The clamor you are not hearing at the moment is for the return of Football Friday after a two week respite; despite the lack of an outcry for its return, here it is. I’ll adhere to the format but make necessary changes as we go along. I’ll start with the Six-Pack from several weeks ago; it was not a good week at all:
- Spreads/Totals: 1-5-0 Season Record: 7-8-0
- M/L Parlays: 1-1 Profit = $145 Season: 2-4 Loss = $17
The Linfield Wildcats’ record now stands at 2-1; three weeks ago, they lost to Chapman on the road in Orange, CA; last week, they opened their Northwest Conference season with a convincing win over George Fox University. This weekend, the Wildcats go on the road to play Pacific University in forest Grove, OR; Pacific has not done well to date in 2026; the Tigers have a record of 0-4 and have been outscored 144-22. Go Wildcats!
My “Sleeper Team” for 2026 has been the Florida Gators; and as of this morning, their record is 4-1 and the team is ranked #16 in the country. Florida hosts South Carolina this weekend.
And my just for fun college football player name of the week will be:
- Prayer Young-Blackgoat LB Arizona State
College Football Commentary:
Back in August, people were wondering about Alabama and whether it was a program in decline. Well, the results so far indicate that the Crimson Tide is still alive and well:
- Record to date is 5-0
- Cumulative score in those 5 games is 248 – 104.
The Matt Campbell Era at Penn State has not begun well at all. After beating up on patsies such as Temple, Marshall and Buffalo, the Lions have now lost to Wisconsin and Northwestern convincingly. Northwestern ran the ball for 413 yards in that game – – something that is uncommon in Penn State football history. Going all the way back to the start of the Joe Paterno Era in Happy Valley, Penn State won games with a strong defense and a good-not-great offense. And speaking of which;
- Who is the bigger disappointment in his first year on the job:
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- Matt Campbell at Penn State – OR –
- Jim Mora Jr, at Colorado State?
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South Carolina suspended edge rusher/LB Dylan Stewart for what can only be called a brain fart. Stewart punched a Clemson player; then committed a roughing the passer penalty and then got into a heated sideline confrontation with his coaches after that. Stewart is seen by many to be a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, but will this behavior scare off some of the pro teams?
Michigan lost to Minnesota giving up the Little Brown Jug Trophy for the first time since 2014. Michigan is now 0-2 in Big-10 Conference games and there remains an asterisk on its win over W. Michigan earlier this year. The Wolverines’ defense is solid; the offense has been AWOL.
Texas Tech is 5-0 and may still be the class of the Big-12 Conference, but other than crushing Sam Houston by 5 TDS, the wins have not been all that convincing. The Big-12 may not have the pizazz of the SEC or the Big-10 but the race in the conference might be as interesting as in the other Power Conferences.
At the end of last season when UMass was winless and seeded #1 in my mythical SHOE Tournament, the “reader in Houston” suggested that UMass always have a slot in the SHOE Tournament as a “lifetime achievement award”. Well, this year,, UMass is 4-1 and only needs two more wins to become bowl-eligible. And from here on out, UMass will play a lot of MAC opponents. Could we see UMass in the Fenway Bowl on December 26th this year?
College Games This Week:
(Fri Nite) Florida St. at Louisville – 3.5 (60): The spread opened at 6.5 points and has settled in at this level leading up to game time.
(Fri Nite) Iowa at Washington – 3 (41): Look for defensive domination here.
(Fri Nite) Iowa St. at BYU – 10 (46): Iowa St. already has one loss in the conference and can ill afford a second loss so early in the season.
Indiana – 7 at Nebraska (48): Both teams are 5-0 in 2026 – – and this is not the Game of the Week
South Carolina at Florida – 11 (59): It is not often that my “Sleeper Team” is favored by double digits in a conference game.
UNC at Pitt – 4 (47): Pitt is 5-0 so far in 2026. The Tar Heel’s defense has been much better than it was last year. This could be an interesting game to watch…
USC at Penn State – 2 (55): Penn State has been monumentally unimpressive this year; Lincoln Riley’s USC teams are notoriously bad on the road. Something has to give here…
Miami (OH) – 2 at UMass (47.5): Checking in on bowl-eligibility for UMass …
UCLA at Oregon – 11 (59.5): The Bruins are undefeated in 2026; the Ducks have been unimpressive so far but are still the strongest opponent the Bruins have faced. UCLA has a strong running attack, and the Ducks have a good DL. I think this is a low-scoring event so give me the game to stay UNDER; put that in the Six-Pack.
Texas – 8 vs Oklahoma (39): The Longhorns have not lost in 2026, and the Sooners have already lost twice. And this huge rivalry game is not even close to being the Game of the Week.
Georgia at Alabama – 1.5 (51.5): This is the Game of the Week. Both teams are 5-0 for the season and one of them is going to suffer a conference loss tomorrow. The Weather Channel says there is a possibility that a Tropical Storm now in the Gulf of Mexico could have an impact on this game in Tuscaloosa; that would be a shame on multiple levels.
Texas A&M at Missouri – 3 (48): Mizzou has been strong in 2026 with a 4-1 record overall and they are unbeaten at home. The Aggies have been disappointing with two conference losses on the books already. I like Mizzou to win and cover here; put that in the Six-Pack.
North Dakota St. – 3 at UNLV (48): This game could be important in the Mountain West race; both teams are undefeated in conference games.
NFL Commentary:
Since I did not have a chance to see much of the NFL action live in the past two weeks, these are general comments from seeing highlights and “condensed games”.
Tony Romo is indeed gone from CBS. The fact that the details have been kept quiet tells me that he received a nice portion of the $72M left on his contract with the provision that he just fades into the sunset. Honestly, he won’t really be missed that much because JJ Watt has been very good pairing with Jim Nantz. And last year how many comments did you see about Tony Romo losing a step or being complacent and not doing the work?
The NFL just loves parity; you know the mantra, “On any given Sunday …” Well not counting last night’s game here is the distribution of records for the 32 NFL teams after 4 weeks of play:
- Three teams are 4-0
- Eight teams are 3-1
- Twelve teams are 2-2
- Four teams are 1-3
- Five teams are 0-4.
That is not a perfect normal distribution – – but it’s awfully close …
The NFL has suspended Niners’ owner Jed York for 6 games and fined him $500K. Sounds pretty tough but actually, this is not even a slap on the wrist as compared to a player who gets a fine and a 6-game suspension. Consider:
- Player cannot be with the team in team facilities for 6 games. Same with Jed York. Player misses out on team activities and strategies; Jed York misses out on sitting in his owner’s booth for games.
- Player is docked 6 games worth of pay. Assume the Player is making $5M per year; he loses 6/17ths of his salary on suspension – – about $1.8M – – and then gets a fine tacked on top of that.
- Jed York is still the beneficiary of the 6 weeks’ worth of football revenue from the Niners. Just considering the national TV revenue and not any of the game day revenues, he still gets about 6/17ths of the monies – – about $123.5M
- Yes, Jed York was fined $500K. That is a lot of money, and it would be devastating if I had to pay a fine of that magnitude. However, Jed York’s net worth is valued at $10B according to Forbes. That means he was fined 0.005% of his net worth.
- To put that in perspective that we common folk can relate to, if one had a net worth of $1M, the equivalent fine would be $50. That is not even a slap on the wrist.
The Chargers are 0-4 and they are cooked; the Texans are 0-4 but I am not ready to label their season as “cooked” just yet.
The Vikes are 4-0, and their offense has yet to show that it is more than barely competent. But that Vikes’ defense is really good…
The Giants are in first place in the NFC East. Who had that on their Bingo card? The “Jameis Winston Experience” continued against the Cards last week; Winston threw 3 TDs and 2 INTs.
The Browns are 3-1 and sit atop the AFC Central. There must be massive cognitive dissonance for Browns’ fans who booed Deshaun Watson mercilessly in an Exhibition Game and “demanded” that Shedeur Sanders be the Browns’ QB. [Aside: I am not convinced that Watson is the long-term answer in Cleveland, but he is making his head coach look brilliant for selecting him as the starter.]
The Packers won last week over the Bucs who started an undrafted free agent at QB and yet the score difference was only a field goal. Not a good omen for the Packers …
The Lions’ defense is indeed inept. The offense is still good, but the defense is giving up 30 points every week and that is not a recipe for success.
The Raiders lost to the Chiefs but looked good in doing so. Kirk Cousins threw for 365 yards in the game; not bad for a guy who is simply keeping the seat warm for the Raiders’ QB of the Future.
The Eagles went 0 for 12 on third down tries and 1 for 4 on fourth down tries against the Rams. And somehow, they only lost by 4 points… [Aside: I had to check two different places for game box scores because I did not think those were the game stats after reading it the first time.]
The Bears had possession for more than 42 minutes against the Jets… The Jets’ defense had been stout over the first three weeks but that was an embarrassing performance giving up 242 yards rushing to the Bears. One other embarrassment for the Jets from that game is that the Bears made 34 first downs and the Jets only made 7.
NFL Games This Week:
Last night the Dallas Cowboys soiled the sheets on Thursday Night Football losing to the Bucs on the scoreboard by 8 points and decisively on the stat sheet. Check these out:
- Bucs’ Time of Possession = 39:21
- Bucs’ 3rd downs = 7 of 13 Cowboys’ 3rd downs = 4 of 10
- Bucs’ rushing = 241 yards Cowboys’ rushing = 50 yards
- Bucs’ Turnovers = 0 Cowboys’ Turnovers = 3
Eagles vs. Jags – 7.5 (42) Game is in London: The spread opened at 2.5 points and the Total Line opened at 44 points. That is a lot of movement in a week – – but it is nothing compared to another game later on the card. The Jags have stopped the run all season long so they could make the Eagles’ offense one-dimensional and that would be an ugly outcome. Given all the injuries for the Eagles along with trading away an All-Pro offensive lineman and the retirement of Lane Johnson, I think the Eagles’ season may have entered a “Death Spiral Phase”.
Colts at Steelers – 3 (44): The NFL schedule maker did the colts no favors here; they were in London last week and have another road game on tap this week. Meanwhile their opponents will play at home and have 10 days rest having played on Thursday Night in Week 4. Here is a fun fact about this game:
- The Steelers are 17-2 against Indy when the game is in Pittsburgh.
Vikes – 1 at Saints (42): The Saints looked awful on MNF last week, but the Vikes’ offense has been less than anemic all year long. It is time for Kyler Murray to show he has adjusted to the Kevin O’Connell offensive philosophy and if he does, the Vikes can win this road game. I’ll take the Vikes and lay the point; put it in the Six-Pack.
Browns at Jets – 2.5 (39): This is the Dog-Breath Game of the Week. The Browns have won 3 in a row, and the Jets have lost three in a row and the Jets are favored. Even Fireman Ed can’t make sense of that.
Bengals – 7 at Dolphins (43): Both JaMar Chase and tee Higgins were injured last week against the Jags. Even so, the Bengals are a full TD favorite.
Raiders at Pats – 3 (45): Drake Maye played very well last week; has he shrugged off the “Super Bowl Losers’ Doldrums? The Raiders’ defense will make him earn his keep here. This is a long trip and a body-clock game for the Raiders.
Giants at Commanders – 4 (42): That spread says that Jayden Daniels will definitely be back under center for the Commanders on Sunday. What part of the roller-coaster ride will Giants’ fans experience with Jameis Winston this week? The Commanders’ secondary is just awful but “Bad Jameis Winston” can make any opposing defense look good. Purely a hunch but give me the Giants plus the points here; put it in the Six-Pack.
Texans – 7 at Titans (48): Yes, I know that both teams are 0-4 but this is not a Dog-Breath Game because the Texans are better than that record.
Broncos – 3 at Chargers (42): I have little to no faith in either of these teams – – but it might be a fun game to watch.
Niners at Seahawks – 3 (46.5): Here is the Game of the Week. The Seattle defense versus the San Fran offense is more than worth the price of admission.
Lions – 6 at Cards (53.5): Neither defense is any good here; just give me the game to go OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.
Bears – 1 at Packers (45.5): The spread opened with the Packers as 2-point favorites and the line moved despite the fact that it appears as if Caleb Williams will miss yet one more game.
(Sun Nite) Ravens at Falcons – 3.5 (44): The spread opened with the Ravens as 6.5-point favorites; that is a massive line movement. It appears that Lamar Jackson’s ankle injury will keep him out of this game meaning Tyler Huntley will get the call. Huntly has been in the role of being “Lamar-Lite” in the past.
(Mon Nite) Bills at Rams – 3 (54.5): This was my runner-up as Game of the Week. I think both offenses will exploit both defenses and there will be yardage gained on both sides. Which team will make the most plays to prevent TDs by the other guys?
So, here is a review of this week’s Six-Pack – – with only 5 entries:
- UCLA/Oregon UNDER 59.5
- Mizzou – 3 over Texas A&M
- Lions/Cards OVER 53.5
- Giants +4 against Commanders
- Vikes – 1 over Saints
And just for fun here are two Money Line parlays
- Giants @ +170
- Bengals 2 minus-310 $50 wager to win $128
And …
- Jags @ minus-330
- Vikes @ minus-130 $100 wager to win $131
I need to close today on a down note. Mike Ditka passed away today; he was a fixture with the Bears’ franchise for more than 50 years. He was a pass-catching tight end when those sorts of creatures were rare in the NFL ecosystem. In fact, he was the first tight end ever enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And he was the coach of the 1985 Bears that won the Super Bowl with Buddy Ryan’s “46 Defense”.
Rest in peace, Mike Ditka.
Finally, let me close with this from Coach Ditka:
“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms.”
And …
“Effort without talent is a depressing situation… but talent without effort is a tragedy.”
And …
“I always tell people I want to live to be 150 and they say why would you want to do that. I say, well there’s a few people I haven’t made mad yet, I want to get them.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………