SMALL BALL IS BACK: The 2026 World Series is a full-throated celebration of everything small—and it’s about to deliver pure, unfiltered baseball theater. The Rays and Brewers are the league’s model small-market outfits, sitting in the bottom half of MLB in both metro-area size and luxury-tax payroll. They also play small, and that’s exactly why they’re still standing when the big boys are already home. Where’s the thunder? Nowhere. Unlike every other modern contender that lives and dies by the long ball, neither club leans on it. Milwaukee finished with the third-fewest home runs in the sport. Tampa Bay ranked ninth-fewest. Even in their hottest stretches, neither team generated a league-average share of its runs via the home run. They simply refused to play that game. So how do they score? Both ranked among the top 10 in offensive WAR despite the power shortage. Elite pitching and defense carried them this far, but the offenses went full old-school: singles, bunts, speed, and pure situational hitting. No shortcuts. Just relentless pressure. Dig into the numbers, and the picture gets even clearer. Tampa Bay and Milwaukee finished first and second in both singles and infield hits. Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson led the majors with 61 infield hits—nearly 20 more than anyone else. The bunt is back in a big way: the two teams combined for 82 sacrifice bunts and 81 more bunt hits, with Brewers infielder David Hamilton leading the entire league in both categories. Both clubs also ranked in the top 10 in contact rate, productive-out rate, advancing runners from second with nobody out, and driving runners home from third with fewer than two outs. Speed is the common thread that ties it all together. Both teams ranked among the top five in the majors in average home-to-first time, turning routine grounders into infield hits and forcing every defender into a high-stakes decision. The wheels turn every at-bat into a threat. Bottom line: A World Series built on singles, bunts, and productive outs might sound like something only the purest baseball diehards could love. Throw in a collection of speedsters flying around the bases, putting constant pressure on the defense, and turning every ground ball into an adventure, and you’ve got the kind of October baseball that reminds everyone why the game still works. This is small-ball done right, and it’s going to be a blast to watch. #MLB #WorldSeries #Brewers #Rays #PlaybookSports

WHAT WE LEARNED WEEK 6: From today's daily Playbook Coffee Club: tinyurl.com/v5ccz2pf While the Titans and the rest of the league’s walking wounded figure to be no threat for the Lombardi Trophy this season, a changing-of-the-guard theme is starting to poke its head out from several corners of the NFL. It begins at the top. The defending champion Seattle Seahawks are already 3-3, matching their total losses from last year, and they could fall three full games behind the undefeated San Francisco 49ers. The team that was supposed to be the clear No. 1 when the dust settled? The Los Angeles Rams. Not. They still have time to get right and make a run, and some of their earlier losses could be explained away. But losing at home to the Arizona Cardinals as heavy favorites isn’t fluky. That loss also detonated the CIRCA Survivor Contest, sending 901 of the 2,908 remaining entries packing — 31 percent of the field — in one fell swoop. The Cardinals became the first team since 1932 to win their first two road games in the same stadium. Those are also the only two wins Arizona owns all season. Combined with the Colts’ loss, more than 55 percent of the live contestants were wiped out on Black Sunday. Friction in the Giants locker room followed Cam Skattebo's zero carries in Sunday’s loss to the Saints, a game he didn’t even start. He said John Harbaugh was punishing him for his disastrous Week 5 overtime fumble at Washington. Harbaugh said otherwise after another ugly loss. “I got punished for what I did (against Washington),” Skattebo told reporters. “I understand it, so I gotta be ready when coach calls my name, and that wasn’t today.” Don’t get fooled by J.J. McCarthy’s garbage-time numbers. He came off the bench and threw for 243 yards and a touchdown, but nearly all of it came after the Saints pulled most of their starters once they had built a 34-10 lead in the fourth quarter. Speaking of the Saints, they’re scheduled to fly from the New York area to Paris for the NFL’s first regular-season game in France against the Steelers. That game is still on despite the country's current social unrest. Pittsburgh won the league’s first game in Dublin last year. Technically, first place in the AFC North belongs to the Browns. Cleveland is 4-2, the same as Baltimore and Pittsburgh, but the Browns already have wins over both division rivals. Is it time for a changing of the guard with the Chargers? Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is looking more and more like the dead fish in the water that he was in Miami. In the end, Houston and Green Bay, two of the league’s slow starters, are back in business. The Texans have now won two straight to improve to 2-4. The Texans overcame an 0-2 start in 2023 to win the AFC South and dug out of an 0-3 hole last year to grab a wild card. Now they’re trying to join the 1992 San Diego Chargers as the only teams to reach the postseason after starting 0-4. The Steelers’ 4-2 start puts them in a relative three-way tie atop the AFC North. Hold the call to the florist for Aaron Rodgers. #NFL #Week6Review #PlaybokSports

THEY'RE FALLING LIKE DOMINOES The team that was supposed to be the clear No. 1 when the dust settled? The Los Angeles Rams. Not. They still have time to get it right and make a run, and they could explain away some of their earlier losses. But losing at home to the Arizona Cardinals as heavy favorites isn’t fluky. That loss also detonated the CIRCA Survivor Contest, sending 901 of the 2,908 remaining entries packing — 31 percent of the field — in one fell swoop. The Cardinals became the first team since 1932 to win their first two road games in the same stadium. Those are also the only two wins Arizona owns all season. Combined with the Colts’ loss, more than 55 percent of the live Survivor contestants were wiped out on Black Sunday. Turn out the lights. The party is over. #CircaSurvivor #NFL #PlaybookSports

ALL SHOOK UP: From today's Coffee Club e-letter... College football just had a Saturday that left the sport looking like it got hit by a truck and then backed over. The No. 1 team went down for the second week in a row. Five of the top seven teams lost. Five. Of. The. Top. Seven. That has never happened. Ever. Not in any season, any decade, any version of this game. As a result, the rankings didn’t get shuffled — they got detonated. AP voters walked in on Sunday with a blank page and fresh doubts. A season that already refused to make sense just doubled down. Here’s the new order after the wreckage: 1. Miami (40) 2. BYU (20) 3. Ohio State (9) 4. Notre Dame 5. Georgia 6. Indiana 7. Ole Miss 8. Texas Tech (1) 9. UCLA 10. Utah 11. Tennessee 12. Kentucky 13. Alabama 14. Houston 15. Iowa 16. USC 17. Wake Forest 18. LSU 19. Texas 20. Florida 21. Boise State 22. Missouri 23. SMU 24. Northwestern 25. Arizona MOVIN’ ON UP Miami at the top. Some voters wanted BYU there after the Notre Dame win, and the case was loud. The room still went with the Hurricanes. For at least one more week. Who shot up: BYU (up 6). Took down the Irish in a street fight and stayed perfect. Big 12 title race is very much alive, and the Cougars just made everybody look. Houston (up 6). Beat a ranked Oklahoma State and stayed relevant near the top of the Big 12. Next stop is undefeated Utah on the road. No soft landing. Florida (up 12). The pollsters have been swinging hard with everything the Gators do. They beat Texas on the road and rocketed back into the rankings like they never left. Message received. HIT THE HARDEST: Texas (down 12). Biggest free fall on the board. Two straight losses and the playoff talk isn’t quieting — it’s gone. One more loss and the conversation ends. Alabama (down 7). Second loss in a row. Ten points at Tennessee. The run game still looks soft up front, and the questions that started weeks ago just got meaner. WE HARDLY KNEW YE Oklahoma State (previously No. 18) and Mississippi State (previously No. 16) dropped out of the AP Top 25 this week. These teams just lost their Top 25 membership. The voters watched the tape, checked the scoreboard, and kicked them out. The pretenders got exposed in real time. Everyone still standing just got a clear reminder: this season doesn’t care about your name, your brand, or last week’s ranking. It only cares about Saturday. And Saturday keeps winning. #APTop25 #CoffeeClub #PlaybookSports

EVEN STEVEN From a betting perspective, Week 5 was remarkably balanced in the NFL, especially on Sunday. Seven favorites and seven underdogs covered; favorites went 7-7 and the dogs 7-7... if you scored the Bengals-Dolphins game at Cincinnati -7.5, the closing line. There were also 8 Overs and 6 Unders. A tip of the hat to the oddsmakers who know how to set lines, especially in the NFL. Here are other end results of the top five betting storylines for Week 6 of the NFL season: RAMS STILL FAVORED Monday night brought one of the season's most exciting games, when the Rams got off to a 2-3 start after losing to the Bills in overtime. You'd think that would drop their Super Bowl odds. Not so fast. The Rams are still co-favored with the 49ers to win the Super Bowl at +700 odds. The Rams' schedule gets easier, but they already trail the 49ers by three games in the NFC West. They have been one of the NFL's most disappointing teams so far, given what was expected. But the current market shows oddsmakers are unwilling to boost the Rams' odds, worried about exposure if they finally live up to the preseason hype. EAGLES STILL FAVORED The Eagles are 2-3, haven't looked good yet this season, and play immediately after a game in London. They're facing the Carolina Panthers, who are rested after a bye. And yet the Eagles are still favored. It's not by much, which shows how the Eagles have slipped. They're 1.5-point favorites. That's also some respect for the Panthers, who are playing very well on offense and are 2-2 to start the season. MANY SMALL ROAD FAVORITES Week 6 could bring some interesting games. A half-dozen small road favorites that could make for interesting games. #NFL #RAMS #ODDS #PlaybookSports

FSU AND MIKE NORVELL IN A NO-WIN SITUATION This week’s PLAYBOOK Football Newsletter shares a stunning fact: Florida State is more than $430M in debt, complicating a potential $68M payout to part with football coach Mike Norvell and his staff. Most of the debt is facility-related, making it hard for FSU to take on more debt, meaning it can’t afford to fire him. Buying him out would trigger a potential $68M payout to part with football coach Mike Norvell and his staff. Most of the debt is facility-related, making it difficult for FSU to take on more debt. The Seminoles' 44-20 loss Oct. 9 at Louisville makes them 4-15 in conference play and 10-20 overall since winning the 2023 ACC championship game. The Seminoles seemed in control, up 14-0 and in the red zone in the second quarter. But the Cardinals came up with a fourth-down stop, scampered for a 97-yard touchdown on the next play, and sparked a run of 35 straight points. The seat under Norvell has been piping hot since last season, and it didn't help matters that 2026 began with a lackluster performance against middling New Mexico State, four takeaways that still resulted in a home loss to SMU, and an early lead that the maligned defense coughed up at Alabama to the tune of a 50-point burger. Fans have been ready to see him fired for some time, showing up for an easy win over Central Arkansas seemingly just to boo him. #MIkeNorvell #FloridaState #Seminoles #PlaybookSports

A STEAL OR A CALCULATED GAMBLE? When Texans coach DeMeco Ryans confirmed the Marvin Harrison Jr. trade at the postgame podium Sunday—right after Houston clubbed the Titans—it stood out. Those announcements rarely come with that much enthusiasm, and it was either the relief of a needed win or genuine belief they had just found real value. Houston was the logical landing spot on paper. Wide receiver depth was an issue, and the CJ Stroud-Harrison connection from Ohio State is legitimate. But anyone who has followed how Nick Caserio and Ryans build rosters knows this sits outside their normal pattern. They place real weight on how players respond in adverse situations: effort when trailing, sideline engagement, and willingness to execute when the play isn't drawn up for them. The Texans have long leaned into that identity—early-morning practices in the heat, the players they keep versus the ones they move—and the results have followed. Their roster is constructed around competitive types who show up in those spots, whether quiet or vocal. Harrison does not profile that way based on the available evidence from Arizona. That is the crux of the deal. Either the Cardinals are moving a talented player who had checked out, giving Houston a clear edge, or the Texans are stepping away from their established standard to salvage the season. History with these kinds of deviations is not kind to the middle ground. Teams either get the player they expected or absorb the cost of the mismatch. One outcome moves the needle. The other does not. The tape supports the concern. Across his targets in 2025 and early 2026, there are enough instances where Harrison appears to give less than full effort, struggles against physical coverage, or loses contested situations at a higher rate than peers with comparable draft capital. Those are patterns, not outliers. Whether it was scheme, circumstance, or something else, they'll now test it in a new setting with a quarterback he already knows. We’ll see the results soon. Every trade deserves a careful look, but the evidence points to a binary result: Harrison either elevates and fits what Houston has built, or the Texans pay the price for prioritizing talent over the traits that have defined their approach. Stop and think about that. One path creates value. The other does not. #NFL #MarvinHarrisonJr #Texans #PlaybookSports

BETCHA DIDN'T KNOW: Kentucky just authored one of the rarest bounce-backs in college football history. The Wildcats responded to a road win at South Carolina like few teams ever have—with a fourth-quarter rally that forced overtime and a one-point win. Their reward? They were bounced from the AP Top 25, only the seventh team ever to win a game and still fall out of the poll. Then they went to LSU and did it again. Same script. Overtime. Identical one-point margin. Walk-off two-point conversion. First team in FBS history (overtime era) to win consecutive games by a single point in extra time. Five of the previous seven teams that won a game and dropped out of the AP Top 25 managed to win their next outing. Kentucky just joined that short list — and did it in the most precise way possible. Well done, Wildcats. Well done. #NCAA #Kentucky #PlaybookSports

NOT SO SUPER From Issue 8 of the Best Football Newsletter on the Planet, the Playbook, here's a morsel you probably didn’t know. Every Super Bowl team since the 2021 season, AKA the 17-game era, was at least 4-2 after 6 games. The records shown below for Super Bowl teams were each after 6 games: • 6-0: 2 (2022 Eagles, 2024 Chiefs). • 5-1: 3 (2021 Rams, 2023 Chiefs, 2023 49ers). • 4-2: 5 (2021 Bengals, 2022 Chiefs, 2024 Eagles, 2025 Seahawks, 2025 Patriots). That’s bad news for the Chargers, Cowboys, Eagles, and Texans, all of whom had more than 9 preseason projected wins. #NFL #SuperBowl #PlaybookSports

THE SKINNY ON MIKE DITKA Today’s stars can race past linebackers, outleap safeties for the ball, then turn around and help clear a hole in the running game. Mike Ditka was doing all three before the position became a headline act. The football legend, who died Friday at 86, helped fuse two seemingly separate jobs into one. The formula later made stars of Rob Gronkowski, George Kittle and Travis Kelce. At Pitt, from 1958 through 1960, Ditka played in a run-first offense that threw the ball just over 25 percent of the time. When the Panthers did pass, Ditka was the first call. He led the team in receptions and receiving yards in all three seasons, finishing his college career with 45 catches for 730 yards and seven touchdowns. He was also a standout defensive end—some believed that was his best position—and served as Pitt’s punter. Teammate Foge Fazio, who later coached the Panthers, compared Ditka to a prizefighter who “couldn’t wait for that bell to ring and get back out there.” Ditka put it more simply: “I like contact. I just like to hit. And I don’t mind getting hit myself. You can get hit and knocked down and go back and hit the other guy harder.” That was Mike Ditka. Even after retirement, he could bring a room to its feet as a motivational speaker. I saw it firsthand at the 2001 BoDog Conference in Las Vegas, where I had the honor of speaking. After Ditka’s inspiring talk, he took questions. I quickly put him on the defensive when, as head coach of the New Orleans Saints, I asked what prompted him to trade eight draft picks to move up and select Ricky Williams with the fifth overall pick. Williams was a stud running back—and a well-known marijuana user. Ditka’s answer was convincing enough to win over most of the attendees. Later that night, at Club Rio, where Calvin Ayre had booked the entire nightclub for the BoDog party, I spotted Ditka sitting in a chair, rolling a cigar. I went over to introduce myself. His opening line: “What the f---? You had to put me on the spot and ask me about Ricky Williams?” I told him he handled the question like only Mike Ditka could. His anger quickly turned to a nodding smile. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess I did.” Ditka’s No. 89 is one of only 11 numbers Pitt has retired, a program that has produced an impressive roll call of football greats, including Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald, Tony Dorsett, and Aaron Donald. I’ll never meet another Mike Ditka in my life. For that, I’m thrilled I got to meet the real McCoy. #MikeDitka #ChicagoBears #NFL #PlaybookSports

JUSTIN TIME It’s almost criminal — Justin Herbert has stacked up monster stats, Pro Bowls, and highlight-reel heroics for years… yet he still hasn’t tasted a single playoff victory. That drought ends in 2026. Last season looked like a springboard — until the Chargers face-planted with a brutal 0-3 straight-up and against-the-spread collapse to close the year. But don’t let that final stumble fool you. This squad has the horses, the scheme, and the swagger to flip the script. Bolt up—it's Week 5, and lightning is about to strike for the winless Chargers. This is from the 2026 PLAYBOOK Football Preview Guide magazine. Click here for PDF view: tinyurl.com/5adkd6d8 #NFL #Chargers #JustinHerbert

IS HOWIE ROSEMAN PLAYING CHESS? The Eagles shipped two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman CamJurgens and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday for a 2027 fifth and a 2028 second. Howie Roseman called the return too good to leave on the table, even with the look of it: another accomplished trench guy out the door the day after Lane Johnson retired. On paper, this is the kind of NFL paperwork that should not survive contact with a fantasy roster. It does. Jurgens, a line that has already looked soft, and one quiet offseason coaching change cast a long shadow over the deal. Here's the sensible read and the irresponsible one. One friend thinks the Kennedy hit was a Corleone job. The other still will not try a different mustard. THE SPLIT Philadelphia’s winning percentage with Lane Johnson over 14 years: 65.1%. Without him: 39.8%. That is not a rounding error. It is one of the sharper tackle splits in recent NFL history, and it is the cleanest argument that Johnson belongs on the first ballot and, quite possibly, among the three best right tackles the league has produced. THE PRESSURE This season, the Eagles have seen about a 10% jump in pressure when Johnson is off the field. Across his whole career, the gap is closer to 3%. In 2022, 2024, and again this year, it stretched toward 10% or landed right on it. Stop and think about that. The man was the difference between a clean pocket and a phone booth. THE TRADE Sensible: Roseman sold a good lineman at the top of his market and banked a future second. Irresponsible: The day after the tackle who made the record possible walked away, the front office moved the next trench piece and called the optics a fair price. One of those is a transaction. The other is a tell. #NFL #EAGLES #ROSEMAN #PlaybookSports

$125 Dodger Stadium is going all-out for the playoffs this year. The concessions include a cheeseburger selling for $125. The cheeseburger is 24 ounces and comes on a 10-inch bun with special sauce. The question is: if my wife doesn't like the sauce and I ask them to hold it, how much does it cost ... sans the sauce? What do you think? #MLBplayoffs... #Dodgers #PlaybookSports

A MIXED BAG: WEEK 5 WINNERS AND LOSERS 'Long-suffering' might sound overly dramatic when describing tortured fan bases, but college football specializes in extending the sentence. Week 5 finally delivered a few pardons. Minnesota celebrated its first home win over Michigan since 1977. Purdue snapped a 19-game Big Ten losing streak... Northwestern opened its sparkling new palace by flattening Penn State... Meanwhile, Mississippi State, Florida and UMass were returned to solitary confinement. And those poor, deprived Alabama fans? After one playoff win last season and a national-title drought approaching five years, the Tide suddenly looks like a wagon again. Bless their hearts. WINNER: NORTHWESTERN New Ryan Field opened with a roar, and the Wildcats supplied the fireworks. Their demolition of Penn State confirmed what a 34-point mugging of Colorado and a near-upset at Indiana had already suggested: Northwestern is legitimate. Barring a banana peel, the Wildcats should be 6-1 and neck-deep in the playoff conversation when they visit Oregon. Between the rowdy Wildcat Wall and Chip Kelly’s mad-scientist Wing-T attack, Evanston suddenly has teeth. LOSER: FIRST-YEAR BIG TEN COACHES Bob Chesney’s unbeaten UCLA squad enjoyed a bye while the league’s other newcomers continued stepping on rakes... Kyle Whittingham’s Michigan offense is a mess after a 20-14 loss at Minnesota... Matt Campbell’s Penn State team feasted on a cupcake nonconference menu, then was exposed when the vegetables arrived... Pat Fitzgerald inherited trouble at Michigan State and appears to have added interest... Chesney, meanwhile, heads to Oregon for the conference’s ultimate reveal party. WINNER: MISSOURI’S BELIEVERS Nineteen voters kept Missouri ranked after its loss at Mississippi State, drawing howls from the poll police. Then Mizzou turned Florida into roadkill, 45-17. Case dismissed. LOSER: YOUNG QUARTERBACKS Pitt’s Mason Heintschel tore his ACL after guiding the Panthers to 5-0... Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was pulled after a frightening hit... Vanderbilt freshman Jared Curtis couldn’t answer the bell against Georgia... Tennessee benched Faizon Brandon before George MacIntyre steadied the Vols past Auburn... Michigan’s Bryce Underwood struggled badly at Minnesota, while Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor donated a fumble, a pick-six and another interception to Alabama’s 56-23 feast. Growing pains, meet the scoreboard. LOSER: SEPTEMBER SWEETHEARTS UMass raced from 0-12 last season to 4-0 this year—then lost 38-14 to Eastern Michigan - after we spilled the beans on the Minutemen last week... Florida was back—until Missouri buried the Gators by 28... Iowa finally found an offense to complement its defense—then Ohio State reminded everyone who owns the deed, 31-14. September makes promises. October collects receipts. WINNER: PURDUE Barry Odom’s Boilermakers beat Illinois, 24-17, securing his first Power 4 victory and Purdue’s first Big Ten win since 2023. After 19 straight conference losses, Purdue finally Boiled Up. No parade necessary. A pulse will do. #CollegeFootball2026 #WinnersAndLosers #PlaybookSports

C'MON, MAN The biggest story in this week’s AP Top 25 shuffle wasn’t Florida tumbling eight spots after Missouri turned the Gators into swamp soup. It was Kentucky — another SEC survivor that staged a dramatic comeback victory – and then was told to pick up its marbles and leave the poll, stage left. The No. 24 Wildcats became only the seventh team in the AP Top 25 era, which began in 1989, to win and still receive a pink slip the following week. For what it’s worth, the previous six teams ejected from the poll bounced back and went 4-2 straight up in their next game. Even stranger, four of the seven cases have occurred this season. Are you listening, Lane Kiffin? #SEC #KentuckyWildcats #MadAsHell #PlaybookSports

NEVER IS A LONG, LONG TIME From this week's Playbook Football Newsletter: Half the NFL games last week were won by teams that got out- yarded. Stop and think about that. Fifty percent of those wins were not earned. They were gifted. The Vikings have escaped the Grim Reaper in all three victories this season. As a result of those phony stat sheets, Minnesota brings the league’s WORST offense into the only 3-0 vs. 0-3 pairing on the card. The Fish actually came up large in the numbers last Sunday — a 24-10 loss to Kansas City in which they lost the yardage battle by five while surrendering 334 total yards. The primary reason Miami enters this one on the dreaded triple — 0-3 SU, 0-3 ATS, 0-3 ITS (In The Stats) — is simple: The Dolphins have not held the lead in any game this season. We understand. Youngest team in the league. Thin bench. But Minnesota shouldn't be laying points in their current condition: 3-0 SU, 3-0 ATS, 0-3 ITS, while being outgained and averaging 82 net yards per game. As we said, Miami has pockmarks too. Star RB De’Von Achane — the best player on the roster — is out for the year with an ACL. It would not surprise to see the Fish rally around the loss of their star this week. FYI FROM THE WELL-OILED MACHINE: 3-0 NFL road favorites have a strong tendency to play down to 0-3 opponents, going 9-11 SU and 6-12-2 ATS. Forewarned is forearmed. Forget the Fish’s 1-9-1 ATS ledger in NFC North affairs. Concentrate instead on Miami’s mighty 10-2 ATS log in games after Kansas City. #NFL #Dolphins #Vikings #PlaybookSports

BAR BET OF THE WEEK: Each week on the football card, there is always a 'bar bet' that you will likely win every time. I’ll bet you didn’t know that only 10 FBS teams entering Week Five of the season have won all four games to date, both on the scoreboard and 'in the stats'. UMass is one of them. Amazingly, that same group of Minutemen was winless, 0-12 ‘In The Stats’, last season. It’s safe to say that second-year head coach Joe Harasymiak has the team’s full attention this season. Behind the nation’s 10th-ranked rush defense and a rushing offense that averages 5.6 YPR, UMass’ net rush yardage per game is +3.3, a full 4.2 net better than Eastern Michigan’s -0.9 net YPR. Add a quadruple revenge factor for UMass into the equation, and we hear it now: “The Minutemen are coming, the Minutemen are coming!" Set 'em up, barkeep. I'll have another on my friend, that is. #UMass #FBS #PlaybookSports

Surprise. Surprise. Texas QB Arch Manning was just named by ESPN as the ninth-best quarterback in the SEC this season, behind 1. Trinidad Chambliss 2. Kamario Taylor 3. Keelon Russell 4. Austin Simmons 5. Gunner Stockton 6. Aaron Philo 7. Sam Leavitt 8. Kenny Minchey #SEC #Arch #Manning #PlaybookSports

WILD THING: How's this for a wild stat: Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Menseh has thrown more touchdowns (14) than incompletions (12), becoming the first FBS player to do that through four games in the last 30 years. He's likely to slow down , but as it stands, his 228.2 passing efficiency rating would shatter the single-season record (208.0, set by LSU's Jayden Daniels in 2023). Yes, he’s the college football transfer player of the year – he arrived from Duke. Shout-out to Darian Menseh. #FBS #TheU #Hurricnaes #DarianMensah #PlaybookSports

CASE CLOSED A time-tested axiom holds true when it comes to backup quarterbacks. You want to back them in their first start as the team rallies around the backup quarterback in honor of their fallen star. Keenum didn’t just handle the assignment. He owned it. He outplayed Jalen Hurts by a clean margin and made Vic Fangio pay for the dare. Fangio essentially invited Keenum to beat him early. Keenum accepted. When the blitz came, the 15-year veteran was outstanding. No panic. No guessing. Just answers. “He knows where everyone’s supposed to be on every single play,” Ben Johnson said. “That’s what you get when you’re 15-plus years in this league. Coach Fangio threw a lot at him tonight. Case handled it really well. Backup quarterbacks have been one of the biggest stories of the 2026 NFL season. And I’ll bet you didn’t know that teams starting a different QB than their Week 1 starter are now 6-0 in the NFL this season. Keenum didn’t just join the conversation. He raised it. #NFL #ChicagoBears #PlaybookSports