the Dukes 51-34 before falling to Indiana in the semifinals. So if Lanning believes this UCLA team reminds him of that Indiana team, he clearly holds some fear that the Bruins could defeat the Ducks like the Hoosiers did last year. 

“They’ve got a lot of different looks, and they certainly present some challenges.”

To evaluate the Bruins, Lanning said, he’s looking back at Oregon’s matchup with JMU in the CFP, but also the “body of work” UCLA has put on tape throughout its 4-0 start. The Bruins have defeated each of their four opponents in different ways. UCLA is currently tied for the third-most points (44.8 per game) and forced the most amount of turnovers (13) among Big Ten teams. 

“They got some players that can play ball,” Lanning said. 

Outside of football, Lanning holds respect for Chesney as the coach reached out, offering his help to Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, who sustained a concussion in the Ducks game against USC last Saturday.

“He texted me as (the Bruins) were traveling back to LA and said, ‘Hey, if you need my help with Dante or anything, and he’s still in LA, I’ll go check on this guy. I’m giving the team off tomorrow; let me know.’ It speaks to the kind of person he is,” Lanning said on the “Jim Rome Show.”

It’s a class-act move from Chesney, but when Oregon’s game against UCLA kicks off next Saturday, the comparisons and narratives will be put to the side as two sides with a brief, yet deep history, face off. 

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The MLB Wild Card Series continues with the Boston Red Sox trying to keep their season alive against their biggest rival, the New York Yankees. Polymarkets is giving new users a $50 bonus when they use promo code FOX for the AL Wild Card game.

The Yankees exploded for nine runs led by Ben Rice’s six RBIs in the rout of the Red Sox last night. Now, they look to send the Red Sox back to Boston. With two of MLB’s biggest rivals battling for a spot in the AL Division Series, there’s plenty of postseason stakes and trade value for this Wild Card series.

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Game 1: The Yankees shut out the Red Sox 9-0.

Wednesday, Sept. 30
Game 2: Red Sox @ Yankees (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Peacock)

Thursday, Oct. 1
Game 3: Red Sox @ Yankees (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Peacock, if necessary)

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Dylan Raiola was texting Dan Lanning all week.

He heard one thing about USC in a press conference and spotted something else while watching film, and wanted his head coach to know. Raiola, Oregon’s backup quarterback, was unlikely to take a snap against the Trojans last Saturday. But he wanted to be helpful and proactive, just in case.

Oregon quarterback Dylan Raiola threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns in the Ducks’ Week 4 win over USC. (Photo by Ben Liebenberg/Getty Images)

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The best backups, whether they’re quarterbacks or play another position, often say they prepare as if they’re going to start. They study and stay ready even without first-team reps. 

We don’t always see that effort pay off. But in Raiola’s case, it did. 

The Nebraska transfer was thrust into Saturday’s game against USC early in the second quarter after Oregon starter Dante Moore took a frightening hit to the head. Moore, a Heisman Trophy candidate and projected first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, had led the Ducks to the College Football Playoff semifinal last season.

After receiving medical attention for several minutes, Moore was taken off the field on a stretcher before leaving in an ambulance. It was later announced that he had suffered a concussion, but did not have any additional injuries. On Wednesday, Lanning said that Moore is “healthy and doing well.”

Moore and Raiola are close friends and have developed something of a mentor-mentee relationship. So while Raiola was shaken up after seeing his teammate go down, there wasn’t much time to dwell on it. He had to lock in and take over.

“Every guy had faith in him,” Lanning told reporters after the Ducks’ 41-27 win at the LA Coliseum. “He was ready for his moment.”

Raiola’s story is well-known by now. Originally from Buford, Georgia, he was a five-star prospect in the 2024 class who initially committed to play for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs before flipping to play for Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers. Raiola started 22 games at Nebraska until he broke his leg last November, ironically against USC. He transferred to Oregon in the offseason, and shortly after, Moore announced he would be returning for his senior year.

This kind of situation is unusual in the transfer portal and NIL era, when players often change schools in search of more playing time or better monetary opportunities. Coming off a major injury, Raiola knew he could learn from Moore, who had gone through a similar transition after transferring from UCLA to Oregon ahead of the 2024 season and sitting behind Dillon Gabriel.

“They want each other to be the best QB they can both possibly be,” said former Oregon Hall of Fame running back Kenjon Barner, who remains closely connected to the program. “I don’t think there’s another QB room in the country that has what this room has in two starters. When you go back to Dillon Gabriel and Dante, it was the same type of situation. The way their relationship is, [Gabriel] laid the foundation; Dante stood on that foundation.”

Raiola had barely seen the field this season, earning his first meaningful snaps when he completed 11-of-11 passing attempts in garbage time of Oregon’s 84-0 rout of Portland State in Week 3. He certainly wasn’t expecting his next opportunity to come against USC.

“It’s complicated,” Raiola said following the win over the Trojans. “You don’t ever want to see someone be hurt, especially how much [Moore] means to me, how much he teaches me, how much he means to the team.”

It was an emotional few moments after Moore was carted off the field. Lanning said everybody wanted to “go get in a street fight,” but the Ducks remained composed and chose to honor their teammate by winning the game. Raiola leaned on the preparation he’d done earlier in the week, while offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer adjusted the game plan to better suit his backup’s skill set. 

On Raiola’s second play of the game, he found wide receiver Evan Stewart for a 3-yard touchdown pass to give Oregon a 10-7 lead.

There were only a few times Saturday night when Raiola made a decision and Lanning thought, “OK, that’s not where we wanted the ball to go.” For the most part, Lanning was impressed by Raiola’s ability to execute the offense, get rid of the ball when necessary and avoid taking sacks. He finished the night 19-of-25 passing for 289 yards and two touchdowns.

“Dylan has never stopped seeing himself as the guy,” Barner said. “To step into that spot with so much pressure speaks volumes about the professional that Dylan Raiola is. When you watch that kid play, he doesn’t allow anything to affect him. He remains the same player every week – calm, cool, collected, completely in control of the offense.”

That kind of poise and confidence is a reflection of the growth Raiola has made since first arriving in Eugene.

“I’m very proud of Dylan,” Lanning said. “That moment happens in sports a lot of times when guys aren’t ready and that becomes the story. And regardless of how Dylan would have performed, like, I love that guy. He works so hard – so incredibly hard – to put himself in that position to be successful. He came in and he operated, man, and we’ve seen that go other ways before.

“To know he put in the work, the prep, was ready in his moment, and then didn’t come in and try to force it, he just played the game, man,” Lanning added. “I can’t say enough great things about Dylan and how he operates. That’s why he came here.”

On Monday, Matt Rhule, who coached Raiola for two seasons at Nebraska, was asked about his former quarterback during his weekly press conference.

“There’s no doubt that Dylan is an elite quarterback,” Rhule told reporters.

After rallying to beat Boise State in its season opener and falling to Oklahoma State the following week, Oregon has rebounded to put itself in position to make another CFP run. The Ducks are now 4-1 and ranked No. 15 in the country. They’re idle this week before diving into the heart of their conference schedule – Oregon hosts No. 23 UCLA on Oct. 10 and visits No. 5 Ohio State on Nov. 7.

There’s no timetable yet for Moore’s return. But if Raiola is needed again, he’s shown he’s ready.

“I never knew when my moment was going to happen or what to expect,” Raiola said. “The ultimate goal is to win, no matter how it happens, no matter, sadly, whoever goes down. The game of football doesn’t feel sorry for us. We’ve got to step up and keep fighting and those guys in that locker room did just that. Coming in on the road and doing what we did is not normal.”

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The Atlanta Falcons go as Bijan Robinson goes.

Robinson rumbled for 194 rushing yards in Atlanta’s first win of the season, a 35-14 triumph over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in a primetime showing in Week 3. Robinson was buoyed by the return of Michael Penix Jr., who posted 256 passing yards and a touchdown, creating balance in Atlanta’s offense.

But it’s Robinson who is the straw that stirs the drink and is the engine of Atlanta’s offense. Since 2023, Robinson tops the league with 6,115 scrimmage yards. He also leads the league this season with 467 scrimmage yards, showing out when the rest of the Falcons’ offense looked lackluster in the first two weeks of the year. 

Robinson’s explosiveness and ability to run through trash stand out. He’s averaging 5.3 yards per carry and, according to Next Gen Stats, 4.9 yards after contact per carry — second among running backs with at least 25 carries this season.

Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski should know how to take advantage of Robinson’s unique skill set. The Cleveland Browns’ offense Stefanski oversaw as head coach finished in the top 12 in rushing in four of his six years at the helm, with Nick Chubb shining out of the backfield. 

But Robinson could reach heights that Chubb didn’t, if he hasn’t already. Currently, Robinson is fourth in Offensive Player of the Year odds at DraftKings Sportsbook (+1200) behind Kenneth Walker III, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jahmyr Gibbs. Robinson will need more performances like the one against the Packers to stay in the running with some of the top playmakers in the league.

Let’s take a closer look at my picks for the top three of all the major awards heading into Week 4.

Offensive Player Of The Year

The skinny: The Kansas City Chiefs are getting the best version of Kenneth Walker through three games, who has 442 scrimmage yards and four scores. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, meanwhile, has started that year by recording at least 120 receiving yards in each of the Seattle Seahawks’ first three games as he looks to become the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons in over two decades.

Jahmyr Gibbs also deserves a mention here, as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing has done a nice job of creating innovative ways to get the dynamic runner in space. Gibbs has forced 29 missed tackles this season. 

Defensive Player Of The Year

The skinny: Greg Rousseau leads the NFL in sacks (6) and tackles for loss (8). He also has three forced fumbles, which is tied with Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Nakobe Dean for the league lead. 

Will Anderson and T.J. Watt are among the league’s top pass rushers again, at least to start the season. Anderson has four sacks (2.5 came in the Houston Texans’ Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts) and T.J. Watt has 3.5 sacks.

Dallas Turner also deserves a mention. He leads the league in quarterback pressures (25) and has 3.5 sacks on the year, greatly benefiting from defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ blitz-happy scheme. 

Coach Of The Year

The skinny: Few NFL observers expected first-year head coaches in Klint Kubiak and Todd Monken to have their teams atop the division at this point of the season, and both have done it with veteran quarterbacks considered past their prime. Kirk Cousins is tied for the league lead in passing touchdowns with nine, and Deshaun Watson has stayed healthy and is playing efficient football in Cleveland for the first time since the trade.

Kevin O’Connell, meanwhile, has yet to get Kyler Murray on track. But the Minnesota Vikings are the only undefeated team in the NFC North, and their start is too strong to ignore. 

Offensive Rookie Of The Year

The skinny: Kenyon Sadiq has been a revelation for the Jets. The athletic tight end out of Oregon had his first 100-yard receiving effort as a pro, posting seven catches for 105 receiving yards and a score in a close loss to Detroit. 

Denzel Boston continues to show explosive playmaking ability. The Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver leads all rookies in receiving yards (195), logging long touchdown grabs in each of the first two weeks of the season.

But Jeremiyah Love leads all rookies in scrimmage yards (204) after a solid performance against San Francisco in Week 3, putting up 109 total yards.

Defensive Rookie Of The Year

The skinny: Hezekiah Moses leads all rookies in interceptions (3) and pass breakups (4). And he has been one of the reasons the Raiders’ ball-hawking defense is tops in the NFL in takeaways (9). Genesis Smith moved into the top three on the strength of a two-interception effort against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. 

Miami Dolphins linebacker Jacob Rodriguez also deserves some credit, totaling six combined tackles — including three tackles for loss — and an interception in a tough loss to Kansas City. David Bailey should get a mention as well, leading all rookies in sacks with two, giving the New York Jets some solid pass-rushing ability. 

MVP

The skinny: Patrick Mahomes continues to impress less than a year after tearing his ACL. He helped the Chiefs improve to 3-0 with a 246-yard, two-touchdown performance in a 24-10 win over the Dolphins, and he’s now top five in passing yards (812) and passing touchdowns (7). 

All Jared Goff does is put up impressive numbers. The Lions’ quarterback is second in the league in passer rating (116.1), with eight touchdown passes and no interceptions. 

Brock Purdy leads the league in passer rating and touchdown passes. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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But Brock Purdy’s numbers largely stand alone to start the season. He hasn’t been sacked in three games and is the only quarterback with multiple touchdown passes and a passer rating of at least 100 in each of the first three weeks of the season. Purdy also leads the league in passer rating (133.1) and is tied with Cousins for the league lead in touchdown passes with nine. 

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September tells you who’s good. October tells you who’s great.

It’s the month when hot starts get tested, soft schedules run out and the sample size gets big enough to matter. Across FOX Sports’ biggest franchises, October is when the season stops being a preview and starts to count.

In MLB, the postseason is underway, with the division series set to begin Saturday, October 3. Every pitch matters more now than any other point in the season, and the World Series will be decided before the month ends.

In the NFL, October is a month of validation. September success can be misleading, but should a team be able to sustain it, a showdown can feel like a postseason preview. The month brings the first 49ers-Seahawks game and potential Super Bowl glimpses like Bills at Rams and Chiefs at Seahawks.

In college football, October is when seasons can be made or ruined, and games include Ohio State-Indiana, Florida-Texas and Alabama-Tennessee. The College Football Playoff picture will begin to take shape in a real way, and the true Heisman Trophy frontrunners start to emerge.

Here’s what our writers are watching, and what October will reveal.

No Second Chances In October

For six months, Major League Baseball has been building toward October.

The standings are wiped clean. Cinderella stories are born. Evil empires are despised. Every pitch is consequential; there are no mulligans. This is when forgotten bench players have the chance to become postseason legends. Only the most ruthless will survive.

The 12-team field is set, and the usual suspects are here. The Dodgers are back, looking to become the first team to three-peat since the 1998-2000 Yankees. Two-way icon Shohei Ohtani is once again carrying the weight of enormous expectations into the postseason. 

The Yankees are back, too, and they’re forced to begin the playoffs without their three-time MVP, Aaron Judge. His multiple injuries limited him to just 66 games this season. The Red Sox managed to turn their disastrous season around in late June and made a surprising push to qualify for a Wild Card Series matchup against their rival Yankees.

The Padres return to the postseason for another October run. San Diego is still chasing its first World Series championship in franchise history. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

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The Padres, starring a lights-out weapon in elite closer Mason Miller, return for another October run. San Diego is still chasing its first World Series championship in franchise history. The Brewers enter as the National League’s top seed with plenty to prove, particularly if they’re actually capable of defeating the Dodgers this time. Meanwhile, the Phillies and Braves start October off with a win-or-go-home game 3, another dramatic episode of a division rivalry that has become an October staple.

Then there are the teams trying to change their place in baseball history. The Guardians are back after another late-season push. The Cubs are hoping their success during the regular season, where Chicago had the highest scoring offense, will translate on the biggest stage. The Rays are all but unbeatable at home. The White Sox, who finished the 2024 season with 121 losses that broke the modern-day single-season record, are a team of misfits showing the world why they believe they can win it all just two years later.

Across the bracket, every contender understands one thing. Whatever happened before the playoffs matters only as much as players allow it to. That’s the magic — and cruelty — of this month.

Pitcher Erick Fedde and his Chicago White Sox won the franchise’s first postseason series since 2005, beating the Astros in the AL Wild Card. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

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A dominant regular season can disappear in as little as three games. A sputtering lineup can catch fire at exactly the right time. Rookies can become heroes. Superstars can spend an entire series searching for one big swing. A single pitch, a special moment, can change an entire franchise.

The Wild Card Series starts the chaos before the calendar officially flips to October. Then comes the Division Series, the Championship Series and, finally, the Fall Classic. By the time October ends, baseball will have its answer.

One team will have survived all of it. Everyone else will be left wondering what could have been. — Deesha Thosar

Time To Prove September Wasn’t A Fluke

What does October mean in the NFL?

It’s a month of validation. September success can be fleeting, but sustain it into Halloween and it’s not a costume.

Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers are undefeated, but their October schedule includes the Seahawks. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

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It’s a month in the middle, not as oppressively hot as September 1 p.m. kickoffs in Florida, not as frigid as December in Buffalo or Green Bay. Baseball is ending, hockey and basketball are just beginning, but football finds itself in October.

A huge game in September is a throwback to last year’s playoffs, but a showdown in October can feel like a postseason preview. October brings us the first 49ers-Seahawks game and potential Super Bowl glimpses, like Bills at Rams and Chiefs at Seahawks. A year ago, the Patriots and Broncos were ordinary 2-2 teams when October arrived, but were 6-2 contenders when it ended.

Denver coach Sean Payton is an ordinary coach in September, with barely a winning record in his career, but in October, he’s 54-17, winning 76% of his games for the best mark in NFL history. October was Tom Brady’s best month — 28 more career touchdowns, 17 fewer interceptions than he would total in December, and yet his teams somehow had a better record in December. That might go back to frigid and handling cold from experience.

What will we learn in October? How many undefeated teams will survive the month, and how many winless teams will still be that way? Which struggling teams, already written off, will get up off the mat? 

November opens with the Chargers at the Rams at the site of this year’s Super Bowl — a month ago, you could have seen that as a postseason preview, but that seems farfetched already. Will Bears-Seahawks on Monday, November 2, end up being the massive prime-time bout it looks to be right now? October will let us know. — Greg Auman

CFP, Heisman Contenders And Pretenders Emerge

For college football, October has become a tree-shaking month in a sport that counts going undefeated as a mere metric for consideration. 

With more than a third of the season gone and every single team worthy of inclusion in the College Football Playoff conversation beginning to play conference games — many against ranked opponents who have managed to remain undefeated or suffer just one loss. 

Josh Hoover and the Indiana are aiming to defend both the Hoosiers’ Big Ten title as well as their national title. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

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October 17 might be the most pivotal Saturday in the sport, with Associated Press poll-ranked No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Indiana playing to prove who the best team in the Big Ten is this season. In the SEC, No. 8 Florida takes on No. 1 Texas for a resurgence for the former and conference domination for the latter, and both No. 7 Alabama and No. 17 Tennessee face off for what could prove to be a CFP de facto elimination game.

And to think of all of this comes before Ohio State travels to No. 18 USC and Florida plays No. 2 Georgia on October 31 for what will surely be games that influence not just the CFP but coaching legacies, notably Lincoln Riley’s.

Yes, October is tree-shaking time in college football. Let’s see who drops off, and who stays put. 

As much as this month is important for establishing something like a decent pencil sketch for the 12-team CFP picture, it’s also the first month when Heisman Trophy frontrunners in September begin to fade, and late-breakers make a move to the front of the race. In the Big Ten, all eyes are on Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith — a sure top contender for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top wide receiver, and a Heisman Trophy away from immortality in the sport. For two years, I’ve written and said Smith is the best player in the sport. With three of Ohio State’s four games in October coming against top-25 programs, he’ll once again have a chance to prove it. — RJ Young

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Joey Porter Jr. has not played this season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it didn’t look like he was close to seeing the field. He was ruled out with a back injury ahead of Thursday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns.

Well, Porter will reportedly not even be part of the Steelers organization for that game.

According to Tom Pelissero, Porter is going to be traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a 2028 second-round pick and a 2027 sixth.

It’s no surprise that the Cowboys have made a big move. Dallas hired defensive coordinator Christian Parker from the Eagles to revamp a unit that significantly held the team back last season. Through three games, though, it doesn’t look like the defense has greatly improved.

Last season, when the Cowboys got off to a slow start, they traded a first- and second-round pick to the Jets for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The deal has worked out well in that Williams has continued playing at a high level, but the defense as a whole still needs to improve.

Since his rookie season in 2023, Joey Porter Jr. has been the Steelers’ most consistent defensive back. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

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Dallas is coming off a 34-31 loss to the Ravens that saw quarterback Lamar Jackson deliver late heroics to set up a game-winning 56-yard field goal. The drive started with just 7 seconds remaining.

The 26-year-old Porter started all 30 games he appeared in over the past two seasons for Pittsburgh, establishing himself as a very good cornerback in the NFL. Entering the final year of his rookie contract, Porter wanted a new deal. He was on the physically unable to perform list during camp.

The cornerback market was reset during the offseason, with the Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon getting a four-year deal worth $132 million in August. The next month, Patriots standout Christian Gonzalez got $135 million over four years.

Both Witherspoon and Gonzalez, like Porter, were drafted in 2023. The difference is that they were first-round picks, which means there was an option for a fifth year on their rookie contracts. Assuming those were picked up, they could not hit free agency until after the 2027 season.

Porter was a second-round pick in 2023, the first pick of the round, by the Steelers. This was firmly the final year of his contract.

This is the second time that these two teams have made a trade for an established Steelers starter. Dallas acquired offensive tackle Broderick Jones and a fourth-round pick in late August for a third and sixth.

Pittsburgh sent another key player to Dallas back in May 2025, when wide receiver George Pickens was sent to the Cowboys in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth.

Porter’s dad, linebacker Joey Porter, famously played for the Steelers from 1999-2006 and won Super Bowl XL with the team.

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