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The Astros are fighting to keep their season alive at home after the White Sox took Game 1, 6-3 yesterday. The Yankees look to send their biggest rival back to Boston after shutting out the Red Sox 9-0 last night.

The Cubs and Padres finish off the day with the Cubs fighting to keep their season alive. The Padres got big swings from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado to lift San Diego to an 8-0 win.

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AL Wild-Card Series (Best Of Three) 

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)

Game 1: The White Sox defeated the Astros 6-3.

Wednesday, Sept. 30
Game 2: White Sox @ Astros (5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock)

Thursday, Oct. 1
Game 3: White Sox @ Astros (5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock, if necessary)

NL Wild-Card Series (Best Of Three)

Game 1: The Braves got an 8th inning three-run homer from Austin Riley to get past the Philies 5-3.

Game 2: Phillies force Game 3 with a 10th inning homer from Alec Bohm.

Thursday, Oct. 1
Game 3: Phillies @ Braves (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Peacock)

Game 1: Padres routed the Cubs 8-0.

Wednesday, Sept. 30
Game 2: Cubs @ Padres (10 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Peacock)

Thursday, Oct. 1
Game 3: Cubs @ Padres (10 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Peacock, if necessary)

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Alec Bohm put Philadelphia ahead with a two-out home run in the 10th inning and the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 4-3 on Wednesday to force a decisive third game in their National League Wild Card Series.

The Phillies rallied with back-to-back homers from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper after trailing 3-1 in the seventh. Harper’s homer made up for a crucial fielding mistake an inning earlier.

Andrew Painter (1-0), a starter in the regular season, saved the Phillies’ beleaguered bullpen with three scoreless innings to close things out. Painter stranded two runners in the 10th when he struck out Dominic Smith with a successful ABS challenge.

Playing under traditional extra-inning rules that don’t include designated runners at second base like in the regular season, Bohm delivered his third career postseason home run, a 357-foot shot to right field off right-hander Didier Fuentes (0-1).

The Phillies will try to continue their postseason dominance over the Braves in Thursday’s Game 3. Philadelphia beat Atlanta in the 1993 NLCS and the 2022 and 2023 NLDS.

In the seventh, Drake Baldwin’s double glanced off Harper’s glove in right field, driving in Sean Murphy to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead. Harper, who resumed playing the outfield late this season for the first time since 2022, got a poor jump and was leaping for the ball near the warning track. He was not charged with an error. Matt Olson added a sacrifice fly.

“Probably should have been caught, obviously,” Harper said.

The Phillies pulled even with eighth-inning home runs by Schwarber and Harper off Dylan Lee, the winning pitcher in the Braves’ 5-3 opening win on Tuesday. Schwarber’s drive carried 447 feet and Harper followed with a 418-foot drive.

Tyler Mahle allowed one run on six hits in seven innings for Atlanta. Cristopher Sanchez allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings for Philadelphia while throwing a career-high 116 pitches.

Painter gave up a one-out single to Mauricio Dubon in the 10th, then struck out Austin Riley before giving up a bloop single to Michael Harris II. Painter’s 0-2 fastball to Smith was called inside by plate umpire Adam Beck, but Painter and catcher J.T. Realmuto immediately called for a robo-ump challenge. ABS confirmed the ball clipped the strike zone, the first time a postseason game has ended with a strike-zone appeal.

Harper, a first baseman before moving to the outfield at the trade deadline, was playing shallow and was late to adjust to Baldwin’s drive with runners on first and second. Harper reached up only to have the ball bounce off his glove for a double.

Ronald Acuna Jr. walked, stole second and then stole third with Edmundo Sosa not covering the bag before scoring on Olson’s single in the first.

Sánchez didn’t allow another hit until Sean Murphy doubled to center field with one out in the fifth.

Mahle kept pace, though he didn’t have a perfect inning until the fifth, when he struck out Schwarber and Harper. Sánchez issued an intentional walk to Acuña with two outs before Baldwin’s grounder to second base ended the inning.

Reporting by the Associated Press.

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Ethan Salas is set to become the youngest player to catch in a major league postseason game when he starts for the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of their Wild Card Series with the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

The 20-year-old Salas is catching and batting seventh in the lineup announced by manager Craig Stammen at Petco Park. Salas also will be the youngest player to appear in the postseason for San Diego.

The Padres called up their top prospect on Sept. 1, and he became the youngest player to catch in a major league game since Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez in 1991. Salas, who was born in June 2006, went 10 for 24 to finish the regular season after going hitless in his first 15 big league at-bats.

(Photo by Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

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Salas had a series of clutch hits during his late surge, and on Sept. 16 he became the youngest catcher to have a multi-homer game. He also earned praise for his defensive skills from the Padres’ staff, and even his acumen with ABS challenges was excellent.

That was more than enough to earn a spot on the 26-man postseason roster, and now Salas is getting a start for his playoff debut. He will catch veteran Nick Pivetta, who has already worked with the youngster in the regular season.

Bob Didier was 20 years and 230 days old when he caught for the Atlanta Braves in the 1969 NL Championship Series.

Salas is a left-handed hitter, while fellow Padres catchers Freddy Fermin and Luis Campusano are righties. That makes Salas a natural fit against Kevin Gausman, the Cubs’ right-handed starter in Game 2, after lefty Matthew Boyd started the opener.

San Diego jumped all over Boyd while taking the series opener with an 8-0 victory. The Padres have won 18 of their past 21 games as they enter Game 2 hoping to earn a trip to Milwaukee for the division series this weekend.

The Padres signed Salas, who was born in Florida and raised mostly in Venezuela, as an international free agent in January 2023 with a record $5.6 million bonus.

While general manager AJ Preller traded away nearly all of the top prospects in his fruitful farm system over the past half-decade in his attempts to win a World Series immediately, he didn’t deal Salas, who is widely considered one of the best catching prospects in recent baseball history.

The Padres haven’t hesitated to allow their top prospects onto the playoff stage during their current franchise-record run of five postseason appearances in seven years. Fernando Tatis Jr. made his playoff debut at 21 years old in 2020, and Jackson Merrill also was 21 for his debut in 2024.

Reporting by The Associated Press. 

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The Phillies’ 4-3 win over the Braves in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series ended with a first in MLB postseason history: a game-ending ABS challenge.

With the Phillies up a run in the bottom of the 10th, Andrew Painter faced Dominic Smith with two outs and two runners on. Painter got to an 0-2 count, and plate umpire Adam Beck ruled his fastball a ball. Painter and catcher J.T. Realmuto didn’t wait as they immediately asked for a review.

The ABS system confirmed the pitch clipped the strike zone, turning the ball into strike three. Smith was out, the game was over, and the Phillies had forced a decisive Game 3.

It was the first time a postseason game had ended with a strike-zone appeal.

Painter, a starter during the regular season, bailed out a taxed Phillies bullpen with three scoreless innings. He stranded the two runners in the 10th after Mauricio Dubon singled and Michael Harris II added a bloop single.

Philadelphia erased a 3-1 deficit with back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning, and Alec Bohm’s two-out homer in the 10th gave the Phillies a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. The win forces a decisive Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series on Thursday.

Atlanta had seemed to be in control. In the seventh, Drake Baldwin’s double glanced off Bryce Harper’s glove in right field, scoring Sean Murphy to put the Braves up 2-1, and Matt Olson added a sacrifice fly. Kyle Schwarber stepped up and drove a 447-foot homer off Dylan Lee, and Harper followed with a 418-foot shot to tie the game 3-3.

Philadelphia erased a 3-1 deficit with back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning, and Alec Bohm’s two-out homer in the 10th gave the Phillies a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images)

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Bohm finished the comeback in the 10th, launching a 357-foot drive to right off Didier Fuentes for his third career postseason homer. 

The Phillies and Braves meet in Game 3 on Thursday.

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Yankees captain Aaron Judge went to Somerset, New Jersey, for live batting practice Wednesday as he tries to work his way back from a leg injury to be available later in the postseason should New York advance.

Sidelined since Sept. 16 by a strained right calf, Judge was not included on the roster for the AL Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox. He did not join teammates along the first-base line for introductions before the Yankees’ 9-0 win in Tuesday’s opener of the best-of-three series.

“I think he was getting treatment,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Judge ran in the outfield before Tuesday night’s game and on Wednesday went to the ballpark of the Yankees’ Double-A farm team to hit. He was due back at Yankee Stadium to watch Game 2 on Wednesday night.

Aaron Judge has been sidelined since Sept. 16 with a strained right calf, Judge was not included on the roster for the AL Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

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If New York advances to a best-of-five Division Series against Tampa Bay, it would start Saturday.

“Probably too early to tell,” Boone said of Judge’s potential availability.

A three-time AL MVP, Judge was limited to 66 games this season. The 34-year-old slugger hit .241 with 18 homers, 41 RBIs and an .871 OPS, including .174 with one homer and three RBIs in September.

Left-hander Ryan Weathers, sidelined with a left forearm flexor strain since Aug. 22, was to throw a bullpen at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.

Boone said right-hander Clarke Schmidt won’t pitch again this year. The 30-year-old relieved on Sept. 16 at Minnesota in his first big league appearance since Tommy John surgery on July 11, 2025, then was put on the injured list with right biceps inflammation.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Fresh off his trade to Atlanta, Gervon Dexter isn’t going anywhere anytime soon after locking in a huge extension with the Falcons.

The two sides reached an agreement on a contract extension Wednesday afternoon, as first reported by ESPN. Dexter is set to sign a four-year, $78 million deal with $46.5 million guaranteed after being traded from the Chicago Bears to the Falcons last month.

Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham released a statement shortly after Dexter’s extension became official.

“Gervon [Dexter] is a young, ascending talent whose power, disruption and impact along the defensive line are difficult to find,” Cunningham said. “What’s been just as impressive is the growth he’s shown off the field as a man and a father. His passion for the game and commitment to his teammates are qualities we value highly, and we’re excited to keep him as an important part of our defense moving forward.”

After acquiring Dexter for cornerback Clark Phillips III and a 2027 fifth-round pick, the move has already paid immediate dividends for the Falcons defense. 

Dexter has dominated up front through three games, ranking 8th in the NFL with a 20.5% quarterback pressure rate among interior defenders with at least 50 pass-rush snaps. He’s also recorded half a sack and two solo tackles, but coming off a career-high six-sacks last season.

Drafted in the second round out of Florida in the 2023 NFL Draft, Dexter spent three highly productive seasons in Chicago. He was a durable force up front, missing just two games while racking up 13.5 sacks, 42 quarterback hits, 115 tackles, and 10 tackles for loss.

Dexter’s extension marks a major step forward for the Falcons’ rebuild under Cunningham and first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski. Securing a 25-year-old interior defensive lineman up front gives them a player to build around long-term in a competitive NFC South.

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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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