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Dane Brugler’s NFL Draft watch: 3 rising prospects who could be surprise first-rounders

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atik
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It is only October, so the 2025 NFL Draft’s first-round picture is still very much in flux as scouts make campus visits all over the country.

Aside from some of the quarterbacks, most of the players on my initial top-50 board have played up to expectations and will be in the mix to be drafted in Round 1. But for this week’s draft watch, I wanted to introduce three non-quarterback prospects who have buzz among NFL scouts as potential risers, even if they aren’t as talked about much nationally.

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Cameron Williams, RT, Texas

For those who watched Texas’ win at Michigan, you might know Williams as the right tackle who kept getting penalized (four flags in that game). The Michigan game was Williams’ third career start, and his first on the road, so youthful mistakes were expected. But the main takeaways from his overall film are his smooth movement skills and powerful grip strength, especially for a player with his size (6-foot-5, 335 pounds) and length.

Williams was (hilariously) flagged for holding on this play, which negated a Quinn Ewers’ touchdown pass. Clearly, it was a clean rep for the right tackle and illustrated his ability to control the edge.

Though still raw, Williams is smooth and strong in his kick slide to protect the edge (only two pressures allowed this season), and his range is impressive when Texas asks him to get out in space. Most have Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. penciled-in as a first-rounder, but some scouts believe Williams’ raw traits ultimately could make him the higher draft pick.

Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon

A transfer from Michigan State (Oregon opened the NIL checkbook), Harmon has disruptive qualities with his initial quickness and strong swipe moves to gain access to gaps.

A redshirt junior from Detroit, Harmon put himself on the NFL radar the past two seasons in East Lansing and has taken another jump in his development this season. He leads the Ducks in pressures (18) and is second in tackles (13) this season. Scouts are eager to see Harmon — and the entire defensive line — against Ohio State in a few weeks.

Josh Simmons, LT, Ohio State

Ohio State remade its offensive line last season, and that included bringing in Simmons, a young and promising tackle from San Diego State. He was very up and down in his first season in Columbus but has shown tremendous progress this season as a redshirt junior.

When betting on offensive line traits, give me the nimble blockers with flexible body control and strong finishing traits — which is a tidy way to sum up Simmons’ skill set. If he continues to play at this level the rest of the season, we might be adding another Buckeye to the first round.

Three must-see NFL prospects this weekend

1. Nate Noel, RB, Missouri (at Texas A&M, Noon ET, ABC)

A transfer from Appalachian State, Noel (6.6 yards per carry) is filling the shoes of Cody Schrader. He has rushed for a combined 318 yards over the last two games but faces a tougher test against the Aggies, who have yet to allow a 100-yard rusher this season. Although undersized at just 184 pounds, Noel reads his blocks well and knows where to attack with concise cuts. He is looking to cement himself as a Day 3 draft pick.

2. Yahya Black, DT, Iowa (at Ohio State, 3:30 p.m., CBS)

If Iowa is going to pull the upset in Columbus, it will need to win in the trenches. An imposing lineman at 6-5 1/2 and 333 pounds with 35-inch arms, Black is still searching for his first sack of 2024, but he has been disruptive against the run, controlling the point of attack and finding the football. He is competing for a spot on Day 2 of draft weekend.

3. Jalen Royals, WR, Utah State (at Boise State, 7 p.m., FS2)

Obviously, the main attraction in this matchup is Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who is separating himself as RB1 in this draft class. But when Utah State has the ball, watch for the No. 1 jersey, because Royals is a playmaker with draftable talent. His size is ordinary (5-11 1/2, 193 pounds), but he is an explosive athlete with the terrific ball skills needed to create big plays — Royals led the FBS in 2023 with seven catches of 50-plus yards.

Stats of the Week

• This is your weekly reminder that Jeanty is one of the best prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft. A month into the season, he leads all of college football in rushing yards (845), yards per rush (10.3), rushing touchdowns (13) and forced missed tackles (43).

What Jeanty did to the Washington State defense last weekend was remarkable.

• Ole Miss wide receiver Tre Harris (6-2, 208) is a good-sized athlete with strong ball skills, but he has also flexed run-after-catch skills this season. In 12 games last season, he ranked 74th in the country with 360 yards after the catch; in five games in 2024, Harris leads the FBS with 403 yards after catch (just two other FBS players are above 300 YAC yards). Harris was one of the Rebels’ bright spots in last Saturday’s loss to Kentucky, producing a career-best 121 yards after the catch.

• Alabama lost multiple key pieces in the secondary this offseason, but it made an important addition with USC transfer cornerback Domani Jackson. The former five-star recruit collected his first interception against Georgia’s Carson Beck last weekend and has been a shut-down cover man this season, allowing only 16.7 percent catches (12 targets, two catches for 18 yards). Jackson is a true junior and will have an NFL decision to make after the season.

Prospect trending up …

A prospect creating buzz among NFL scouts is Boston College pass rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku, who leads the FBS with 8.0 sacks. Although undersized (6-2 3/8 and 241 pounds), he has cat-like quickness at the snap to shoot gaps and dip underneath blocks. And he also has surprising arm length (34 5/8-inches), which helps him set the edge and show up in the run game. Ezeiruaku was unstoppable against Western Kentucky last weekend, finishing with 14 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and one forced fumble.

Considered a late-round possibility by scouts entering the season, Ezeiruaku is making a push to be considered in the top-100 picks.

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The Athletic 134: Alabama is inevitable and back atop an all-SEC top four

Prospect trending down …

One of the reasons quarterback Carson Beck returned to Georgia for his senior season was because of the bad taste left in his mouth by an SEC title game loss to Alabama. Instead of avenging that loss Saturday, though, he had the worst performance of his career.

Yes, Beck helped fuel a second-half comeback in Tuscaloosa, but he was responsible for four turnovers and struggled to impress NFL scouts in attendance. While the body of work is what matters the most, how quarterbacks perform in the biggest games on the schedule are weighted a tad more. Beck has plenty of pivotal games left in front of him to change the narrative, but he played more like a third-rounder than a first-rounder against the Tide.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Bucky Irving topped 1,000 yards rushing each of his final two seasons at Oregon. (Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)

Rookie Revisited

The success of the Buccaneers’ offense has been based more on the passing game than the rush attack. But Bucky Irving has been a productive complementary back and currently leads all rookies in rushing yards (203), as Tampa adds more to his plate each game.

Here is the summary from his scouting report in my 2024 NFL Draft guide:

A two-year starter at Oregon, Irving was the lead back in offensive coordinator Will Stein’s zone-read, balanced run attack. After leaving Minnesota following one season for more offensive touches, he surpassed 1,000 yards rushing in each of his two seasons in Eugene and led all FBS running backs in catches (56) in 2023. With his vision, darting quickness and wiggle in the hole, Irving routinely finds yards that aren’t blocked for him. Although he will have a tougher time churning out yards after contact in the NFL, his body balance and low center of gravity are assets — especially out in space. Overall, Irving is undersized and underpowered, but he has pass-catching skills and instinctive run qualities to quickly sort and make sharp directional cuts to daylight. He projects as an NFL complementary back who can be a productive changeup in a committee.

(Top photo of Cameron Williams: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)





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What Our Experts Learned From a Dramatic M.L.B. Wild-Card Round

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Under the current playoff format, sweeps have been the norm, but home teams have largely lost their series.



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How an N.F.L. Journeyman Gave the Falcons Another Unlikely Win

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KhaDarel Hodge caught two passes Thursday night, the second of which he took 45 yards for the winning touchdown in overtime.



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Aaron Judge Is the Yankees’ Superman. But the Royals May Have His Kryptonite.

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atik
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New York’s star has just one hit and 11 strikeouts in 18 career at-bats against Michael Wacha, a righty veteran.



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Jared Allen: The Minnesota Vikings great aiming for an Olympics Curling spot

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atik
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Ever hear the one about the daredevil plasterer who lit an Olympic flame in a four-time first-team All-Pro defensive end?

Jared Allen roars at the mention of Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, the face of the 1988 Winter Games and embodiment of Pierre de Coubertin’s mantra. The beaming, bespectacled British ski jumper finished last in the 70m and 90m events in Calgary but won hearts and minds the world over.

After 136 sacks in 12 NFL seasons, a happily retired Allen and an old friend watched the feelgood 2016 biopic that celebrates the life and times of Michael David Edwards. It had consequences.

“Yeah! Eddie the Eagle! Great movie,” Allen tells The Athletic on the telephone from Nashville. “That’s what inspired me to make a bet with my buddy to try to make the Olympics!

“Eddie the Eagle had to work his butt off to qualify and become a ski jumper, which was the inspirational side of it. But the point I loved about it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I just need to go find a sport that’s not on the books that we don’t really do well at and go join that’,” says Allen, bursting into laughter.

And what of the bet?


Allen said he was inspired by Eddie The Eagle (Mike Powell/Allsport via Getty Images)

“The number was pointless. My buddy threw a number out. I was like, ‘Sure, whatever’. Yes, it was over beers… It’s more just a gentleman’s bet. But nobody wants to welch on a bet! I don’t want to have to tell him he was right — I want him to have to eat crow and tell me that I was right!”

So Allen got to work. In 2018, he formed the All-Pro Curling Team with three former NFL players — quarterback Marc Bulger, linebacker Keith Bulluck and offensive tackle Michael Roos — and set his sights on Beijing.

“I started off as skip, no one had curled ever — we were four football players. Life took off and I ended up joining some other teams. I had no ego, so I ended up playing lead and playing pretty good at lead and sweeping pretty good. So that’s kind of where I found my spot. I really like playing second — I think second is a fun position. But wherever they tell me they need me is where I’ll fit in.”

While he didn’t make the 2022 Games, Allen has had some minor miracles on ice.

“I beat (John) Shuster two years ago at the nationals in Denver, we beat a team last year that were top 30 in the world, we had some success over in Switzerland and Canada, I’ve got to play some really tough teams, and it’s been a fun deal.”

But brace yourselves. Just as the Milan-Cortina Winter Games loom into view, here comes the plot twist.

“I’ll probably not play this year,” Allen, 42, says. “My team kind of broke up. One guy in my team retired. Another guy has moved on. And then I actually got invited to play with Korey Dropkin as his alternate this year, but USA Curling and the USOPC put the kibosh on it, saying I didn’t have a good enough curling resume.

“Their exact words. We won nationals and all the trials, but they have replaced me as the alternate.

“And then they changed our rules — we used to have a two-year point run-up for Olympic trial qualification and now they’re taking the top three point-earners for the year based on their year to date, and then they’re doing a one tournament play-in.”

Does that mean that the Olympic dream is… over?


Allen playing in London (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

“No! No! I’ve still got time. I still love curling, I’m still gonna practise, we’ll figure it out,” Allen says. “A lot of people aren’t playing this year. Unless you can go to the Slams, Shuster, Dropkin, and (Danny) Casper pretty much already have the top three spots locked up.

“Everybody is like, ‘Why are we going to travel, waste our time on these tournaments that mean nothing for us over the next year and a half?’. So everybody’s trying to just practise for the next year, put a team together for The Challenger and try to win the play-in.”

Should Allen win his wager, it would represent another tale to tell for one of the NFL’s biggest personalities of the 21st century.

Drafted by Kansas City in 2004, Allen was traded to Minnesota four years later as the then highest-paid defensive player.

The 2009 Vikings are one of the NFL’s great nearly teams, with quarterback Brett Favre steering them to the NFC Championship in the Superdome. There, they were beaten by themselves (six fumbles, three lost, two interceptions and 12 men in the huddle in the fourth quarter to knock them out of field goal range) and the New Orleans Saints, who were later punished for the Bountygate scandal.

“If we beat the Saints and we go out and win the Super Bowl, our 2009 season arguably goes down as one of the best seasons in NFL history,” Allen says. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the Super Bowl because we lost that controversial game.”

Allen headed to the Chicago Bears in 2014 and was traded to the Carolina Panthers in September 2015 for a last hurrah. The 15-1 Panthers almost went all the way, losing Super Bowl 50 against the Denver Broncos.

“It was a blast. It’s one of those surreal moments. I tell people it was my least productive statistical year of my career — I was dealing with injury and all sorts of stuff — but it was the most successful of my career because the goal is to get the Super Bowl.”

Jared Allen


Allen after setting the Vikings franchise single-season sack record (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

Allen’s is a career worthy of Canton (he has been a finalist for the past four years). He led the league twice in sacks (2007 and 2011), the second seeing a tally of 22, making Michael Strahan sweat about losing his all-time record (22.5).

The highlight reel moments are many. They include his one-handed sack of Eli Manning and the tete-a-tete with Donald Penn. And then there’s his contribution to one of the most infamous plays in NFL history. You know the one.

It was 2008 and while playing for the winless Detroit Lions, quarterback Dan Orlovsky stepped out of bounds in the Metrodome for a safety. Orlovsky — now a stellar ESPN analyst — can look back and laugh. Allen is chuckling at it still.

“I wish he wouldn’t have ran out the back — I could have actually hit him! It was my sack. I was actually laughing because Kevin Williams had like four sacks that game, so I was trying to catch up to him. He was pissed. We were in a tight sack race that year. I got a cheapo. I got a freebie!

“To my credit, I did whoop the tight end. I was wide open! Could have throttled him. It was a good job they called a safety,” Allen says.

Johnny Knoxville was not so lucky. As the wider public embraced Allen with his signature mullet and everyman appeal, in 2010 he was invited to California to film a segment called The Blindside for Jackass 3.

“That was a fun deal. Knoxville is a great guy — I still talk to Johnny. I actually found out later I separated his sternum when I tackled him from behind.

“We filmed the run where he catches the ball over the middle a few times. He’s like, ‘Man, come on!’ Like, well, if you want to see what I actually do, let’s drop back for a pass and I’ll hit you from behind. So we did that. There was only one take on that one!”

Allen, who returns to England for the first time since the Vikings beat Pittsburgh at Wembley in 2013, will be inducted into the London Ring of Honor during Sunday’s game between the New York Jets and Minnesota.

He likes what he has seen so far this season from his former team.

“They’re aggressive. What’s most impressive is they are getting what they need to get out of their new acquisitions, who are already making massive impacts. That’s what you like to see when you pick up free agents.

“Hats off to the coaching staff for getting the players that fit their system and creating a system and an environment that they can be successful in.”

And he may well come face-to-face with a familiar foe. It will be almost exactly 15 years ago to the day that Favre and the Vikings beat the Packers on Monday Night Football. Allen had a career-high 4.5 sacks against Aaron Rodgers in a raucous Metrodome. “That was a great day,” he says. “Goodness. Time flies. Whenever I see Aaron it’s very cordial!”

But first, he wants to find some decent grub. “My wife and kids are coming, so I want to show them some of the sights. I want to find some good pubs, have a couple of pints and some bangers and mash.”

Who knows, perhaps he’ll bump into Eddie the Eagle.

(Top photo: David Berding/Getty Images)



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Paolo Banchero Has Come So Far, So Fast. But There’s Still More To Do.

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atik
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Heading into his third year in the N.B.A., the Orlando Magic star is developing his game and his voice: “You can’t ever be quiet.”



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Five lessons learned from the Matthew Sluka NIL saga

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atik
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Of course this was going to happen. It’s only a wonder it hasn’t happened sooner.

College football is a sport where more than three years after players were finally allowed to monetize their name, image and likeness, there are still no clear guidelines governing the marketplace.

There is no governing body with real teeth to enforce what little rules there are for either side of a contract, and if anyone tries, an offended party can hire a lawyer, go to court and add another chapter to the NCAA’s long line of failures in convincing a judge that its business model is fair.

Last week, UNLV starting quarterback Matthew Sluka posted that he planned to leave the program after “representations” made to him “were not upheld.”

His father, Bob Sluka, told The Athletic there was essentially a verbal agreement from January to pay Matthew $100,000 for his final season of college football. Instead, he’d been given only $3,000 for moving expenses, and despite efforts to pursue what was owed, Bob Sluka said, had yet to be paid anything further from UNLV’s collective since graduating from Holy Cross this summer and showing up in Las Vegas.

However, Blueprint Sports CEO Rob Sine said in dealing with Sluka’s representation beginning Aug. 29, there was no mention of any money owed, and UNLV’s collective denied a deal existed and UNLV said it had honored all “agreed-upon scholarships” for Sluka.

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An NIL disagreement led to an early split at UNLV. Will this set a precedent?

The No. 25 Rebels, who host Syracuse on Friday and are near the front of the line for a Group of 5 bid to the College Football Playoff, are moving on.

Unfortunately, plenty of pitfalls exist in a quickly changing, largely lawless system that is evolving from an exploitive Stone Age into a sport that treats players — its most valuable asset — equitably.

Eventually, I believe college football will reach a place with something resembling player contracts, the ultimate fix for situations like these, produced by schools and with mostly standard language. Eventually, college football will share some of the billions of dollars in television revenue with the players, making sure that schools have at least some money to give players.

But this doesn’t have to be you or your program. There are lessons to be learned from this unsightly saga.

1. Don’t do anything unless everything is in writing.

Both sides agree there was never a written agreement. But the Slukas say a verbal agreement with Matthew’s agent and UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion was made in January, months before Sluka made the move from Massachusetts to Nevada.

There are barely any norms. And what norms there are vary from collective to collective and school to school.

“A lot of the conversations I had, the head coaches would bring up money directly,” a player who navigated the transfer portal told The Athletic this offseason for a survey about the inner workings of NIL. “They would talk about the numbers that they give to players at my position based on how much value they deem based on the level of recruit that you are and how much playing time you’ll have.”

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College football portal confidential: How tampering, NIL deals and portal chaos happen

No player is more valuable than the starting quarterback, though Sluka still had to win the job over Campbell transfer Hajj-Malik Williams, who led the Rebels to a win last week over Fresno State.

In February, a federal judge in Tennessee blocked the NCAA from enforcing what laws the organization did have governing NIL. Sluka arrived at UNLV in June and began classes on Aug. 26. In all that time and through three games, he didn’t get it in writing. But he wanted to be a team player, so he kept playing.

And eventually, Skuka realized he went to Vegas and rolled snake eyes.

Fair or not, his decision to leave a team chasing a Playoff bid a month into the season will cost him his reputation in the eyes of many.

Nobody should make major changes in their life based on financial arrangements without a written agreement enforceable by lawyers.

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Welcome to Las Vegas … the epicenter of college football chaos?

2. Get the right representation.

There is no agent certification process in college football beyond what some states require to do business as an agent, and the quality of agent varies widely.

Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie, splits his time between college and NFL clients, but he was reportedly not certified to operate in the state of Nevada, which gave some around UNLV pause in dealing with him.

“That was very odd to me,” another agent told The Athletic.

It’s unclear why an agent would take a promise by an offensive coordinator as binding. But it was never made official.

“We tried everything. We’d take payments. Anything. And they just kept deferring it and deferring it, and to this day, we do not know why,” Bob Sluka, Matthew Sluka’s father, told The Athletic last week.

Emails obtained by The Athletic show Cromartie never broached the $100,000 in his brief communications with UNLV’s collective.

Former Florida signee Jaden Rashada did get his contract in writing, but his representation also allowed Florida’s collective to get in writing that it could terminate the contract at any time. They shorted him more than $13 million. Rashada sued the collective and Florida head coach Billy Napier this May.

3. Coaches: Know your collective.

Coaches can endorse their third-party collectives and have conversations with them, both things that were initially banned when NIL was instituted in 2021 and collectives sprouted from the NCAA rule change.

The most effective schools have great communication between the two, and the chief reason for that is budgeting. Coaches and staffers need to know how much money is on hand for a collective or how much could reasonably be raised for a transfer prospect or a high school recruit.

Bob Sluka said his son’s agent was hoping to speak with Hunkie Cooper, a UNLV support staffer, after the team’s win at Kansas on Sept. 13, saying he recalled Cromartie saying “that’s the guy who’s avoiding us right now about the money.”

A later conversation produced an offer from Cooper for $3,000 a month for the next four months, telling the Slukas to take it or leave it.

In the world of collectives, $100,000 is not a lot of money for a quarterback and especially not for a starting quarterback of a Top 25 team hunting a Playoff spot. For UNLV to be able to offer only $3,000 a month for the rest of the season points to a glaring disconnect between the coaches’ vision for their roster and the means of the collective.

Few, if any, coaches are going to make a promise they have no intention of delivering. Word travels fast, and there’s no quicker route to eroding trust with your current roster and future prospects. A member of the coaching staff discussing financial numbers for a player is against NCAA rules, though according to agents interviewed by The Athletic, it happens all the time.

“I prefer to deal with the coaches because they’re so out of their element. They’re like, ‘We can get it done.’ There’s an ego thing — you want to get it done for your position group and your school, show you’ve got money,” one agent told The Athletic this offseason in the NIL survey.

Whether or not Marion made what he believed to be a firm verbal offer, Sluka believed it was and felt strongly enough to leave the program over it. Negotiating the finer points of an offer with a coach is rare, an agent told The Athletic this week, but somewhere between the recruiting process and fulfillment of an NIL offer, the Slukas and Marion weren’t on the same page.

4. Honesty is the best policy.

If there was no money, UNLV would have been well-served to explain that to its starting quarterback.

I spoke with people around UNLV’s program this offseason who were complaining that a lack of NIL support was a big reason why the Rebels were unable to keep starting quarterback Jayden Maiava, who committed to Georgia before flipping to USC, where he’s now Miller Moss’ backup instead of chasing a Playoff bid with a team he helped lead to nine wins a season ago. He threw for more than 3,000 yards and ran for almost 300 more in Marion’s innovative Go-Go offense.

Maiava left for much more than $100,000, a person briefed on the situation told The Athletic, but that lack of support is what put UNLV on the market for a transfer quarterback in the first place.

And this situation could hurt the program and hurt both Marion and head coach Barry Odom on the recruiting trail, despite the program’s denials about what unfolded or Odom’s level of involvement.

UNLV said in a statement it interpreted Sluka’s “demands as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law.”

That might technically be true, but those NCAA rules were already defeated in a Tennessee court in February, and the way college football is operating in 2024 is that players expect to be paid, especially if they believe they had reached a deal.

Blueprint Sports, which runs UNLV’s collective, released a statement that there were “no formal NIL offers” made to Sluka and that the collective “did not finalize or agree to any NIL offers.”

That’s true. And it’s going to hold up in court and prevent Sluka from pursuing any legal action.

But it doesn’t tackle the real issue, which is that he says he was promised money from a coach, who had had no agency to deliver it, and it wasn’t there to begin with.

5. Think through all your options.

When Sluka hit “post” on his announcement last week, he chose the nuclear option. He is moving home to Long Island, his father said; his time with the program is done.

Sluka leaving the team opened the door to him being called a quitter. There’s a portion of the population who will never see it any other way, even if they would also quit their job if they believed they had been promised $100,000 and were paid $3,000.

But he had options. Might I suggest a more creative one?

Given how fruitless the Slukas say their efforts had been to resolve the issue privately, Sluka could have publicly explained his situation, either by posting a video or statement on X. Sluka could have publicly professed his willingness to be a team player, kept working and kept his coveted spot as the starting quarterback for a Playoff contender.

Barely 12 hours after Sluka’s post announcing his exit, Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens reportedly offered to pay him $100,000 to resolve the dispute but was told by UNLV the relationship was already too far gone.

By going public only after the relationship had been severed, he didn’t get any of the money he believes he was promised and in the eyes of many lost the public relations battle.

That’s a tough 1-2 punch, and it didn’t have to go down that way. Whatever happens between now and next season, it’s hard to imagine Sluka will end up in a better on-field situation.

 (Photo of Matthew Sluka:Kyle Rivas / Getty Images)





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Week 6’s top 10 college football games: Time to find out if Mizzou is a paper tiger?

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atik
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Perhaps the schedule makers thought we would need a breather after Georgia–Alabama last week? There’s only one ranked matchup across the entire slate and nothing that jumps out on paper. That said, there are some intriguing matchups that could yield potentially telling results. No judgment if you opt for the pumpkin patch this weekend, but no sense in complaining about a full day of college football, either.

Let’s rank the top 10 games of Week 6, starting with honorable mentions and counting down.

Honorable Mention: Syracuse at No. 25 UNLV (Fri.), Pitt at North Carolina, Navy at Air Force, West Virginia at Oklahoma State, No. 15 Clemson at Florida State, James Madison at ULM, No. 11 USC at Minnesota

(All point spreads come from BetMGM; click here for live odds. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)

10. SMU (4-1) at No. 22 Louisville (3-1), Noon, ESPN

Two teams the jury is still out on. Louisville has one of the best offenses in the country and outgained Notre Dame by more than a hundred yards last Saturday, but the Cards couldn’t overcome their first three turnovers of the season in a 31-24 loss. SMU has found ways to put up points — except in the loss to BYU, where the Mustangs were held without a touchdown and made a change at quarterback. Their best win is a 66-42 barnburner over TCU in the Iron Skillet. Louisville’s offensive firepower looks more promising, and receiver Caullin Lacy returned against Notre Dame, but ideally this game will tell us something about the ACC.

Line: Louisville -6.5

9. Texas Tech (4-1) at Arizona (3-1), 11 p.m., Fox

Big 12 After Dark, featuring two teams that have situated themselves at the top of the league standings in the early going. Texas Tech has rebounded from a shaky start with three straight wins and the highest-scoring offense in the Big 12, bolstered by the return of a healthy Tahj Brooks at running back. Arizona similarly responded to a blowout loss to Kansas State with a road win at Cam Rising-less Utah. Both teams are streaky but have explosive offenses, which should make for a fun, late-night matchup. Take the over.

Line: Arizona -6.5

8. UCF (3-1) at Florida (2-2), 7:45 p.m., SEC Network

Florida head coach Billy Napier survived a road win at Mississippi State and subsequent bye week, now the hot-seat watch resumes in Gainesville. There is some kerosene drizzled around this in-state matchup, the first leg of a lengthy 2-for-1 series that was agreed to when UCF was still a Group of 5 program. Florida fans have long looked down on the Knights, and in the past, the program didn’t see any reason to agree to a true home-and-home. It should offer some bulletin-board material for a UCF team that is a road favorite and seems to be charting a more encouraging course than the Gators. Napier’s dismissal has seemingly become inevitable, but if Florida loses to UCF in The Swamp, it’s tough to envision him lasting through the weekend.

Line: UCF -2.5

7. No. 10 Michigan (4-1) at Washington (3-2), 7:30 p.m., NBC

It’s wild to think that just nine months ago, these teams faced off in the national championship. Now they meet as newly realigned conference foes in a game that couldn’t crack the top half of this week’s list. Both programs have had considerable turnover coming off historic seasons. Michigan — despite getting handled at home by Texas, pulling out some narrow victories and an inability to throw the ball — is still a top-10 team. Washington has suffered a pair of tough losses to Wazzu and Rutgers, but can claim a top-20 offense and top-10 defense in terms of yards per play. We’ll see how much an edge in continuity matters for Michigan and if it has enough winning DNA to get a road upset and hang in the Playoff discussion for another week.

Line: Washington -1.5

6. No. 8 Miami (5-0) at Cal (3-1), 10:30 p.m., ESPN

ACC After Dark! ESPN’s “College GameDay” is headed to Berkeley for this one, broadcasting at 6 a.m. local time — a full 12-and-a-half hours before kickoff. Miami finally looked mortal in its controversial Friday night win over Virginia Tech, including a pair of interceptions by quarterback Cam Ward and a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. Cal’s defense has been solid thus far as well, ranking in the top 20 in yards per play and points allowed. However, the last time we saw the Golden Bears a couple of weeks ago, they earned the ignominious distinction of being the only team to face Florida State and lose this season. Maybe the West Coast travel has an impact on Miami, but to pull off an upset, Cal will probably need a big game from running back Jaydn Ott, who has yet to fully erupt as he works back from injury.

Line: Miami -10.5

5. No. 12 Ole Miss (4-1) at South Carolina (3-1), 3:30 p.m., ESPN

Was last week’s deflating home loss to Kentucky the real Ole Miss, or will the Rebels return to their high-octane form? Lane Kiffin’s crew still has one of the top offenses in college football at more than 600 yards per game, but tallied just over half of that against UK and managed to put only 17 points on the scoreboard. Now it faces a South Carolina team that smoked Kentucky on the road in Week 2, should have beaten LSU and has a top-10 defense. The narrative on Ole Miss quickly shifted from being a Playoff team and dark-horse title contender to questioning whether the Rebs are a Potemkin village primed to collapse under the weight of an SEC schedule. With the likes of LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia still lurking, Saturday’s trip to Columbia is a test Ole Miss can’t afford to fail.

Line: Ole Miss -8.5

4. Rutgers (4-0) at Nebraska (4-1), 4 p.m., FS1

The Scarlet Knights stay chopping. It hasn’t been the most convincing undefeated start, but Rutgers is riding running back Kyle Monangai, who is third in the FBS at 147.3 rushing yards per game. A home loss to Illinois and ugly win over Purdue took some of the wind out of Nebraska’s resurgence, but the Cornhuskers are in position to reach bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016. This game could be an inflection point for both teams. Nebraska has a bye up next followed by road trips in the span of a month to Indiana, Ohio State and USC, all of which are ranked in the Top 25. Rutgers, however, has an easy schedule by Big Ten standards, avoiding Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan and Indiana. A win Saturday could potentially set Rutgers on a path toward the Big Ten title game, thanks in part to opponents it won’t have to face along the way.

Line: Nebraska -7

3. Iowa (3-1) at No. 3 Ohio State (4-0), 3:30 p.m., CBS

I realize there’s a big spread in this game, but Ohio State has yet to appear on any of these weekly top 10 lists, because it hasn’t faced a team good enough to make a game interesting. The Buckeyes have outscored their opponents 195-27 (!!!) through four games. Iowa may well join that list of hapless challengers on Saturday, but the Hawkeyes are by far the toughest test Ohio State has seen this season and should provide a better sense of just how high the ceiling is in Columbus. It’s also a potential trap game for Ohio State, with a road trip to Oregon next week and games against Nebraska and at Penn State on the horizon. Iowa’s schedule eases up significantly after this one, but losses to Iowa State and the Buckeyes would really dampen the Playoff resume.

Line: Ohio State -19.5

2. No. 4 Tennessee (4-0) at Arkansas (3-2), 7:30 p.m., ABC

Tennessee registered its lowest point total of the season in the 25-15 road win at Oklahoma on Sept. 21, but the Vols have been one of the most impressive and balanced teams in college football, starting 4-0 and ranked in the top five for the first time since the program’s national championship season in 1998. Conference losses by Georgia and Ole Miss also crack the window a bit more for Tennessee to possibly reach the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2007. There’s still a long way to go, with Alabama and at Georgia on the schedule, but if the Vols can split those two and win out otherwise, that might be good enough to get them there. Still, beating Arkansas isn’t a given. The Hogs rush for better than 5 yards per carry and are ranked a respectable 34th in ESPN’s SP+.

Line: Tennessee -13.5

1. No. 9 Missouri (4-0) at No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1), Noon, ABC

Does this game deserve the top spot? It’s more or less here by default. Missouri is lingering in the top 10 despite some wobbly wins over Boston College and Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M is barely hanging on in the Top 25, tied with UNLV for the final spot. Yet it’s still an important game. Is Mizzou a legit top-10 team or merely a paper tiger? Do the Aggies have enough to work their way back into Playoff contention? I get it if the knee-jerk reaction is to wince at this being the best game of the weekend, and maybe I’m a college football populist for this take, but I like that an early October meeting between Mizzou and a rebuilding A&M has some meaningful big-picture stakes involved.

Line: Texas A&M -2.5

 (Photo of Luther Burden III: Rick Ulreich / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)



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The Obsessive and Empathetic Coach Behind the N.F.L.’s Biggest Surprise

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atik
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Kevin O’Connell’s unique teaching method has resonated with his Vikings’ players.



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Mets’ Pete Alonso delivers heroic homer after teammate calls the shot

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atik
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MILWAUKEE — In the chaos of elation, the New York Mets momentarily allowed the star of the celebration to get away Thursday night.

Quickly, someone yelled, “Where the f— is Pete?”

The search lasted mere moments.

“He’s over there!” someone else shouted.

Another Mets player then loudly gave instructions: “Everyone attack Pete!”

Within seconds, several Mets players took turns draining their champagne bottles over Pete Alonso. “Pete! Pete! Pete!” they chanted.

Alonso savored the moment. With one hand holding a can of beer and another gripping a bottle of Champagne, he wrapped his arms around Jose Iglesias and squeezed him in a bear hug.

In the embrace, Iglesias told Alonso, “Thank you for listening.”

The second baseman was referring to the message he delivered just before the bottom of the eighth inning. That’s when Iglesias, from his position at second base, told Alonso, “Next inning, you’re going to hit a home run.”

What happened next is already etched in Mets lore. In the ninth inning of the deciding Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, the Mets trailed by two runs. With one out, they had runners on first and third. Carrying a weeks-long slump with calmness, Alonso came to the plate. He hit a three-run home run off Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams to save the Mets’ season and send New York to the Division Series.


Pete Alonso struggled early but before this three-run home run he told his hitting coach, “I feel like I am right there.” (Benny Sieu / Imagn Images)

“It was meant to be,” Iglesias said after the 4-2 victory. “I’ve seen walk-offs and stuff, but this is one of my happiest moments. It’s a dream come true.”

Throughout the day, Iglesias, one of the Mets’ clubhouse leaders whose catchy song “OMG” morphed into a season’s rallying cry, had offered Alonso encouragement.

“He was feeling a little off,” Iglesias said. “I just told him, ‘Be on time. Timing is everything.’ And now? Man, I feel so proud of him.”

Later, in a rare moment on the field when he didn’t attract a crowd, Alonso said Iglesias’ simple yet consistent messaging, “Meant a lot. Really, a lot. It meant so much to me.”

For some time, the Mets needed Alonso to come through. Big time. His walk year had been devoid of special moments. But club officials always said the same thing, that, with his power, he could change a game in an instant. Still, his last extra-base hit was Sept. 19. Before the home run, Alonso was 0-for-3 with a strikeout in the seventh inning. No matter. He still believed.

In the seventh inning, Alonso used a relaxed tone when he told Mets co-hitting coach Eric Chavez, “I’m just swinging right through these pitches. I feel like I am right there. One swing away.”

Recalling the conversation, Chavez said, “He was more calm than I was.”

Players often tell coaches such things, so Chavez didn’t know exactly how to interpret the message. He noticed at least one thing, though, that he’d later say would be important. Alonso, despite the slump and the heaviness of his Mets career possibly ending Thursday night, remained positive.

On a 3-1 offering from Williams, Alonso sent a changeup that got too much plate 367 feet, over the wall in right field. He said he knew right away it was a home run. On first base, Brandon Nimmo said he wasn’t too sure. After all, the Mets hadn’t hit a home run in the first two games of the series. So, Nimmo said he was simply hoping the ball would get over an outfielder’s head. But Alonso kept running toward Nimmo. So Nimmo looked over to the outfield once more, and said to himself, “Oh my God.”

By the time Alonso had reached second base, nearly all the Mets’ players had left the dugout.

“Words can’t explain,” Alonso said. “This is unreal.”

Mets owner Steve Cohen attempted to construct a couple of sentences.

“Great players, they come through in the clutch, right?” Cohen said. “Just an incredible moment for him, for the team.”

The Mets had gone far without Alonso putting them on his back. If he’s hot, the Mets are all the more dangerous heading into their matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies starting Saturday afternoon.

Before the game, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza maintained faith in Alonso yet again and said, “We’re waiting for that one swing. Hopefully today is the day.”

Well worth the wait.

“Proud of him,” Mendoza said after the game. “It’s a dream come true for him and for all of us.”

Seven minutes after the Mets advanced, and as the team celebrated on the field, the sections of fans behind New York’s dugout at American Family Field began loudly chanting, “Pete A-lon-so! Pete A-lon-so!”

It’s a name now deeply etched in Mets playoff history.

(Top photo of Pete Alonso: Credit: Benny Sieu / Imagn Images)



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