The ball traveled 396 feet off the bat of Brewers rookie Cooper Pratt and into the left-field bleachers in the 12th inning at Tropicana Park, seeming less like a floating orb and more like a darting dagger delivered directly to the hearts of Rays’ fans. But Tampa Bay wasn’t ready for its season to end.
These Rays can fight back, too.
The Milwaukee Brewers will have to wait for their World Series championship celebration.
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field on Ben Williamson’s walk-off single, avoiding elimination and forcing a Game 5 on Wednesday.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays watched the Brewers dugout spill onto the field and celebrate on their home turf. No, it wasn’t the final out of the World Series.
Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt had just taken an Ian Seymour sweeper and parked it in the left-field seats to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead with three outs to go. It was the top of the 12th inning of a four-plus hour game, and both the Brewers and Rays were at their wits’ end.
But only Milwaukee still had breathing room. Tampa Bay did not have that luxury after playing its sloppiest baseball of the year in the first three games of the Fall Classic. The Rays had backed themselves into a 3-0 corner because of it.
The Rays knew they had to stun the Brewers and shock the world to make the unlikeliest of comebacks.
“That’s not going to bring us down,” Rays third baseman Junior Caminero said of what he was thinking as he watched the Brewers congratulate Pratt after he crossed home plate. “Just keep going. The game’s not over until you get that 27th out. Keep adding pressure and try to win the game.”
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
The Rays had no choice but to remember who they were: the best team in the American League. They’re the well-rounded Rays with the killer instinct, defensive savvy and excellent pitching depth that spent the regular season and most of this October dominating their opponents. In the end, it was better late than never.
Finally, the Rays showed the fight that got them here.
“We had to band together in that last inning,” Rays left fielder Chandler Simpson told me. “That fact that we were able to get the leadoff guy on and pass the baton, it showed the camaraderie we had all year.”
Caminero led off the bottom of the 12th by reaching base on a tough fielding error by Brewers third baseman Joey Ortiz. If there’s one thing to know about this Rays team when it’s playing at its best, it’s that when they’re awarded with an extra out, they will punish you for it.
Instantly, the energy in the building shifted. Well past midnight, Tropicana Field was still packed to the brim with a sell-out crowd of 40,514 that featured a mix of Rays fans and Brewers fans. The former made themselves heard and rallied behind Tampa Bay. The latter went silent. Rays players said they noticed this, and they used it to keep their energy up.
After Caminero lit the fuse, the rest of the Rays’ lineup came to life. Catcher Liam Hicks sliced a single to left field off left-hander Shane Drohan and moved the tying run to third. Center fielder Jonny DeLuca tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single to center. Simpson loaded the bases on another single to center. The Rays had the winning run on third, with no outs in the frame.
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Rays manager Kevin Cash played his final card of the night by sending his final bench player, infielder Ben WIlliamson, to the plate to pinch-hit for Victor Mesa Jr. That was it. Tampa Bay had been battling Milwaukee for four hours and 20 minutes, and there was no other player left on the bench.
Williamson swung at Drohan’s first pitch, a 96.2 mph belt-high sinker that caught the outside corner of the plate, and hit it to shallow right field, just beyond the infield dirt. Backup catcher Nick Fortes came home from third, pointed his finger toward the sky, and sprinted for right field, where Tampa Bay’s entire dugout dog-piled over Williamson and celebrated until they couldn’t hear their own thoughts.
The Rays walked it off in a 4-3 win.
“It’s what you dream of growing up,” Williamson said. “You play Wiffle ball in the backyard with your friends, and you’re dreaming of hitting a walk-off ball in the World Series. The way the team fought tonight to get me into that situation and to have runners on, and just to have that moment for me was huge for them.”
Added Rays closer Bryan Baker: “The versatility we have, the depth we have, it’s some of the best I’ve ever been around. Tonight was just an encapsulation of that, along with the character we have in this room and how gritty we are as a team and never out of a fight.”
The Rays played tough for 12 innings in a do-or-die World Series Game 4. They emptied their bench. They refused to let the Pratt home run bring their energy down. And they showed up in the 12th with the concentration it takes to finally scratch a win against a historically elite Milwaukee team. The Rays finally proved that, all along, they have what it takes to beat the Brewers.
Now they just have to do that three more times, straight through.
“We knew coming into this game that it was probably going to be that way, that it takes everyone,” Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said. “This roster, I feel like we use pretty much every guy every day, even in the regular season. So that’s no surprise here.
“It’s going to take that to beat this team. It was good to see a well-executed game all around. I still think we’d like to see more opportunities to score more runs here throughout the middle and second half of the game especially. So, hopefully, tomorrow we can come out and give ourselves a lead and cushion and keep adding on.”
(Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Rays right-hander Nick Martinez, who pitched the sixth and seventh inning in relief on Tuesday, thinks he won’t have a voice after Tuesday night’s walk-off hysteria. Martinez was one of seven arms the Rays deployed to stifle the Brewers.
“I love the way we fought from beginning to end,” Martinez told me. “We showed our true nature today and we ended up on top. We know we can build off this. This is the type of energy we’ve been playing with all year. Everyone on the roster has contributed to us being here. That’s what it’s going to take to beat these guys.”
Only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have won a postseason series after being down 3-0. And that was in the ALCS against the Yankees. No team in the history of the sport has come back to win the World Series after being backed into a 3-0 deficit.
When Caminero was asked if the Rays could become the first, he said: “100 percent.”
Why?
“Because,” Caminero said, “We are the best team in the American League.”
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
They might barely be hanging on, but the Rays are still very much alive. They needed one win to get their swagger back, and opening the door for these gritty Rays was the last thing the Brewers wanted to do. Tampa Bay will try to keep their season going behind their ace, right-hander Drew Rasmussen, on Wednesday in another do-or-die Game 5. After the pandemonium of Game 4’s extra-inning walk-off win, it’s a wonder how anyone in the Rays organization will be able to get some sleep to come back and do it all again.
So how do the Rays come down from that ultimate high of finally capturing their first World Series win?
“You don’t come down from this high,” Martinez said. “You keep going. You keep riding it. You keep fighting every pitch.”
The Milwaukee Brewers lead the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in the World Series and can win the first title in franchise history in Game 5 on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Tampa Bay stayed alive with a 4-3 win in 12 innings in Game 4 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, ending Milwaukee’s eight-game postseason winning streak. The Rays are the 11th team to force a Game 5 after trailing a best-of-seven series 3-0, and another win would send the series to Game 6 on Friday, Oct. 30, at American Family Field.
Jacob Misiorowski starts Game 5 for the Brewers, and the Rays have not named a starter. Below are the details on how to watch.
Three undefeated teams remain, and a new group of two- and three-loss teams have entered the College Football Playoff conversation after Week 8.
Indiana made a strong case for the No. 1 seed with its gritty road win over Michigan. But who takes the No. 2 slot, between one-loss teams like Georgia and Ohio State? Which Group of Six squad earns the No. 12 seed? FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt has the answers, as he updated his 12-team CFP bracket on the latest episode of “The Joel Klatt Show”.
Here are Klatt’s updated College Football Playoff projections.
1.
Klatt’s thoughts: “So who’s the No. 1 seed in all of this? Well, Miami will have lost. Georgia would have two losses. So I’m looking at the Big Ten champion, Indiana Hoosiers. Their only loss would be to Ohio State. They would have avenged that loss in the conference championship game. And in this scenario – if Ohio State were to win out, with a Miami loss to Notre Dame – [Indiana] would be the No. 1 team in the country in the Big Ten championship game. Which means Indiana would, for the second straight year, be the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff.”
2.
Klatt’s thoughts: “So who gets the second seed? Last year, Ohio State was No. 1. They got beat and just went to No. 2. I don’t think that’s the case this year, because I think that [the committee] would honor the strength of schedule. Obviously, Ohio State has a ridiculous strength of schedule as well. This is just a projection, and I think they would honor the SEC. I think the committee favors the SEC. You guys know this about me. I think that the entire narrative of the sport favors the SEC.
“So, in this setting, I would think that Georgia would get the No. 2 overall seed. And I’m not arguing against that. I’m just saying like that’s kind of how I see it panning out. This is what we see. You know, the narrative would fit. They would have avenged their late-season loss to Ole Miss. They beat Ole Miss [in the SEC championship game]. They win the SEC, and boom, Georgia would be No. 2.”
3.
Klatt’s thoughts: “So now you get to the No. 3 seed, and I think my No. 2 and No. 3 seeds would be basically interchangeable. I think it gets a little bit more tricky here at three. I think you’ve got to consider Notre Dame, although their schedule doesn’t look great. You got to consider Miami, although they just lost to Notre Dame. So, where are we landing? Well, again, Ohio State would be No. 1 in the country playing the Big Ten championship game in our scenario. And if they lose to Indiana, in particular, if it’s a great game like we’ve seen them play great games, I think they would go to number three right there. And by the way, you could probably interchange my Georgia at two and Ohio State at three, but those two teams are two and three. I’ve got Ohio State as my No. 3 overall seed. They would be 11-2 in this setting. Okay, so Ohio State is in there at number three.”
4.
Klatt’s thoughts: “Who gets No. 4? This is the last bye. It’s important. This No. 4 seed is vital. Even though we’ve only seen one team in the history of this 12-team playoff actually win a quarterfinal game after the long break. I’m going to give it to Notre Dame. They would be 11-1 on the back of their late-season win over Miami, who, by the way, will be the No. 1 team in the country when they play in South Bend, so that would be a win over the No. 1 team in the country. I think Notre Dame gets the No. 4 seed right there. Their résumé is not going to be the strongest. I think they’re going to pass the eye test. People love CJ Carr. I love CJ Carr, and Notre Dame is going to get in there. Remember, in this case, they are 11-1. They beat Miami, who was No. 1 in November, and they’re the No. 4 seed.”
5.
Klatt’s thoughts: “Now we go to the No. 5 seed. The first team with a home game non-bye is then going to be Miami. That’s why that game becomes so important, obviously. So Miami, I think their bye is on the line at Notre Dame, and I think Notre Dame’s possible playoff life is on the line in that game at Notre Dame. In this scenario, I’ve got Notre Dame winning that game; they get the buy. Miami Falls just outside; they’re the fifth seed in the country right there, and they’re back in the playoffs. They’re 12-1, ACC champ at No. 6.”
6.
Klatt’s thoughts: “Now I’ve got to go Big 12 champions, and so Utah, who I had winning the Big 12, they get slotted in here. They’re 12-1 at this point. They have avenged their regular season loss to BYU, and they beat BYU in the championship game. And so they’re 12-1 at this point, Big 12 champs, and they’re the No. 6 seed.”
7.
(Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “So who gets No. 7? Well, Texas could be higher than this because, remember, they’ve got a win over Ohio State. They’ve got a win over Ole Miss. They would have a win over LSU. Texas is going to be my No. 7 seed. They would be rewarded with the home game. You could make a strong argument that they would be higher than this if they were to win out. I could get on board with that, but again, if you just kind of play the scenario out. You can see where Miami would be way up there at No. 1. They wouldn’t get hurt all that much. So then, Notre Dame, who beat them, would have to be up there. Ohio State would have been No. 1 in the conference championship game. They would only lose to Indiana and then Texas on the road all the way back. You can see where it gets a little bit dicey. But Texas, as a 10-2 in my estimation, again they have a high ceiling and maybe a low floor. Are they consistent? We don’t know. If they play well, run the football, play defense, and they win out, they’re the No. 7 seed in the playoff.”
8.
Klatt’s thoughts: “Who gets the No. 8 seed in the last home game? It would be Ole Miss. Remember, Ole Miss I had in the SEC championship game. But the only reason they fall all the way to number eight is because they lost to Texas. Miami would have been number one. You see where we’re going here, right? They get the home game in the eighth seed, but they can’t be ahead of Texas because Texas beat them. You could make the argument like, ‘well, you’re penalizing them for playing the SEC championship game.’ It’s one of the reasons why a lot of the coaches want the championship games to go away. But in my case, it’s a 10-3 Ole Miss team that wins big.”
9.
(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “Who’s making the playoff? Who’s No. 9 and heading to Oxford? UCLA has only lost one game. Not a great résumé, but 11-1 UCLA is No. 9 in the country, and UCLA is going to the College Football Playoff. If that’s the case, remember, they avoided Ohio State, they avoided Indiana this year, and they had Oregon. So everyone thought, ‘Yeah, well, they got the Oregon win in Eugene, but that looks worse every single week with the way that Oregon has played,’ that’s losing value every single week. So at 11-1, I think they fall below all of those teams, even a three-loss Ole Miss team, because Ole Miss would have been in the SEC championship game. See where I’m going with that, but UCLA is in.”
10.
Klatt’s thoughts: “Now we’re really getting to the nitty-gritty. This is where, two weeks ago, that matchup BYU had with Notre Dame is going to pay off, because now BYU – who has the loss to UCF in my scenario – has a win over Utah who’s already in, has a win over Notre Dame but is not a conference champ. I think the Big 12 gets a second team in here. This is where I think BYU falls. They’re 11 -2 as a runner-up in that conference. That game against Notre Dame is going to be massive, and they head down to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns. So BYU is in.”
11.
(Photo by Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “This is it. The No. 11 seed. Where are we at with the No. 11 seed? It’s crazy. You start playing all this out, and you’ve got teams like SMU sitting there with probably three losses. You’ve got Wake Forest with maybe two losses, you never know. Maybe, maybe Wisconsin is sitting there with two losses. I mean, it could get crazy. Iowa could be sitting there with two losses. But you also have a bunch of 9-3 teams in the SEC … I actually see the path, and this is the path. The path is that you’ve got four candidates out of the SEC, all 9-3, and those candidates are LSU, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. And I think one of those gets the last spot.
“So here’s how it’s going to play out. Alabama will have a win over Kentucky, but losses to LSU and Tennessee. Remember I’ve got LSU beating Alabama, and because of that big win they’re too high. They get beat by Texas. See, I played this whole thing out. LSU will have beaten Alabama and Tennessee in November. Hang on to that. I’ve got Kentucky with two losses in November, so I’ve got one team arrow pointed straight up, one team arrow pointed down. As we know, the timing of losses makes an impact. I think LSU’s arrow is pointing up. They will have the win over Bama. They will have the win over Tennessee. Both of those in November, and I think the Texas loss. There’s a pass on that, because all of a sudden Texas has turned into something that we’ve never seen them be, and I get that. Trust me, I struggle with that.
“LSU gets the 11-seed. LSU 9-3. Lane Kiffin goes to the playoff.”
12.
Klatt’s thoughts: “That’s a great fan base, Oregon State. They would be locked and ready to go for that one in a Pac-12 championship game on a Friday night. Oregon State beats Boise State twice, Beeves to the playoffs. Let’s go! I want Atkinson. I want Jesse Legree in there. I think that would be amazing. I think New Mexico gets boxed out, and I think Oregon State takes that passing game down to Salt Beach and they face Miami in the first round.”
MORE CFB
So much for a quiet coaching carousel.
After a chaotic cycle last offseason, industry sources expected a slower carousel this offseason. But with Baylor, Maryland and NC State all making changes in the past week, the carousel is already threatening to spin out of control again.
These are a few coaches who remain on the hot seat heading into the back half of the season:
As I was reporting a story last week on Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood and the impact his contract might have on college football, one other interesting nugget came up in my conversations with front-office staffers:
Are general managers going to be held more accountable for bad spending?
The evolution of college football front offices has been swift. Gone are the days of goodie bags and karaoke. It’s been replaced with conversations around cold hard cash with agents who’ve been negotiating these deals for years.
The broader sentiment in all of this is schools are spending more than ever to build rosters. That kind of effort necessitates support. But when the investments made don’t bring success, that falls on someone.
NC State fired longtime head coach Dave Doeren, along with Wolfpack GM Andy Vaughn, after the team’s Week 8 loss to Stanford. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)
Head coaches have often been the fall guys for these decisions because, at the end of the day, they’ve been the ones calling the shots on roster construction. That has changed with more supercharged front office staffs.
“It highlights how strictly GM’s will be evaluated moving forward,” one Power Four general manager told me in reference to the Underwood saga. “There’s a real cost to having money on the sidelines, and if you have too much of it, there will likely be consequences.”
That sentiment permeated my conversations last week with staffers across the Power Four and in the recruiting world. In so many words, with a more NFL-style approach to roster construction, general managers are more responsible for the teams that are being trotted out on Saturdays.
Stanford Football general manager Andrew Luck ahead of the Stanford-Notre Dame game earlier this month. (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
As I wrote last week:
Think in an NFL context. General managers oversee draft picks, roster construction, etc. When those results don’t bring success, there’s accountability. College football could be due for its own reckoning.
How soon might we see this kind of reckoning? Well, it’s already happening.
NC State announced the firing of head coach Dave Doeren on Saturday after more than 13 years in charge. It was later reported that Wolfpack general manager Andy Vaughn had also been relieved of his duties.
“You can’t stop spending the money if that’s what the market dictates,” said a second Power Four general manager. “It’s on you as the person spending the money and being held accountable for who you’re spending it on. Sometimes you have to walk away and get your ego out of the way.”
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham shake hands after the Hoosiers beat Michigan in overtime in Week 8. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
To be clear, every front office setup is unique. At Indiana, head coach Curt Cignetti essentially operates as his own general manager. Andrew Luck, meanwhile, oversees everything involving the Stanford football program in a more NFL-style approach.
That makes it harder to cast broad aspersions about the current state of the market and how front office staffers might be held accountable for poor investments, but the pressure is ratcheting up — particularly as the money grows larger.
“If you draft your quarterback at 16 overall and you think that he’s going to be the guy, you better put him in a position to succeed,” Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman told me. “… The truth is, high school quarterback recruits are not all always ready to play right out of high school. That takes an extremely gifted quarterback to be able to come in and make an impact from Friday nights and then onto Saturdays. But when you have a million-plus dollar price tag attached to your name coming out of high school, the pressure is certainly on.”
Apparel contracts have become popular fodder in the business world of college sports, but who doesn’t love a great collaboration?
Georgia and Nike announced a new line that’s being released in conjunction with rapper Outkast and integrates a number of Bulldog football players into its advertising.
The entire collection comes out on Wednesday.
OK, it might not be the “best” quote I saw this week, but it’s definitely the one that stopped me in my tracks the quickest.
Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham was asked about the potential of changing offensive coordinators as play-caller Jason Beck is under intense scrutiny after a six-point effort against Indiana on Saturday.
Michigan quarterback Tommy Carr talks to offensive coordinator Jason Beck during the 2026 spring game. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“Right now, it’s not time to panic,” Whittingham said on Monday. “We’re a play away from being 6-1 or 7-0.”
Listen, I’m not here to call out coaching decisions or things of that nature, but the suggestion that Michigan has narrowly missed on being 7-0 this season feels like a complete inability to read the room in Ann Arbor at the moment.
Whittingham is an amazing coach and one who will assuredly be in the Hall of Fame one day. This just wasn’t one of his better sound bites.
The Kansas City Chiefs are signing Justin Tucker to their practice squad, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Wednesday, giving the five-time All-Pro kicker a second chance in the NFL after serving a 10-game suspension last year for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the signing had not been announced by the team. Coach Andy Reid was expected to address it at his weekly news conference later Wednesday.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has struggled mightily the last two seasons, missing a pair of kicks in Sunday’s loss in Seattle to the Seahawks. He was still on the active roster Wednesday, so the signing of Tucker could merely be to provide some competition.
Tucker spent 13 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, earning a reputation as one of the league’s best kickers, before his tenure there ended in controversy. The Baltimore Banner reported in 2025 that Tucker had been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 massage therapists at a series of high-end spas, accusations that he called “unequivocally false” and “tabloid fodder.”
The Ravens released Tucker in May. And while he was never criminally charged or sued in civil court, the NFL suspended him for the first 10 games of the 2025 season, which Tucker served as a free agent; he became eligible for reinstatement last November.
Tucker worked out for the New York Jets before this season but did not sign with them.
Butker has missed 10 field-goal attempts and five extra points since the start of last season, the most in the league. That includes multiple missed kicks in back-to-back games and four of his last six, including two costly ones in the Chiefs’ 20-3 loss to the Seahawks.
Tucker, who turns 37 next month, hadn’t been a whole lot better when he was released. He missed 10 kicks during the 2024 season.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
Eight weeks into the season, potential conference championship matchups across college football are taking shape, but questions remain.
Will Ohio State and Indiana meet back in Indianapolis for a 2025 Big Ten rematch? Does UCLA continue its hot streak and reach its first-ever Big Ten title match instead? Despite its loss to Auburn, Georgia continues to make its case as the SEC’s top team. But who could the Bulldogs face? A two-loss Ole Miss team, or could a contender like Kentucky earn a spot in the SEC championship?
On the latest episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt made his projections heading into Week 9 of the regular season.
(Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “I’m going to give Ohio State the benefit of the doubt. They’re going to figure something out on offense, and I think Ohio State gets themselves to Indianapolis and they’re going to play for the Big Ten Championship. So that leaves the next spot. Is it going to be UCLA? Now I don’t think UCLA is going to run the table. I just think that that’s too difficult. We see every single week that it is difficult for these 18-to-24-year olds, and some older at this point. But you know what I’m saying. It’s difficult for these young men to play at a consistent level. We see it week in and week out. So to expect UCLA to just run off into Indianapolis and get to the Big Ten championship game, I think would be naive of us. I think UCLA gets tripped up one time, which means those two teams would actually be in a tiebreak, and the tiebreak would be that game against Michigan. In this case, in this scenario, I think that Michigan were to trip up UCLA. Indiana got that win last week [against Michigan], which means Indiana is in the Big Ten championship game.
“So here, we have for the second-straight year an Ohio State-Indiana matchup. And by the way, please, that would be amazing because the two previous games that we’ve seen from these teams have been amazing, amazing games. Last year in the championship game, what we just witnessed two weeks ago with Nick Marsh’s foot being just out of bounds, that was an amazing game. I would love to see this, and we know how evenly matched these teams are … If you tell me, if you take that at face value and you’ve got Julian Sayin not on the field for Ohio State, it’s really hard for me to say that Ohio State’s going to beat Indiana, in particular with how evenly matched I know that they are.
“If they don’t have Sayin on the field, Indiana is going to win the Big Ten championship over Ohio State.”
(Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “This one’s much more difficult. In a good way … It’s hard to project what’s going on from week-to-week, and we see that with Georgia losing to Auburn, and then all of a sudden LSU destroys Auburn. We see this week in and week out. Florida and Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas. I think it’s a mess in the most beautiful way, because it’s going to be very difficult to actually project what we see during the course of this last month … I see Georgia as my SEC favorite. I think Georgia is the best team in the SEC, partly because they’re the most consistent. Even though they lost to Auburn, I get it … Now we have to figure out, okay, who else is going to Atlanta now? Because this is where it’s a real mess. Ole Miss only has one ranked opponent left on the schedule. It happens to be that Georgia game … Do we really anticipate anyone winning out? I don’t know. I got to be honest with you. I really don’t.
“But they have a quarterback that I trust that almost came back on the road against Texas, in a game in which Texas showed that they’re playing the best football that they had played all season long, and Ole Miss still almost came back and beat them. So do I trust Ole Miss? Yeah, I kind of do. Where does that all land us? Well, it lands us in this scenario. There would be a large tie in the standings in which Ole Miss essentially wins the tiebreaker. I’m not quite sure. I just don’t see Alabama, LSU or Tennessee winning out. So I’m projecting Kentucky also to drop a couple of games, and I think Ole Miss is sitting there as a two-loss team, and they get that nod, and they go and play Georgia. In my scenario, remember Ole Miss had knocked off Georgia in the regular season. Do we really think Georgia is going to lose a rematch to Ole Miss? I don’t.
“So Georgia is going to be my SEC champion.”
(Photo by Bryan Byerly/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “The Big 12, another conference that’s kind of a mess right now. A lot of teams in the mix as of right now. Utah is obviously in the mix; they’re undefeated. BYU is still in the mix even after that loss to UCF. Arizona, don’t write off the Wildcats. Brent Brennan and Noah Fafita. Noah Fafita is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the country, so watch out for them. Texas Tech is still alive in this thing. Oklahoma State is alive in this, all with one or fewer losses. I’ve been pointing to that Holy War on Nov. 7 as kind of like the game in the Big 12. I’m going to stand by that. I think it’s the most critical game in the conference. Projecting that game is very difficult. You know that I love Utah, but I’m also a big believer in BYU.
“Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that BYU were to beat Utah in Salt Lake. I don’t see Texas Tech, Arizona and Oklahoma State running the table the rest of the way. You look at their schedules. There’s areas for these teams to trip up. So now they all land with two losses. BYU and Utah would have one loss in conference play, and those teams would rematch in the Big 12 championship game. That was as clean as I could make it … Those two teams are super closely matched in a lot of ways. I can’t see either of those teams winning both games. I think they’re going to play a great game on November 7, and I think they’re going to rematch in the championship game.
“I’m going to go Utah as the winner of the Big 12.”
(Photo by Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Klatt’s thoughts: “In the ACC, listen, put Miami in there. They’re not losing a conference game. So who plays Miami? Well, if you look at the standings, and you see how these things are going to play out, we basically are going to have a play-in game between Wake Forest and SMU. That game is at SMU, and SMU is 11-0 at home since joining the ACC. Kevin Jennings has done a great job not turning the football over. They have not been a team that we focused on a lot.
“But remember … When they play clean, they are very dangerous on the offensive side. Rhett Lashley has done a remarkable job there. They win a lot of football games, and they’ve got an experienced quarterback. And if you look at Wake’s schedule, it has not been a very difficult schedule. So SMU is a more tested team. I think that they are a better team. They have a more sustained era of success, at least currently. Again, 11-0 at home, 11 and zero at home since joining the ACC. I think Wake finishes at 10-2, but SMU wins that game, and they play Miami, and Miami beats SMU.
“So, Miami is going to win the ACC.”
MORE CFB
It’s Halloween weekend and things could get very spooky on the gridiron.
Here’s why I’m backing a couple of underdogs this weekend.
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In 2025, Penn State was coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals the previous year and entered the season as a consensus national title contender. Then the wheels came off and never went back on, as the Nittany Lions finished the regular season 6-6.
A year later, another Big Ten team, Oregon, is following a similar path.
Before the season, the Ducks were picked by many to win it all. A couple of months later, right before the trick-or-treating festivities begin, they are essentially eliminated from the Playoff conversation.
Can Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles lead the Wildcats past Oregon? (Getty Images)
Now, Oregon will face a hungry Northwestern team with a ferocious ground game, one that is averaging over 200 rushing yards per game.
Oregon will be without quarterback Dante Moore for the remainder of the season. I don’t expect this lifeless bunch to bounce back in what has been a nightmare season.
Hill’s Pick: Northwestern Moneyline (+140)Guessing when — and if — Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson might play is a challenging proposition. But with the Ravens in last place entering November, I’ll bet on the two-time league MVP suiting up for the first time in nearly a month.
While the Bills have a former MVP of their own in quarterback Josh Allen, their defense is still quite suspect. The Bills allowing 30.8 points per game (30th), alongside 386 yards per game (31st).
If Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson is back in the lineup, it could be anyone’s game (Getty Images).
The Ravens are 4-3. They are looking up at every other team in the AFC North and are desperate for a win on Sunday.
It seems like Jackson is close to a return. And if he does, this is very much anyone’s game.
Hill’s Pick: Ravens Moneyline (+145)
A player being bitter about how their time ended with their respective team is a familiar sight, but Jorge Posada has a more defined feeling about his relationship with the New York Yankees.
“I mean, I could, but I don’t think they want me there to tell you the truth,” Posada said in an interview with the New York Post’s “The Show” when asked if he’d be open to a role in the Yankees’ organization.
“I don’t feel welcome when I go there, you know? Even in spring training, I don’t feel like, I’m just like, I don’t know, I don’t feel welcome. I don’t feel like they want me there, so I don’t go.”
Posada’s last season with the Yankees was 2011, with him transitioning from behind the plate to being the team’s primary designated hitter in the wake of them adding then-two-time All-Star and 2007 Gold Glover Russell Martin. Francisco Cervelli was also ahead of Posada, who dabbled at first base in the final years of his career, on the catching depth chart in 2011.
“My last season of my career was a really tough one when it came to handling everything on my part and also the Yankees toward Jorge Posada,” Posada said. “So, it’s tough to go back and feel that again.”
Jorge Posada’s Yankees’ Career
Jorge Posada was an integral part of the Yankees’ championship teams of the late 1990s. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Posada, a five-time Silver Slugger and five-time All-Star, spent his entire 17-year MLB career with the Yankees from 1995-2011 and was on their active roster for four World Series triumphs (1998-2000 and 2009).
Posada finished third in American League MVP voting in 2003, a year that saw the catcher total 30 home runs, 101 RBIs and 5.9 wins above replacement, while posting a .281/.405/.518 slash line.
In all, he logged 1,664 hits, blasted 275 home runs, posted a career .273/.374/.474 slash line and started 1,450 regular-season games behind the plate for the Yankees.
Jorge Posada On 2026 YankeesAs for the present, the Yankees are coming off a 93-68 season where they swept the Boston Red Sox in the MLB Wild Card Series but were then swept by the eventual AL-champion Tampa Bay Rays in the AL divisional series.
In the regular season, New York’s offense was sixth in MLB in strikeouts (1,480), with its collective defense tied for seventh in errors (96).
“[Mental mistakes are] magnified during the playoffs,” Posada of the Yankees. “So during the season, if it happens, and you don’t address it, that’s when it becomes a problem. It needs to happen more during the season and make these guys more accountable. You didn’t run to first base? Get him out of the game. Make him understand that this means something.
“It’s not a game. It’s really a job, and some guys are not doing their job.”
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner revealed in a press conference last week that manager Aaron Boone will return for a 10th season in 2027 and general manager Brian Cashman, who has been in the role since 1998 and with the organization since 1986, has been extended.
