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I was terrible last week, but so was everyone else except Abe, who tightened his stranglehold on the ChabDog picks contest by being sharp when everyone else was being square. Abe had New England when the rest of us had Tampa and New Orleans when the rest of us had Carolina. The only good pick I made was Houston, and that was still a loser after the Texans’ miracle comeback! It took a fluke touchdown at the end to get Houston to cover the spread. At least I finished strong with big wins by the Chargers and Eagles.
Abe might be too far gone at this point, but I can still catch the Tank with a solid Week 11.
Jets +11.5 at Patriots
Jets have won two in a row and the Patriots are wearing ugly uniforms.
Commanders +2.5 at Dolphins
This is such a recency bias spread. Marcus Mariota has played well for Washington with Jayden Daniels out.
Panthers at Falcons -3.5
I should pick Carolina since it was such a letdown last week, but I’m back on the Falcons after they blew the cover and the game in European overtime.
Buccaneers at Bills -5.5
Last week was a fluke for Buffalo. The Bills will bounce back at home against a team from Florida.
Texans -7.5 at Titans
Another favorite that I’m nervous about. Houston crushed Tennessee in their first meeting 26-0.
Bears at Vikings -3.5
Chicago only covered last week because Jaxson Dart got hurt. The squares will say the wrong team is favored.
Packers at Giants +7.5
This has Jameis Winston backdoor cover written all over it.
Bengals +4.5 at Steelers
There’s just something about Joe Flacco! Cincinnati can’t stop a nose bleed, but it’s still hard to bet against.
Chargers -2.5 at Jaguars
I’m going chalk here because of all the fantasy interest I have with the Bolts this week.
Seahawks at Rams -2.5
Chalk again. Rams being favored by less than three at home is disrespectful.
49ers at Cardinals +2.5
Despite getting their doors blown off in Seattle, Arizona has been more consistent than San Francisco lately.
Ravens at Browns +7.5
This game will either go like Bills vs. Dolphins and Saints vs. Panthers last week or like Lions vs. Commanders and Cardinals vs. Seahawks. That’s why picking is hard.
Chiefs -3.5 at Broncos
Major fraud test for the Broncos. I say they fail.
Lions +1.5 at Eagles
Detroit bounced back well last week. Now it is time to assert dominance over the NFC.
Cowboys at Raiders +3.5
Dallas desperately needs this game to justify the Quinnen Williams trade. Raiders have been plucky, though.
Oba Femi is back! The Ruler of NXT had been absent from the wrestling universe since dropping the NXT Championship to Ricky Saints at No Mercy in late September, but he returned to the scene on Tuesday night right after Saints barley survived his bloody Last Man Standing title match against Trick Williams. Williams did everything he could to keep Saints down for a 10 count, including hitting a Trick Shot knee strike, blasting him with the steel ring stairs, burying him under those stairs, and throwing him through a wall, but Saints got up and kept fighting. Williams then brought Saints into the crowd and hit another Trick Shot, but Saints answered by spearing Williams out of the stands and through the announce table below. The epic blow was barely enough to keep Williams down and keep the NXT Championship around Saints’ waist… for now.
Cinema. pic.twitter.com/q2Qxil8WuI
— Aaron Yorke (@AaronPYorke) November 12, 2025
As soon as the match ended, Femi emerged on the entrance ramp to stake his claim to a rematch. With no NXT Championship match on the upcoming Gold Rush card (November 18 and 25 at Madison Square Garden), I’m thinking that Femi will get his shot at becoming a two-time NXT Champion at Deadline on December 6 in San Antonio.
One rematch that is happening at Gold Rush is Tatum Paxley vs. Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Championship. Paxley opened the Tuesday show by granting a rematch to Jayne despite Paxley’s friend Izzi Dame wanting her to be more selective when handing out title shots. If Paxley wins at Gold Rush, it could make the champion more confident in doing things her way instead of listening to Dame. If she loses, Dame can say “I told you so” and continue having Paxley do the bidding of The Culling. That’s why I’m predicting that Dame costs Paxley the title next week. Remember, at Halloween Havoc, it looked like Dame was trying to sabotage Paxley when Dame ran into the ring with the title.
We also set up an NXT Tag Team Championship match on Tuesday with Je’Von Evans and Leon Slater announcing that they’ll challenge DarkState at Gold Rush. Slater appeared to be in a remote location during the announcement, but when DarkState attacked Evans, he ran out from backstage and helped the Bouncy Boy fight off the fearsome foursome. Evans and Slater are a hot team right now, so I could see this going either way. I will give the edge to DarkState since I think Evans is close to breaking out on the main roster. Look for DarkState to interfere with Evans’ match against Gunther on Monday Night Raw the night before Gold Rush.
This is CHAOS!!!@theahail_wwe and @wwe_alba are giving us a good one! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/57mSGcyaAo
— WWE (@WWE) November 12, 2025
The Triple-A Mixed Tag Team Championship is also set to be defended during Week 1 of Gold Rush, and we got a little preview on Tuesday when Thea Hail defeated Secret Hervice member Alba Fyre in a singles match while fighting off interference from Ethan Page and Chelsea Green. Everyone loves Hail and Joe Hendry, but they don’t have the chemistry together than Green and Page do. That’s why I expect the defending champs to win next week. I would rather Hail lose and go on to pursue the NXT Women’s Championship or the Women’s North American Championship than continue teaming with Hendry and living in his shadow.
One more match on the Gold Rush card is Blake Monroe vs. Sol Ruca for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. I feel very good about Monroe winning so that the wedge between Ruca and Zaria is driven deeper. I could see Ruca losing next week and then Zaria winning the Speed Championship during Week 2. That would make Ruca bitter about Zaria only winning when its her title opportunity and not Ruca’s. Remember, Zaria lost the Women’s North American Championship at Halloween Havoc when she stepped in for an injured Ruca.
It wasn’t surprising to see John Cena open up Monday Night Raw last night and hear him hype up his last match ever on December 13. It was a lot more surprising when Dominik Mysterio came out and accidentally got himself booked in a fight for his Intercontinental Championship. Dom busted out all of his tricks in an effort to retain the prestigious title, but Cena ended up defeating him twice. First when Dom tapped out to the STF while the referee was incapacitated and again when Cena rolled through Dom’s Frog Splash and hit the Attitude Adjustment, this time with the referee ready to count to three.
Just one month before his retirement from WWE, Cena has shockingly won his first Intercontinental Championship, which raises the question, will Cena’s final match be a loss for the legendary wrestler? It seems likely now that the anticipated match on December 13 will be for the Intercontinental Championship unless Cena drops the title as suddenly as he won it. Heel Cena had previously talked about going home with the Undisputed WWE Championship and ruining wrestling, but this current version seems content to let the legacy of his current title continue past 2025. Unless Cena is taking the Intercontinental Championship with him into retirement, he is probably losing in his final match, and that only builds the intrigue over who the opponent will be.
We got two more possibilities announced by Adam Pearce on Monday night. The Raw general manager said that Je’Von Evans will face Gunther in The Last Time is Now Tournament next week. Solo Sikoa will also be in tournament action against a mystery opponent. That leaves us with a second mystery entrant with the first set to be revealed on SmackDown as LA Knight’s tournament opponent. Joe Hendry has been speculated as a mystery spot, but I would be surprised if it was him because he doesn’t have a connection to Cena. Oba Femi makes more sense to me because he is larger than life and is someone that fans including myself would love to see fight Cena before he rides off into the sunset. I will currently project Hendry to face Sikoa and Femi to face Knight, but the possibilities are endless. Chris Jericho making a return to WWE would be electric and Trick Williams seems overdue to break out on the main roster.
Next week, the tournament continues.@WWE pic.twitter.com/lwYpsGM495
— Adam Pearce (@ScrapDaddyAP) November 11, 2025
Right now my two favorites to defeat Cena in his final match at The Miz and Gunther. It would probably take some shenanigans to get The Miz past Jey Uso in the first round of The Last Time is Now Tournament, but he just cut a killer promo on Friday and he has history with both Cena and the Intercontinental Championship. Gunther has never faced Cena, but he’s someone who would certainly have had an epic feud with Cena if he had come around a decade earlier. With Seth Rollins out of action, Gunther is returning to the spotlight as WWE’s most dominant heel. He has almost always had a title around his waist since being promoted to the main roster, so it would make sense for him to take the IC Championship back after his glorious run with it two years ago.
Both Rusev and Sheamus won their matches in The Last Time is Now Tournament to advance to the quarterfinals. Both wins were easy to predict since both guys have history with Cena. Sheamus’ case for winning the tournament is interesting because he has never won the IC Championship and December 13 is the anniversary of Sheamus defeating Cena for the WWE Championship many years ago. Rusev has beef with Cena because when Cena beat him for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 31, the Bulgarian Brute’s career was never the same. I like the promo that Rusev cut this week, but I give Sheamus the edge to advance farther in the tournament.
Getting back to that Dom vs. Cena match on Raw, it is interesting that none of Dom’s Judgement Day family was at ringside to help him out, especially since so many of his title defenses have been team efforts. Is this signaling a split between Dom and The Judgement Day? The legacy superstar is already being treated like a babyface by the crowd, and he’s been one of the hottest heels in the company since he betrayed his father three years ago. Pulling the trigger on a babyface turn for Dom would likely ignite a massive run for him with limitless possibilities including a reunion with Rey Mysterio and an underdog run at a major championship. It’s all potential energy right now and the only question for WWE creative is when to push that button.
"Lonely" Dominik Mysterio 👀 pic.twitter.com/uHm0JVWqS4
— WWE (@WWE) November 11, 2025
The other big thing to happen on Raw was the formation of teams for WarGames. On the men’s side, CM Punk called out Logan Paul after Paul sucker punched him with brass knuckles last week. That led to Paul coming to the ring with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, which in turn led to Punk fighting them off with the help of Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes. Later in the evening, William Regal showed up out of nowhere to officially announce “WarGames!”
We are still at only three men aside, though. It would be surprising if Roman Reigns didn’t join the babyface side. He’s got a strong bond with Jey and both he and Punk share a disdain for Paul Heyman, the man managing Breakker and Reed. With Reigns in the mix, you might as well throw in Jimmy Uso as well to get the babyfaces to five men. I suppose Sami Zayn is also a possibility if he is medically cleared with the history he shares with Reigns and Uso.
PREPARE FOR WAR. 👀
IT'S TIME FOR WARGAMES!!! pic.twitter.com/GN32iss2JS
— WWE (@WWE) November 11, 2025
As for the heels, Drew McIntyre is suspended, so he probably won’t get announced until close to Survivor Series, but he makes too much sense since he doubled down on his feud with Rhodes by Claymore Kicking a referee last Friday. Gunther is also a possibility based on him disappearing since losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Punk at SummerSlam. Kevin Owens has been on the shelf even longer than Gunther and has a score to settle with Rhodes, but I’m not sure how close he is to returning to action. Owens would also make sense as one of the mystery combatants in The Last Time is Now Tournament since he had a major feud with Cena as soon as he came up on the main roster.
The ladies also got into the WarGames spirit when the new team of Nia Jax and Lash Legend showed up to screw over Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss during their Women’s Tag Team Championship match against the Kabuki Warriors. Bliss had done a great job intercepting Kairi Sane with Sister Abigail to stop the Pirate Princess from breaking up Flair’s Figure Four leglock, but Jax and Legend interfered with the submission while the referee wasn’t looking. That led to Sane throwing Bliss over the announce table and then hitting the Insane Elbow on Flair for the pin to crown new champs.
NEW WOMEN'S TAG TEAM CHAMPS!
RHEA RIPLEY IS BACK!
WOMEN'S WARGAMES MATCH IS ON!
WHAT A CHAOTIC ENDING TO RAW! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/S27ZMgbw6D
— WWE (@WWE) November 11, 2025
Bliss tried to pick a fight with Jax and Legend after the match and it predictably wasn’t going well until Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley showed up to clear the ring of the heels. Ripley shouted “WarGames!” at the baddies and all of a sudden we had four women on each team. I’m thinking that the final two spots will go to Jade Cargill and either Tiffany Stratton or Bianca Belair depending on who is available. Cargill doesn’t have a challenger for her new WWE Women’s Championship yet because all she did on Friday was say “I’m that bitch” and walk out of the ring. However, she didn’t make it far before bumping into Flair, which foreshadowed beef between the two powerhouses. Both Stratton and Belair have history with Cargill with Stratton just dropping the title to her and Belair teaming up with her before missing time due to injury.
If Stratton and Belair both aren’t cleared, I can see Bayley jumping on on the babyface side due to her history with Damage Ctrl. Nikki Bella and Stephanie Vaquer would make great candidates for WarGames as well, but they appear locked in their own feud after Bella smashed Vaquer with the title following the latter defeating Raquel Rodriguez to defend the Women’s World Championship last night.
Straight from Ava’s office…
Think of @WWE Last Man Standing matches from the past and understand that ya don’t wanna miss tonight!!!@TheCW_Sports pic.twitter.com/UZzA4ZKseM
— Robert Stone (@MrStoneWWE) November 11, 2025
Tonight on NXT, my hero El Grande Americano defends the Speed Championship against Jasper Troy and Ricky Saints faces Trick Williams in what is sure to be an epic Last Man Standing Match for the NXT Championship. Should be a great show.
The Giants announced today that they have parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll. General manager Joe Schoen, who joined the franchise in 2022 right before he hired Daboll, still has a job for now despite two of his six first-round NFL Draft selections being massive busts (Evan Neal and Deonte Banks). To be fair to Daboll and Schoen, the two players they chose in the first round of the 2025 Draft have the potential to be future franchise cornerstones with Jaxson Dart and Abdul Carter both in consideration for Rookie of the Year awards. To also be fair, the rosters produced by Daboll and Schoen have started 2-8 for three straight seasons following the 2022 playoff season.
Brian Daboll has been relieved of his duties; Mike Kafka will serve as interim head coach.
📰: https://t.co/IH63AEqwwl pic.twitter.com/quKIBitNc7
— New York Giants (@Giants) November 10, 2025
Daboll and Schoen both came from Buffalo together in 2022, so in my opinion, they just both leave together. So why was Daboll shown the door before Schoen? Probably because of the Giants losing four games this season in which they held a lead of 10 points or more. In the games at Dallas and Denver, New York scored to take the lead with mere seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. In the game at New Orleans, the Giants turned the ball over on five straight possessions after jumping out to an early 14-3 lead. In the most recent collapse at Chicago, the Giants led by 10 in the fourth quarter before falling apart on both sides of the ball.
If you reverse those results, the Giants are in position to make the playoffs and Daboll might be in line to win Coach of the Year like he did in 2022. Instead, the season has been torturous. Big Blue has shown the potential to be a solid team when it defeated the Chargers and Eagles. In the seven quarters spanning the win over Philadelphia and the start of the Denver game, the Giants looked like a legitimate playoff contender, but instead of closing out the Broncos, New York wilted like it has too often this season. Daboll couldn’t get the Giants across the finish line.
Daboll has also been reckless with Dart. The rookie quarterback has been evaluated for a concussion four times this season, and he was confirmed to have suffered a concussion on Sunday. The injury may have cost the Giants the game based on how ineffective Russell Wilson was in relief. Dart isn’t doing enough to protect himself when he runs, even after he has gained enough yards for a first down. Hopefully interim head coach Mike Kafka will move Jameis Winston ahead on the depth chart so that we don’t have to watch Wilson again this season. It’s a big decision because Dart will probably miss at least one game due to the concussion.
Whoever is the next head coach of the Giants will have big expectations out of the gate. The offense in 2026 will be talented with Dart, Cam Skattebo, and Malik Nabers on the roster. Plus, the Giants will probably have an opportunity to grab a great talent with their first round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The next three opponents this season are Green Bay, Detroit, and New England, so it might be a while until New York improves on its 2-8 record.
Guess who is the Week 9 picks champion at ChabDog? That’s right. It is me, and I did it without hitting on any island picks. The keys to victory were the Falcons, Panthers, Steelers, Raiders, and Bills. On those five picks, I was in the minority with only one other person making the correct selection. On four of those five, it was me and Frank the Tank riding together. We didn’t plan it like that! I was just in a Tank state of mind.
The victorious week put me one game above .500 for the season and just two games behind Frank for second place. Can I stay hot in Week 10?
Raiders +9.5 at Broncos
The Las Vegas offense came alive last week with the return of Brock Bowers. Going up against Denver’s defense will be a tougher test, but I’m thinking Bowers will create enough opportunities to keep the Raiders in the game. The Broncos have won six straight, but four of the six wins are by less than a touchdown.
Falcons +5.5 at Colts
Finally we saw some of the real Daniel Jones last week, as he threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles in a loss at Pittsburgh. Indianapolis probably won’t turn the ball over six times for a second straight week, but I think Atlanta has the weapons to keep this close.
Giants +3.5 at Bears
I expect Caleb Williams to tear up the Giants’ depleted secondary like Mac Jones did last week. Hopefully Jaxson Dart can be heroic and provide an answer to every Chicago touchdown.
Bills -8.5 at Dolphins
Buffalo is back in juggernaut mode since the bye week. The defense did a great job last week hanging on when I thought the Bills would blow it against Kansas City.
Ravens at Vikings +4.5
Baltimore seems to have righted the ship with two blowout wins in a row, but the Vikings just scored a huge upset win at Detroit in J.J. McCarthy’s return to action. I am a sucker for this kid and his grit.
Browns at Jets -2.5
The Jets trading away Sauce Gardner after signing him to a massive contract is a gut punch that even the most pessimistic Jets fans did not see coming. I think the team rallies together and beats the Browns, though.
Patriots at Buccaneers -2.5
This should be a terrific game. I think Tampa Bay superior playmakers (even with Mike Evans out and possibly Chris Godwin as well) make the difference.
Saints at Panthers -5.5
New Orleans is not a spunky underdog anymore with Tyler Shough under center, and Alvin Kamara looks washed.
Jaguars at Texans -1.5
C.J. Stroud is out and Houston just lost a tough one against Denver, but I believe in this Texans defense.
Cardinals +6.5 at Seahawks
Arizona has covered the spread in all three of Jacoby Brissett’s starts, and the defense came alive last week in Dallas.
Rams -3.5 at 49ers
Mac Jones has played well for San Francisco, including a month ago in a big upset over these Rams. Sean McVay and company will not let that happen again. Ram it!
Lions at Commanders +8.5
Marcus Mariota is not a big drop off from Jayden Daniels and my faith in Detroit is shaken after last week’s shocking upset loss.
Steelers at Chargers -3.5
The Bolts were punched in the mouth by Tennessee last week, but they still came back and won comfortably on the road. Yes, the Titans are awful, but that is still a good sign.
Eagles +2.5 at Packers
Philadelphia is a chalky underdog, but you can’t trust Green Bay when it just lost a second game this year as a big favorite.
I got busy over the weekend and didn’t have a chance to talk about the insane ending to the World Series. I really thought the Blue Jays were going to finish the job, but despite all of their money bags, the Dodgers maintain the grit of a desperate underdog looking to defy the odds. That’s how Los Angeles was able to escape the ninth inning of Game 7 after Toronto loaded the bases with one out. Dalton Varsho hit a sharp ground ball to second base that Miguel Rojas, who had just tied the game with an unlikely home run in the top of the inning, had to back up on. It should have been enough to score the run from third, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had just been inserted as a pinch-runner for Bo Bichette, didn’t get a great jump off of third base and was forced out when Rojas threw home to catcher Will Smith.
MIGUEL ROJAS GETS HIM AT THE PLATE pic.twitter.com/lAW2GEcdDh
— MLB (@MLB) November 2, 2025
That is a run that the gritty underdog is supposed to score to get an edge over the powerhouse filled with superstars. Instead, it was Rojas with the nerves of steel and Kiner-Falefa not being desperate enough to score. The mistake of inserting Kiner-Falefa compounded itself for Toronto skipper John Schneider when the infielder came to the plate in the bottom of the 11th. Will Smith had homered for the Dodgers in the top of the frame to put Los Angeles on top, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the Blue Jays going with a double. With Kiner-Falefa at the plate instead of Bichette, Schneider opted for a bunt to get Guerrero Jr. to third. The play was executed correctly, but it proved to be the wrong strategy as after Addison Barger walked, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got Alejandro Kirk to ground into a season-ending double play.
Poor running of the bases also doomed Toronto in Game 6 when Barger was doubled off second base following Andres Gimenez’s line drive to left field. Barger had just hit a double that somehow got stuck against the center field wall. I thought that Los Angeles outfielder Justin Dean took a huge risk by putting his hands in the air and claiming that the ball was lodged, but fortunately for him, the umpires agreed and forced Barger to stop at second base. If they said that the ball wasn’t lodged, Barger could have run all the way home thanks to Dean not playing the ball.
#Postseason hero Kiké Hernández had one final trick up his sleeve to finish out the month of October 🤯#WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/Vg9xQyZBtP
— MLB (@MLB) November 1, 2025
Anyway, without that lodged ball call, Barger might not have been at second base and he might not have run into a double play on Gimenez’s drive that was caught by Enrique Hernandez. The Blue Jays might have caught a bad break, but they also ran themselves out of the game. There’s also the possibility that Barger would have stopped at second base if the ball had just bounced off the wall, so maybe it’s not too bad of a break.
Despite Shohei Ohtani’s unbelievable Game 3 performance, the World Series MVP went to Yamamoto, and it’s hard to say that he didn’t deserve it. The man pitched a complete game to lead the Dodgers to victory in Game 2 and then pitched six innings with one run allowed in Game 6 to earn a second World Series win. We already knew Yamamoto was built different when he started warming up during the 18th inning of Game 3, but then he proved it by entering Game 7 in the ninth inning and keeping Toronto off the scoreboard until the game was over two and two thirds innings later. Yamamoto was hyped up a lot when he signed a massive deal with the Dodgers before the 2024 campaign, but he has lived up to it and then some with his heroic postseason performances.
We got some bad news on Wednesday night, as the Blue Jays are now one win away from bringing the Commissioner’s Trophy to Canada. They cruised to a 6-1 victory in Game 5 of the World Series after Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the game. Trey Yesavage took it from there with just four batters reaching base against him (three hits and a hit by pitch) in seven innings. He struck out 12 Dodgers during the incredible performance.
Trey Yesavage is LOCKED in 🔒
He strikes out the side in the 2nd! pic.twitter.com/XcbWPvNq4N
— MLB (@MLB) October 30, 2025
Toronto now has two chances to clinch the championship in its home ballpark. The good news for the Dodgers is that Yoshinobu Yamamoto is slated to start Game 6, and he is coming off of two straight complete games. Kevin Gausman will take the mound for the Blue Jays after being outdueled by Yamamoto in Game 2.
We got a little football action during the World Series’ off day, and I’m happy to say that I started the week 1-0 with my picks, but these standings remained the same because everyone picked Baltimore to crush Miami.
Here are the rest of my Week 9 picks as I try to escape the Isle of Mid.
Ravens -7.5 at Dolphins
Miami surprisingly blew out Atlanta on the road last week, but Baltimore was also impressive. I think Lamar Jackson’s return gets the Ravens the points they need to cover the spread.
Bears -2.5 at Bengals
The Bengals have scored more than 30 points in each of the past two weeks with Joe Flacco under center, but the defense still stinks. I think Caleb Williams has a day.
Vikings at Lions -8.5
Detroit is great at covering big spreads like this one because they can keep scoring even when trying to kill the clock.
Panthers +12.5 at Packers
Last week was a big return to form for Green Bay, but Carolina isn’t a pushover.
Chargers -9.5 at Titans
I’m done picking the Titans to cover anything.
Falcons +5.5 at Patriots
The Falcons are Jekyll and Hyde. I think they play well on the road after everyone wrote them off.
49ers at Giants +2.5
Maybe this isn’t Kyle Shanahan’s masterpiece after all? The win over the Rams is looking like a fluke.
Colts at Steelers +3.5
I am going back to the Pittsburgh home underdog well. Indianapolis has been a juggernaut, but its schedule has been very soft.
Broncos at Texans -1.5
Texans have now won three of four, but they played terribly in the one game of those I watched. That was at Seattle, and Houston has been better at home.
Jaguars at Raiders +3.5
Just when I was starting to believe that the Jaguars weren’t frauds, they go out and lose two in a row.
Chiefs at Bills +1.5
Chiefs have been unstoppable since the Jacksonville loss, but Buffalo appears rejuvenated after the bye week.
Seahawks -3.5 at Commanders
Washington might just be bad.
Cardinals at Cowboys -2.5
Cowboys at home is the easiest pick every time they play at home.
Since the World Series shifted to Los Angeles on Monday night, the Dodgers won a game that will be considered one of the greatest in the history of the Fall Classic. The next day, the Blue Jays won a very boring game by comparison, but they both count the same and we are tied 2-2 heading into a pivotal Game 5 on Wednesday night.
FREDDIE FREEMAN WALK-OFF HOME RUN IN THE 18TH INNING! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/wD1xbRxDbC
— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025
So how did we get here? It has a lot to do with Shohei Ohtani cementing his legacy as an all-time baseball legend and setting a Postseason record by reaching base nine times during the Game 3 marathon that ended on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off home run off of Brendon Little to lead off the bottom of the 18th. If nine times on base with no outs made wasn’t amazing enough, Ohtani’s first four plate appearances resulted in extra-base hits, and the last two led to the Dodgers coming back and tying the game. His double in the fifth inning drove in Enrique Hernandez to make the score 4-3 before Freeman singled to get Ohtani home with the equalizing run.
SHOHEI OHTANI'S SECOND HOMER OF THE NIGHT
TIE GAME! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/eA6h6saLnV
— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025
Then, after Bo Bichette’s single down the right field line got Vladimir Guerrero all the way from first to home with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, Ohtani answered with his second home run of the game to tie the score at 5-5, where it would stay for the next 11 innings. Part of the reason the game stayed tied for so long was that Toronto intentionally walked Ohtani during his next four plate appearances and then walked him conventionally in his final plate appearance to mix things up. That last walk by Little in the 17th inning was so noncompetitive that it looked like an old intentional walk from back when you had to throw the ball to the catcher. The craziest part of the five Ohtani walks was that only one of them came in a typical intentional walk scenario with first base open and a runner on second or third. On the other four occasions, Blue Jays manager John Schneider either put Ohtani on as the winning run or to push the winning run into scoring position. The strategy worked.
We also wouldn’t have made it to the 18th inning without a couple of relief pitcher heroes in Eric Lauer for Toronto and Will Klein for Los Angeles. Lauer is a former Padres and Brewers southpaw who split his time between starting and relief pitching this season with the Blue Jays. He threw four and two thirds scoreless innings after entering the game with one out in the 12th. Klein’s four shutout frames were even more surprising because he had never started a game before in his two-year big league career. In his 22 regular season appearances, he never went longer than two innings before, and yet here was Stein taking the Dodgers deep into the night when they didn’t know if they even had another pitcher available.
PAINT
The Dodgers' TENTH pitcher of the night keeps it tied in the 15th! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/ApMh6prBlG
— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025
If Little had retired Freeman in the 18th, we might have seen something as incredible as Stein’s great outing. That’s because Yoshinobu Yamamoto was warming up in the bullpen after throwing his second straight complete game of the Postseason just two days before! Just when I thought I would never see a pitcher save his team on short rest again, Yamamoto was willing to come back on one day of rest! It’s kind of a shame that Freeman ended the game when he did, because that would have been something to see. It REALLY would have been a shame if Toronto won, but at least that didn’t happen.
Monday night’s cathartic Game 3 victory made it seem like Los Angeles had all the momentum, especially with Ohtani on the mound to start Game 4. Could he possibly grow his legend even more? It turns out that no, he could not. The Dodgers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when a Max Muncy walk and a Tommy Edman single led to a sac fly by Hernandez, but Shane Bieber would keep Los Angeles off the scoreboard for the rest of his five and a third innings. Toronto struck back and took the lead in the third when Guerrero Jr. launched a two-run home run off of Ohtani.
VLADDY GETS AHOLD OF ONE! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/UIgEgJBUPu
— MLB (@MLB) October 29, 2025
The Dodgers’ best chance to retake the lead came in the sixth when Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez singled to set the table with one out, but Mason Fluharty came on for Bieber and got Max Muncy to fly out before striking out Edman to end the threat. The Blue Jays started the seventh with two straight hits to chase Ohtani and went on to rally for four runs with RBI hits coming from Andres Gimenez, Bichette, and Addison Barger. That was more than enough for Toronto, and it went on to win 6-2.
It feels like we’ve already had enough dramatic events to fill a whole series (probably because the Dodgers and Blue Jays have played five games’ worth of innings in four games), but there are still at least two more games left to play in the 2025 season. I can’t wait to see what happens in Game 5 tonight with Blake Snell on the bump for Los Angeles against Trey Yesavage for Toronto.
Boy, did I have a bad sports day on Sunday. It was bad enough when the Giants got whomped by the Eagles so badly that it made New York’s home win over Philly two weeks ago seem like a total fluke. Then I had to watch the Knicks fall behind the Heat by 18 points in the fourth quarter and tease with a comeback before falling 115-107. The cap off the evening, the Rangers lost a second straight game to one of the worst teams in hockey.
At least the 38-20 defeat suffered by the Giants might have been closer in an alternate universe where the referees called the game fairly. I’m not a big blame-the-refs guy, and the Giants might have lost this game anyway due to some horrendous run defense that allowed Saquon Barkley to take off on a 65-yard touchdown run on Philly’s first possession, but a few calls in this game were very frustrating.
After the Giants tied the score 7-7 on a touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart to Cameron Skattebo, the Eagles answered with a drive of their own that hit a snag when Jalen Hurts scrambled for eight yards on 3rd and 9. Usually this wouldn’t be a problem for Philly because of its famous Tush Push that it uses whenever there is one yard to go. However, this time Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux ripped the ball away from Hurts as he reached for the first down. This looked like a huge momentum shift as the Tush Push was not supposed to be beatable. It was a huge play early in the game, until the refs explained that Hurts’ forward momentum had stopped after he achieved the first down but before he lost the football. How convenient!
Some more looks at the non-fumble on the Eagles tush push due to forward progress being called.@KevinBurkhardt, @TomBrady, and @DeanBlandino discuss: pic.twitter.com/g1leAsahVS
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 26, 2025
I don’t understand how forward progress is stopped when the ball carrier is still moving forward. Since the call of forward progress being stopped isn’t able to be overturned by replay, the Giants couldn’t challenge the ruling (although they did anyway). Barkley caught a touchdown pass from Hurts two plays later to make the score 14-7 Eagles, and they would lead for the rest of the game.
To make matters worse for the Giants, Skattebo suffered a gruesome ankle injury on the ensuring possession, and he is presumed lost for the season. New York continued to battle, but it blew a huge chance to get off the field early in the fourth quarter when a Brian Burns sack for a massive 21-yard loss was immediately undone by a handoff to Tank Bigsby.
2nd & 31: 1st down Eagles pic.twitter.com/3jZC6OGHoM
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) October 26, 2025
That play led to a Hurt touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert, but the Giants appeared to bounce right back with Dart throwing a 68-yard touchdown pass to Darius Slayton on 4th and 11. Alas, the incredible play was overturned by a dubious offensive pass interference call, and that was pretty much it for the competitive part of the game. The Giants are now 2-6 and without Skattebo as well as Malik Nabers. They will take on the 49ers in New Jersey next Sunday.
As if the Giants game wasn’t sad enough, I got to watch the Knicks shoot 39 percent from the field at Miami and the Rangers lose 5-1 to the 1-7-1 Flames. We’ve got to do better this week.
The Dodgers needed a hero after the Blue Jays crushed them in Game 1 with a nine-run rally in the sixth inning that led to an 11-4 Toronto win. Los Angeles took an early 2-0 lead with an RBI single by Enrique Hernandez in the second inning and one by Will Smith in the third, but it both frames, the Dodgers could have had so much more. In the second, Andy Pages was struck out by Trey Yesavage with the bases loaded before Shohei Ohtani grounded out feebly to end the threat with just one run scored. In the third, Freddie Freeman was thrown out trying to reach third base on Smith’s RBI hit, and that helped Yesavage escape another jam without giving up a crooked number.
Blake Snell was shaky during his five innings. He gave up a two-run home run by Dalton Varsho in the fourth that tied the game and then loaded the bases in the sixth with a walk, a single by Alejandro Kirk, and a hit by pitch. That set the stage for Toronto’s massive rally with October gas can Emmet Sheehan allowing RBI singles to Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez before Anthony Banda got taken deep by Addison Barger for the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history.
ADDISON BARGER
PINCH-HIT
GRAND SLAM#WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/REg58MNosp— MLB (@MLB) October 25, 2025
If we didn’t want to see a Canadian team take a 2-0 lead in the World Series and get halfway towards breaking the nation’s Commissioner’s Trophy and Stanley Cup drought, we needed someone to step up and take a stand. That man was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who in his last start pitched a complete game against the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS. No way he could repeat the feat in the year 2025, could he?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto closes out an incredible #WorldSeries performance 🤩 pic.twitter.com/fxWxO49kQN
— MLB (@MLB) October 26, 2025
Unbelievably, in the era of pitch counts and babying of pitchers, Yamamoto made it through all nine innings again with just one run allowed and zero walks. He struck out eight Blue Jays, including three in a row during the eighth inning, and retired the last 20 batters that he faced. After Kirk hit a sac fly to tie the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning, not one Toronto batter reached base. After Los Angeles rallied for two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings, it came away with a 5-1 victory to tie the World Series at one game apiece. What a heroic performance by Yamamoto, not just for the Dodgers, but for America. If not for Yamamoto’s gem, we could be two games away from Canadian sports fans saying “Who cares about the Stanley Cup drought? We won the World Series!”
And nobody wants that.
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Law Offices of Brandon S. Chabner
Brandon’s Posts
ChabDog’s Tenuous Attempt To Tackle the Week 10 Spreads:
Hold onto to that rope, or let go if you want, …. maybe the freedom from the shackles of common sense will set you free…
After Baltimore’s Thursday night betrayal I really don’t know what to think, other than sometimes my instincts on the marginal advantage one team has really doesn’t stink…. that being said, in the immortal words of Maggie from Caddyshack, “Tanks for nothin, ChabDog” —
— Going G-men over Carolina (giving four and half to the Panthers) — Yes, the Giants should win this game…. I don’t care where it is being played, and it’s time they started living large… at the expense of the Stink Panthers, as part of the NFL’s endless foreign exchange program.
— I like the Bears in this game…. but I don’t like them by 6.5… the Patriots should hang in there and make this interesting
— Here we go again,…. taking issue with the Dolts’ duller than dull offfense… who cares where they are playing, they still totally suck in terms of scoring aptitude… look for the Bills to regain their attitude iwth a big win
— Denver’s offense looks dead once again, and the Chiefs continue to swindle me whenver I think of them as their former high octane selves…..but c’mon KC is a simple 10 point victory at home too much to ask… like last week, I’m taking the bait for the Chiefs, because I can’t countenace drawing any kind of line with Diggs
— I’m feelin it for the Falcons, who have a good coach, a good QB (I can’t believe I’m saying that), some tasty Rijon at running back, some fairly good receivers, and a decent-to-better than avg defense… and that’s a lot more than the “Aints have going for them
— Kudos to the SF Niners, who may have found some of their lost swagger, and was last week’s loss by the Bucs a total dagger? Yes and no to those two question, but I think the defending NFC champs have too many weapons … give TB the 6.5 and take your chances.
— Steelers had two weeks to recharge those batteries, and the battery of Wison Pickets will be rocking and rolling at the 10 am pacific hour. The Commies will lose, and Vegas will rue the day they made them the favs.
— Yes, Minny covered last week, but their offense production has been nothing less than spotty. The Jags, meanwhile, continue to score in decent quantities, and at home, I think 4.5 is just a little too rich for my blood. Going Jags, even if it means I should have my head examined.
— Like Stella, the Chargers are really starting to find their grrove backM Though the Ti-tans showed me something last week, I think the bots can turn the screws on TN to the tune of at least an 8-point victory.
— , More home humliation for the Cowboys? Eagles should win but I’m going out on a bit of limb in saying that Micah Parson comes limping in and gives that beaten to hell defense a bit of a lift. Boys to beat that insulting Philly spread of +6.5.
— I’m officially on the AZ bandwagon, and personally buying the car seat for fun-sized Kyler, who no kidding, is filling some pretty big shoes these days.It should be a pretty entertaining game with the Jets, but the Cards should slip by in the late Arizona afternoon … by at least 2.
— Don’t care who is coming back for the Texans…. they’ll feel beseiged and bereft of alternatives or viable options when the Lions come to down. Detroit giving only 3.5…. are you kidding?
— Rams slam the door shut on the Dolphins, who came to Sofi looking for a break, and get swallowed up in an eqrthquake of a statement game for Stafford.
Thursday Night Featuring the Bangles Rears Its Frightful Head… just to spite me
3 yards too far for Ja’Marr, Joe and the snake-bitten Bangles…. who were angling for a huge upset victory in Ballmer but end up just another team that stepped in No. 2 when it took the greedy option and went for 2.
Give the Ravens credit for coming out of that extended coma just in time for another ridiculous run-up of instant gratification TDs, and thank you very little for playing with the notion of covering that 6.5, only to give nearly all of it away in a final 90 seconds or so that played like “Here to Eternity”….heaven help me for changing my pick in favor of the Purple Rush ruffians covering that plush spread.
Well Read’s Posts
for putting this game behind a paywallAbe’s Posts
Chabdog Racing Segment Fantasy Pick’em Game (exclusive game)
Prior to Chabdog Sports going full blog mode (literally a couple of weeks ago), and the show being trimmed down to an hour, I used to discuss on the show our previous NASCAR race, or upcoming NASCAR race, and our own Fantasy NASCAR Pick’em game that I came up with to make the segment fun and competitive (just as we do with our NFL picks every week). With that, let me break down our exclusive Chabdog Sports NASCAR fantasy game.
Every week the Chabdog Sports Team makes on-air picks on the show for the upcoming NASCAR race and earns points based on the following criteria:
: Anyone who picks the winning driver gets 3 points.
: Anyone who picks the 2nd place driver gets 2 points.
: Anyone who picks the 3rd place driver gets 1 point.
Lastly, if no one picks a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place driver then 1 point is awarded to the picked driver that is closest to the podium. Therefore, in our fantasy game, someone from the team always walks away with a point.
Sometimes our co-hosts are not available to make a pick, so we default our “chalk” pick to the pole position driver using the official line-up from NASCAR prior to the start of the race.
One last thing, when we finally get down to the Final Four Championship Race we end up making two picks for that race. The first pick is, “Who will win the Final Four and be our Champion?”, which is a do-or-die pick that is worth 4 points. The second pick is, “Who will actually win the race?”, which is scored exactly like any other race. So we can potentially win up to 7 points in the last race of the season. Some Co-hosts pick two different drivers here, and others go all in with one Final Four driver (win the season & the race).
To date, our co-host Dorothy is leading our group with 30 points and is the heavy favorite to ultimately win our fantasy game this year. If you look at today’s Bristol race (September 16, 2023) you’ll notice that everyone has Christopher Bell because it’s a Saturday race, our show is on Sunday, and I gave everyone (including myself) the “chalk” based on pole position (Christopher Bell). Fortunately for us, he came in 3rd place so everyone gets a point. However, had we all picked Ryan Newman who came in 36th place, we’d all still get a point since no one else had a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place pick, and Ryan Newman is the closest driver to the podium amongst the Chabdog Sports Team, even though he’s in last place.
Below is our current NASCAR Matrix that I maintain for the show. Here you can see how we’ve scored in each race, and the drivers each of us picked. Aaron didn’t join our team until July so he had to start with a slight disadvantage. In the future, we will award any new member of the team with all the “chalk” points rather than starting at zero. However, Aaron has done a commendable job catching up to the rest of us in the short time he has been with us (except for Dorothy who has lapped us all).
Final Thoughts
My NASCAR game is really cool and fun. Yes, there’s a lot of bias here because I came up with it, however, my co-hosts really have fun playing this little NASCAR game so if you have a group of friends who love NASCAR and want to make it competitive and fun, maybe this game will work for you like it did for us. Try it out and comment below if you find this game fun and cool, or have any questions.
| @darthvaber99
NFL – Week 2 – Against The Spread Picks
Another week, another blog about my shitty NFL picks. Especially since I went 6 & 16, but come on, the Chiefs taking an L, the Bills taking an L against the Zach Wilson Jets, and the Chargers taking an L to a hurt Dolphins team at home is nothing I could predict in my shitty crystal ball. I know that doesn’t sound like my Week 2 picks will be amazing, but at least I now have some perspective of the teams in their regular season form (less shitty crystal ball). So let’s try this again.
NFL WEEK 1 RESULTS
OFFICIAL CHABDOG SPORTS NFL WEEK 2 SPREAD
VIKINGS: The Vikings may lose this game but not by 7 points. Show some damn heart Vikings, especially since Kirk Cousins, a Justin Jefferson had better Week 1 numbies than their counterparts.PACKERS: I got this pick right last week, and are favored to win against the Falcons. Packers either lose this gamer or beat the Falcons by more than 2 points. My money is on beating the Falcons. Hold up boys and let Jordan Love cook (my proven Packers motto).
RAIDERS: The Bills are pissed, but the Raiders are not the New York Jets. That means that the Bills are not going to slaughter the Raiders, especially after last week’s performance against Zach Wilson. I expect the game to run a little tighter than 9 1/2 points.
BENGALS: The Ravens played Houston (an easy team) and the Bengals played a much tougher opponent. So looking at Week 1’s number the Ravens look better on paper. But again we find ourselves with Lamar Jackson playing QB/RB with the Bengals having Joe Mixon (RB) and Ja’marr Chase (WR) to mix it up at home. Also, let’s add that Joe Burrow is pissed off from losing against the Browns and needs to come out strong here in front of the homestand.
LIONS: The Seahawks played like shit last week and are coming up against the Lions who have the offensive numbies to beat the Seahawks. Additionally, the Seahawks are also defensively bad which could mean the Lions destroy the Hawks at home. If you’re a Seahawks fan, I suggest you start looking forward to the Seattle Kraken season, because that will be far less disappointing than what is to come. Although you may get Shohei Ohtani in Mariners uni…may.
JAGUARS: I don’t know what is going on with the Chiefs but most people I know are picking them simply because it’s the Chiefs, they’re pissed for taking an L, and they’re the former Superbowl Champs. But the Jags put up some really good numbies last week (way better than the Chiefs) and have a chance of actually beating them if they repeat the performance. the math says that the Jags are not bad team, and should be able to keep pace with the Chiefs…if so, all I can say is that it’s a great time to be a Jags fan.
BUCS: The Bears lost
to the Jordan Love Packers at home. Hard to see the Bears beating the Bucs, especially in the Bucs pirate ship (and at their home port).
CHARGERS: The Chargers losing to a hurt Dolphins team is just sad. The Titans not being able to produce against the Saints is also bad. Tannehill having a few interceptions in his last game is also bad. I feel like these two teams can make enough mistakes for either team to ultimately win in this game, but the maths says that the Titans will make more.
CARDINALS: The Giants are an absolute disaster. Considering the Giants haven’t actually scored a touchdown or field goal this season, it is hard for me to say that they’ll beat the Cardinals (or anybody) by 5 1/2 points.
RAMS: The Rams are back and the 49rs are good. I expect the Rams to keep it closer than 8 points here. If this was a moneyline pick I would place that bet on the 49rs.
COWBOYS: The heavily favored Cowboys are favored because they slaughtered the Giants 40 to 0. I am going to say that the Zach Wilson Jets are better than the Giants, but are probably going to get plowed by the Cowboys (but not as bad as the Giants).
COMMANDERS: The Broncos have proven that they can be beaten at home. Both of these teams look pretty even on paper and is a game that could have multiple lead changes. Ultimately it will come down to Russel Wilson playing like shit (hopefully) and the Commanders beating them out slightly to cover the spread.
DOLPHINS: If a hurt Dolphins team can beat the Chargers, a less hurt Dolphins team can beat the Patriots.
SAINTS: I like the Derek Carr Saints. I also like that he’s a slightly better QB than Bryce Young. The “numbies” show that the Saints are slightly better than the Panthers, and my internal pendulum is swinging for the Saints to beat the Panthers by 3 points.
BROWNS: I was the only one who picked the Browns last week, and I was the only one who won that pick. The Browns have a lot of offensive “numbies” and the Steelers have really bad defensive “numbies”. The Browns have all the better stats and a great running back. Everything is SCREAMING Browns for Monday night.
THE SHIT GAME OF THE WEEK
COLTS: How nice we get to see two shitty teams play each other with a one-point spread. I am picking the Colts simply because they actually did something offensively (even though they lost) than the Texans. If you’re a fan of either team, sorry
| | @darthvaber99
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Aaron’s Week 1 NFL Picks
Football is back! So what if it’s already been back for more than a week thanks to college football? It’s REALLY back tonight with the start of the NFL, tiny point spreads, and fantasy! I am a New York Giants fan, so I am predicting a season full of pain and suffering, but maybe some of you out there can get some joy out of the next five months. There’s always fantasy football, right? Nope, just more frustration and torture. But how about the ChabDog picks contest? Now, there is something that I have a chance to win.
Baltimore +2.5 at Kansas City
Everyone is going to love the Chiefs at less than a field goal. They just won the freaking Super Bowl and are at home in front of a raucous crowd. Plus, ChiefsAholic just got sentenced to federal prison, so you know the boys will be extra fired up to get the job done for him. HOWEVER, the Chiefs aren’t the elite offensive team they used to be. Last winter, they barely got by Baltimore in the Playoffs thanks to a great defensive effort. Patrick Mahomes is still looking for a go-to wide receiver and Travis Kelce might be over the hill. The defense is still good, but it’s tougher to repeat a great defensive season than a great offensive season. Give me the hungry Ravens with their new-look and more intimidating running game for the upset!
Green Bay +1.5 vs. Philadelphia
It is a sham that this game is even happening with the crime activity in Sao Paulo being so high that players are leaving their families behind. Player safety is a priority for the NFL until the owners can make a few extra bucks by putting a game in South America! Plus, it is a Peacock exclusive game, so even fans in America will feel like they are getting robbed. Anyway, this is an easy one for me. The Eagles were in full meltdown mode at the end of last season. Now, many fans are convinced that Saquon Barkley and a couple of new coordinators will solve all their issues. I’m not so sure. I’ll take the rising Packers after their exciting run in last season’s Playoffs.
Pittsburgh at Atlanta -2.5
This spread should be more than three points. Maybe not everyone realizes how much better the Atlanta offense is now that the team has a veteran quarterback under center. Kirk Cousins is coming back from a major Achilles tendon injury, but he won’t need to move around much when Bijan Robinson and Drake London are entering their primes. This offense is just as talented as the one that Cousins left behind in Minnesota. It will be tough for the Steelers and their new quarterback to keep pace, even with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s familiarity with Atlanta.
Arizona +7.5 at Buffalo
Arizona’s offense is on the rise due to the selections of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey Benson in the NFL Draft. Plus, Trey McBride emerged as a star tight end last season, and Kyler Murray is expected to have his best season yet after missing half of 2023 due to recovery from knee surgery. Does that mean that the Cardinals will stun Buffalo in Week 1? There’s a chance with Josh Allen breaking in a new-look receiving group. I still think Buffalo prevails, but I wouldn’t pick the Bills in survivor. Taking the points is the move here.
The Big Ten Tournament is here with two teams trying to battle their way into the Big Dance
The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket is here, and as usual, it is glorious. What’s even better is that the beautiful pinwheel logo has returned to prominence after one-year hiatus that is among the worst decisions in college basketball tournament logo history. Penn State has almost zero chance of winning this thing, which is its only available path to the NCAA Tournament, but I can dream of a run to the semifinals thanks to a favorable draw that avoids Purdue and Illinois through the first three rounds.
The #B1GMBBT bracket is set. 🏀 pic.twitter.com/26VaSJB5cc
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 11, 2024
Sure, Penn State has to play on the first evening of the tournament, which is a Peacock exclusive event, but if it had been seeded a little higher in slots 10 through seven, the matchup in the quarterfinals would feature Purdue or Illinois instead of the less intimidating Nebraska. I’m getting way ahead of myself, though, since just reaching the quarterfinals means defeating a red hot Indiana team that is desperate to play its way onto the NCAA bubble. Penn State might have a psychological edge from defeating the Hoosiers twice this season, but Indiana has looked like a different team on its current four-game winning streak. Plus, just to get to that date with Indiana, the Nittany Lions must get past Michigan tonight. The Wolverines have lost eight straight, but Penn State has a loss to Bucknell on its resume, so nothing is impossible.
Purdue established Big Ten supremacy last week with a thrilling victory at Illinois before wrapping up its regular season with a home win over Wisconsin. The slumping Badgers have not been a great team since February started, as they finished Big Ten play 3-8 after starting 8-1, but I’ll give them credit for the way they battled the Boilers despite having another rough game from beyond the arc. Wisconsin shot 5-for-24 from three-point range, but John Blackwell and Tyler Wahl both went 7-for-10 from the field to keep Purdue from running away with the game.
Purdue wins the regular season title and Indiana is still alive for the big dance
I said on the Chabdog Sports podcast last Sunday that Purdue would be listed as champion when I fill out my NCAA Tournament bracket in a couple of weeks. On Tuesday night, the Boilers showed why I think they will complete their redemption arc when they beat Illinois 77-71 in Champaign. The combination of opponent and venue made the game Purdue’s stiffest test since December, and it passed thanks to a clutch three-point shot in the final seconds by Braden Smith. The shot came at the tail end of a broken possession by the Boilers that was saved once by Zach Edey, who slapped the ball away from Illinois and into the hands of his teammates Fletcher Loyer following Lance Jones’ wild layup attempt. Smith saved it again when he casually pulled up from five feet beyond the arc and drained his jumper over Terrence Shannon Jr.
If Smith had not clutched up, Illinois would likely the ball back down by three points with 18 seconds to play. Instead, the lead was six, and the game was over when Shannon’s answer bounced off the rim. Smith’s effort was just one of several big three-point shots for Purdue in the second half. Edey dominated the first 20 minutes with 18 points, but Illinois held him to 10 after the break, forcing the Boilers to look to their role players for help. They answered, starting with Mason Gillis’ three-point shot in transition that gave Purdue its first lead at 56-54 with 10 minutes to play. Gillis drained another one to put the Boilers ahead 64-58 with seven minutes left, but Illinois tied the game with a dunk by Coleman Hawkins two straight driving layups by Marcus Domask, the last of which he floated in over Edey.
Braden Smith! Onions! He bailed out Matt Painter, who for some reason did not call a time out during this broken possession. Purdue’s biggest win of the year. pic.twitter.com/bivOs9D3uN
— Aaron Yorke (@AaronPYorke) March 6, 2024
Illinois would retake the lead on a pair of free throws by Shannon, but Loyer put Purdue back up by three with a three-point shot and a runner in the paint on consecutive possessions. Lance Jones hit a monster triple from the corner to expand the advantage to six with less than a minute on the clock, but Domask struck back with another layup plus the foul to set the stage for Smith’s heroics.
With Edey doing his thing like he always does, Purdue is not going to be beat when it shoots the three as accurately as it did against Illinois (9-for-16). Matt Painter’s team doesn’t excel at creating its own shot from the perimeter, but it showed that it can break down the opposing defense and find the open man with 20 assists on 29 field goals during the win. Illinois did an excellent job slowing down Edey in the second half, but it could not keep up with Purdue’s three-point shooting. Illinois was just 4-for-16 beyond the arc, and most of that came from Quincy Guerrier catching fire in the first half. Domask was the one guy who came up huge down the stretch, and Shannon needs to step up if the Illini are going to win a rematch with Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament or NCAA Tournament. He went 3-for-13 from the field with just 11 points.
Purdue vs. Illinois will be an epic Big Ten clash tonight, but it’s only on Peacock
The Peacock strikes again! We heard outrage from across the sports universe when the NFL made its Dolphins vs. Chiefs Playoff game exclusively available on NBC’s streaming service. Now, something similar is happening in Big Ten Basketball, and the conference should be embarrassed that the top game on its regular season schedule won’t be in front of as many viewers as possible. Before the Big Ten’s new media rights deal that went into affect this fall, Purdue vs. Illinois on Tuesday night would be on ESPN where every fan knows how to find it, and it would have been promoted all day long on ESPN’s many programs. The new deal might work for football because the Big Ten doesn’t need ESPN when it has games on three major networks all day, but with basketball NBC has made Peacock part of the deal, and that is a nightmare for ratings.
The worst part is that we are over a month away from WrestleMania, so a fan would need to subscribe for two months in order to get Purdue vs. Illinois as well as the Showcase of the Immortals. At least with the NFL sham, the Royal Rumble was included in the price of the football game. As a wrestling and Big Ten fanatic, I’ve been watching on Peacock all season, but for fans who are just getting into college basketball now, the stream exclusive is going to be a major turnoff. They’ll likely just stick with ESPN for Alabama vs. Florida and Kansas State vs. Kansas.
Those who do invest in Peacock should get a great game. Purdue and Illinois met earlier in the season on January 5, and the Boilermakers led comfortably for much of the game on the way to a 83-78 win. However, not only was that game at Mackey Arena where Purdue never loses, but Illinois’ star guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was suspended due to sexual assault allegations. The Illini held Zach Edey to 10 points, but they were burned by Trey Kaufman-Renn, who erupted for 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting. It will be interesting to see if Illinois head coach Brad Underwood employs a similar strategy tonight since Kaufman-Renn hasn’t approached that kind of scoring output in the last two months and hasn’t even scored 10 points in his last six games.
With the game shifting to Champaign’s State Farm Center and Shannon playing some of his best basketball, the Illini are favored by two and a half. It will be the first time Purdue is an underdog in Big Ten play this season and the first time it is an underdog at all since its clash with Arizona back in December. Both teams are riding three-game winning streaks, but Illinois’ schedule has been a little tougher lately with a game at Wisconsin and another against a hot Iowa team at home. Plus, the Illini have scored at least 85 points in their last six games. With Shannon finding his three-point shot and Marcus Domask being a master technician in the paint, this is a team that can come at you from everywhere, and I didn’t even mention Coleman Hawkins’ range at center or the rebounding ability of Quincy Guerrier and Ty Rodgers.
In other words, Illinois won’t be the only defense with its hands full tonight. On the other end, Zach Edey has been unstoppable lately. In Purdue’s last game against Michigan State on Saturday night, Spartan big man Mady Sissoko accumulated four personal fouls in just six minutes. Michigan State threw a bunch of bodies at Edey, but he still scored 32 points on 9-for-15 field goal shooting and 14-for-20 free throw shooting. Edey is too big to keep him from getting into scoring range, but he can be forced into turnovers if he has to put the ball on the floor. Turning a few Edey turnovers into fast-break scoring opportunities will be key for Illinois tonight. Scoring in transition helped the Illini put away Wisconsin on Saturday when Justin Harmon blocked Chucky Hepburn’s shot in the paint in the final two minutes. That led to a fast break and a layup for Shannon to give Illinois a 10-point lead.
Ohio State did it again and Iowa’s missed opportunity
I really thought Ohio State was done with the upsets after it stunned Purdue two weekends ago in interim head coach Jake Diebler’s debut, but on Sunday, the Buckeyes pulled off yet another shocker. They went into East Lansing as 10-point underdogs and beat Michigan State 60-57 with the margin of victory coming on a last-second three-point heave by Dale Bonner. Just moments earlier, Tyson Walker had a chance to put Michigan State ahead with a fair of free throws, but he somehow wedged his first attempt in between the backboard and the rim. Walker had to settle for a tie with his second free throw, but Bonner’s clutch bomb ensured that it didn’t matter.
Ohio State is now 2-1 since Chris Holtmann was fired, and I feel a little bad for him even though he is technically on a paid vacation right now. These kinds of wins are what Ohio State was building towards with its young lineup, and against Michigan State, it was even younger than usually due to Jamison Battle missing the game with an ankle injury. Freshman Scotty Middleton replaced Battle to give Ohio State all underclassman in the starting five. The Buckeyes certainly missed Battle’s three-point prowess, as they went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc in the low-scoring affair, but the Spartans had their own shooting issues and shot just 4-for-16 from that range, including 1-for-9 from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins.
OHIO STATE STUNS MICHIGAN STATE AT THE BUZZER 🚨 pic.twitter.com/SaIQY2jT0m
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 25, 2024
Still, Michigan State appeared to have the game under control with a 12-point lead and 11 minutes on the clock, but Devin Royal came off the bench for Ohio State and proved to be an unlikely hero alongside Felix Okpara. The pair of big men led the Buckeyes on the comeback trail and closed to within one point at 52-51 with six minutes left, setting the stage for the exciting conclusion. Royal, another freshman, showed off his post moves and mid-range game while scoring 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting in just 18 minutes. Okpara added 10 points and six rebounds, with four coming on offense.
No matter who is the head coach for Ohio State next year, the team has a bright future with all the young talent that has emerged this season. If the roster doesn’t fall apart, it should be a very desirable job since whoever gets it will be in line for massive improvement without having to do much. Michigan State, meanwhile, looked like it was a lock for the NCAA Tournament a week ago, but back-to-back home losses over teams with worse records have put the Spartans’ postseason status in doubt. It doesn’t help that their next game is on Saturday at Purdue.