PHOENIX — Major League Baseball, which has ventured out of its comfort zone the past few years – implementing pitch clocks, ghost runners, enlarged bases, and a universal designated hitter – now is taking the next huge step in the world of modern technology.

MLB is adopting an automated strike zone challenge system that will go into effect for the 2026 season.

MLB’s Joint Competition Committee voted to approve the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system on Tuesday, Sept. 23 after commissioner Rob Manfred passionately lobbied for the change. The players have been against the ABS, but since the committee consists of six owners, four players and an umpire, the players were unable to reject the proposal.

Just like that, gone will be the days of managers and players screaming at umpires over balls and strikes. No more legendary face-to-face confrontations. No more kicking dirt. No more dumping sunflower seeds and bubble gum on the field after being ejected.

There’ll be no reason for a player or manager to complain about a call now. If they’re upset by the video review, what are they going to do, pull out a power cord?

Oh, for the days of Earl Weaver and Lou Piniella.

The challenge system, which has been used at various levels in the minors since 2021 and all Triple-A games in 2024, was implemented for the first time in spring training games this year and at the All-Star Game. It will allow a hitter, pitcher or catcher to challenge the strike-ball call twice in a game by simply tapping their helmet. The challenge must be made immediately without any assistance from the dugout or any other player on the field. If the challenge is successful, just like instant replay, the team will retain their challenge.

“I think it’s fantastic,’ Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think the challenge system is great. We had it in spring training, and I felt that there was a strategy to it. I felt that the fans enjoyed it. And I do think because of that, it raised the level of performance from the umpires, too. And that’s a good thing.’’

For for the first time in baseball history, umpires will no longer have final say on every pitch, relying on Hawk-Eye technology, which is also used in tennis. The cameras are used to track the pitch trajectory and location in relation to the strike zone based on the height of each batter. The replay is expected to average about 17 seconds.

This also may be the first step to having robot umpires calling every pitch in the future.

In a poll of 134 players by The Athletic, 63.4% were against it while 17.1% were in favor of automated balls and strikes. Some managers, like Terry Francona of the Cincinnati Reds, refused to even permit his players to challenge, preferring to wait until it actually came into effect.

The MLB Players Association was also vehemently against the implementation of the pitch clock in 2023, as well. Yet, that has been deemed a huge success, shaving about 20 minutes off games.

‘Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players,’ Manfred said in a statement. ‘The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today.’

While the ABS should certainly diminish the art of pitch framing, it likely will add more jobs in teams’ analytic departments. Teams will be designing spread sheets to determine the most advantageous time in a game to make a challenge, with managers likely making determinations which batters in their lineup will be permitted to seek a challenge.

During Triple-A games during the 2024 season, there were 3.9 challenges per game, including 2.2 by the hitters. The success rate was 51% at AAA, and 52% in spring training. The challenge was used just 1.6% of the time on the first pitch of the at-bat, but increased to 3.9% for two-strike pitches, 5.2% for three-ball pitches and 8.2% on full counts.

It also came into effect much more frequently later in the game, with 1.9% of the challenges in the first three innings, 2.5% from the fourth to sixth innings, 2.8% in the seventh and eighth innings, and 3.6% in the ninth inning.

“There’s definitely going to be an analytics deep-dive in the best situations to do it,’ Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto said this spring. “It opens up a new area of the game. Can you use it only with men on? Men in scoring position? After the fifth inning? After the seventh? You don’t want to leave anything on the table.’’

Gentlemen, start your algorithms.

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Alabama vs. LSU, once the most consequential game on college football’s calendar, won’t be played annually.
Florida vs. Tennessee dominated the 1990s, but it’s taking a back seat in this schedule.
Arkansas gives up some rivalries but will reignite series with Texas.

The SEC is cutting some key rivalries? Say it ain’t so!

Conference expansion, paired with the elimination of divisions, came at a price. That price? Not seeing Alabama-LSU played annually. Some rivalries will recede from the annual docket, like that bitter clash that once was so pivotal in the SEC West.

The SEC’s rivalries are set, at least for the next four years. The nine-game conference schedule will preserve premier rivalries, but there are some notable omissions. Neither Alabama-LSU nor Florida-Tennessee will be retained annually. Instead, they’ll be played twice in the next four years.

On this edition of ‘SEC Football Unfiltered,’ a podcast from the USA TODAY Sports Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams sound off on the SEC’s assignment of annual opponents.

Each SEC team has been assigned three rivals it will face annually. Its other six opponents on the nine-game conference schedule will rotate. Those rotational opponents will be played twice in a four-year span.

Is it a big deal that these SEC rivalries won’t stay annual matchups?

Georgia vs. Tennessee

Adams: Big deal. These are bordering states. They recruit many of the same players. The campuses are separated by fewer than 250 miles. This series became an annual affair in 1992 with the dawn of divisional play. It delivers great games.

Toppmeyer: Not a big deal. This is a good matchup. It’s not a heated rivalry. Each team has multiple more important rivals.

Arkansas vs. Texas A&M

Adams: Not a big deal. This rivalry went dormant for almost two decades after Arkansas joined the SEC, and the Aggies have owned the series for more than a decade. Playing Texas is a bigger deal to Arkansas.

Toppmeyer: Not a big deal. These teams were old Southwest Conference rivals, but their much bigger rivalry is with Texas, which both will play.

Arkansas vs. Mississippi

Adams: Not a big deal. These teams twice met in the Sugar Bowl when they played in different conferences. It’s a good series, not a mandatory one.

Toppmeyer: Not a big deal. This is just the type of rivalry we can live with being played only twice in a four-year span.

Florida vs. LSU

Adams: Moderate deal. Each team has bigger rivalries, but this is a heated series that’s evenly matched and delivers memorable games.

Toppmeyer: Moderate deal. This game evokes strong emotions from the players, who detest the opposing side. There’s been no shortage of drama, either, from the Hurricane Matthew controversy to the Tim Tebow cell phone number leak to the Marco Wilson shoe toss.

Alabama vs. LSU

Adams: Big deal. Alabama surpassed Ole Miss as the bigger rival for LSU many years ago. This has been such a huge game for decades.

Toppmeyer: Big deal. Seriously, Alabama and LSU aren’t going to play every year? C’mon. There were several seasons in which Alabama-LSU ranked as the most consequential game in the entire college football season.

Florida vs. Tennessee

Adams: Big deal. Divisions elevated this game into a consequential, heated rivalry pitting Phillip Fulmer vs. Steve Spurrier and Peyton Manning vs. Danny Wuerffel. Even with divisions gone and the rivalry not at its peak, this is a rivarly worth keeping.

Toppmeyer: Big deal. It’s true, this rivarly isn’t what it used to be, but I’ve covered games in this series when neither team was that good, and you wouldn’t have known that based on the environment in either Neyland Stadium or The Swamp. Toss out the records, because these fan bases simply do not like each other, making for a great rivalry.

SEC teams that got off easy with their rivalry assignments

∎ Tennessee (Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt)

∎ Florida (Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina)

∎ LSU (Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M)

SEC teams that got tough rivalry draws

∎ Arkansas (LSU, Missouri, Texas)

∎ Ole Miss (LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma)

∎ Texas A&M (LSU, Missouri, Texas)

Week 5 picks against the spread!

Toppmeyer’s five-pack of picks (picks in bold):

∎ Notre Dame at Arkansas (-6.5)

∎ Utah State at Vanderbilt (-21.5)

∎ Auburnat Texas A&M (-6.5)

∎ Alabama at Georgia (-2.5)

∎ Florida State (-6.5) at Virginia

Season record: 11-9 (2-3 last week)

Adams’ five-pack of picks (picks in bold):

∎ LSU at Ole Miss (-2.5)

∎ Tennessee (-7.5) at Mississippi State

∎ Auburn at Texas A&M (-6.5)

∎ Alabama at Georgia (-2.5)

∎ UCLA at Northwestern (-6.5)

Season record: 10-10 (3-2 last week)

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Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

Lions’ big win almost fully restores them to 2024 heights.
Both LA teams now reside in top five.
What did Chiefs’ first win of 2025 season do for their standing?

NFL power rankings entering Week 4 of the 2025 season (previous rank in parentheses):

1. Philadelphia Eagles (1): They’re not blowing anyone’s doors off. Not yet, anyway. But one surefire sign of a champion, one that’s won 12 in a row at home and 19 of 20 overall going back to last season, is the ability to win in multiple ways − and Philly finally broke the seal on its passing game and leveraged timely special teams plays to overcome a 19-point deficit against a legit Rams squad Sunday. Also, doesn’t hurt to have a 336-pound defensive lineman who can rev to nearly 20 mph. Next up? The Kryptonite Bucs, who have beaten Philly in six of their past seven meetings.

2. Buffalo Bills (2): They’re favored by 16½ points, per BetMGM, to beat New Orleans this Sunday in what could be the lock of the year − a 14th straight regular-season victory at Highmark Stadium.

3. Los Angeles Chargers (6): The Bolts just became the third team since realignment in 2002 to open a season 3-0 by sweeping all of their divisional opponents. Next up, a two-game detour through the NFC East − starting with the winless Giants on the road.

6. Detroit Lions (10): They don’t appear to be lacking for much since a Week 1 face plant at Lambeau. The offense is once again in high gear − 90 points over the last two games − while Monday night was also a reminder that DE Aidan Hutchinson is back for a team that allegedly lost too many coaches in the offseason.

7. Baltimore Ravens (4): Officially, another slow (1-2) start for a team that might be two Derrick Henry fumbles away from being 3-0. Still, there’s definitely defensive concern for a unit that was shoved around by Detroit amid the absence of injured Pro Bowl mainstays Kyle Van Noy and DL Nnamdi Madubuike.

8. Washington Commanders (7): Coach Dan Quinn is something of a microcosm for this team right now − bloodied but unbowed, all the more important as the Commanders prepare to hit the road for four of the next five weeks.

10. Kansas City Chiefs (8): They got off the mat, albeit fairly unimpressively against the Giants, but do get to play at Arrowhead four of the next five weeks.

13. San Francisco 49ers (12): A 3-0 start is obviously nice. But when you’re winning by an average of 3.3 points then lose Pro Bowl DE Nick Bosa (torn ACL) for the duration? It’s got the potential to become fool’s gold awfully fast.

19. Chicago Bears (26): Sunday was sophomore QB Caleb Williams’ best day as a pro. It was also the first time in 20 NFL starts that he wasn’t sacked − all the more remarkable given he should have been wrecked while executing one of the worst flea flickers of all time.

20. Cincinnati Bengals (18): We knew they were likely to struggle without injured QB Joe Burrow. But falling into a 45-point hole type struggling? To a team also without its QB1? Ominous.

24. Las Vegas Raiders (23): Next we find out what all that intel Tom Brady collected on this weekend’s opponent, the Bears, is worth − because the Silver and Black kept the deficit inside three TDs on Sunday after TB12 saw Washington earlier in the month.

26. Cleveland Browns (31): As Shedeur Sanders’ father, Deion (Dion?), famously uttered, ‘If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good.’ Props to the ‘Alpha Dawgs’ (presented by DUDE Wipes) who managed to upset the mighty Pack despite their appearance Sunday.

28. Dallas Cowboys (21): No Parsons. No CeeDee Lamb for the foreseeable future. No ability to stop other teams defensively. But Jerry Jones thinks this is a playoff team. Naturally.

29. Miami Dolphins (32): They’re in the midst of an 11-day interlude between games after putting up a fight in Buffalo last Thursday. With the Jets, Panthers and Browns among their next four opponents, hardly time to throw in the towel.

30. New York Giants (25): Their starting backfield could have been Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. Their starting backfield could be Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo − and, after Tuesday’s verdict to bench Russell Wilson, the G-Men are now at least halfway to that rookie pairing.

31. Tennessee Titans (29): Will this be two years in a row that a head coach is fired midseason despite his team just spending the No. 1 draft pick on a QB? The Titans are 3-17 under Brian Callahan, and the Nashville natives were quite restless during Sunday’s 21-point loss to Indy.

Oklahoma State football has parted ways with football coach Mike Gundy after 21 seasons, the school announced on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Gundy, previously the second-longest tenured head coach with one program in the Bowl Subdivision, led the Cowboys to a 1-2 start this season, including a 19-12 loss to in-state foe Tulsa on Sept. 19, which was the school’s first at home to the Golden Hurricane since 1951. Oklahoma State also lost to Oregon 69-3 in Week 2.

‘Cowboy Football reached an unprecedented level of success and national prominence under Coach Gundy’s leadership,’ Oklahoma State athletics director Chad Weiberg said in the announcement. ‘I believe I speak for OSU fans everywhere when I say that we are grateful for all he did to raise the standard and show us all what is possible for Oklahoma State football.’

Oklahoma State has lost 11 consecutive games against Power Four opponents, its longest streak in program history. The Cowboys went 3-9 last season and were winless in Big 12 play. Gundy leaves the program with a 170-90 career record and has the school’s winningest coach of all time. He has 108 more wins than Pat Jones, who ranks second in program history with 62 wins.

Gundy said after the Tulsa loss that he had no interest in 2025 being his final season with the program, and was swarmed with questions about his future with the school.

“In 21 years it’s a different position than I’ve been in,” Gundy said. “As I say every week, my job is to evaluate the overall program, players, the systems … And then I have to make a decision on where we’re at based on what we have. That’s what I do. We’ve certainly been in a different situation a lot of years in a row, but currently we’re not in that situation.” 

The 58-year-old coach helped build Oklahoma State into a perennial Big 12 title contender after taking over for Les Miles in 2005. He was Big 12 coach of the year in 2010, 2021 and 2023.

The fall from grace was fast for the program, as the Cowboys earned a spot in the Big 12 championship in 2023, and also beat archrival Oklahoma in the final Bedlam game before the Sooners left for the SEC after that season.

Gundy, a former Oklahoma State quarterback and Midwest City, Oklahoma, native, has only coached four seasons at other schools in his career, serving as passing-game coordinator at Baylor in 1996 and receivers coach at Maryland from 1997-99. He was an assistant at Oklahoma State from 1990-95, and again from 2001-04.

Reds enter play Tuesday with the NL’s final wild-card spot, holding head-to-head tiebreaker vs. Mets.
Diamondbacks gutted their roster at the trade deadline but are alive in the final week.
Mets had the best record in baseball in mid-June but have been flailing since.

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks really have no idea how they’re still alive.

They’ve been slammed by injuries, losing their $210 million ace to Tommy John surgery.

They completely gave up at the trade deadline, shipping off five players – including their best starter, best reliever and best power hitter – and half of their current roster began the season in the minor leagues.

Yet somehow, someway, they are still standing in the playoff race.

If they pull this off, well, as one player cracked, the New York Mets can expect a bouquet of flowers to come their way.

The D-backs (79-77) will open the final week of their season Tuesday trailing the Mets (80-76) and Cincinnati Reds (80-76) by just one game. They would win a tie-breaker against the Mets if they finish with the same record, but lose the tiebraker against the Reds.

“I still think that a lot’s got to go right for us,’ said D-backs All-Star right fielder Corbin Carroll, who became the first player in franchise history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in a season. “We’ve got to show up, and each one of these games, obviously, matters a ton. We just got to take it one game at a time.

“But at the same time, not let it create unneeded pressure and just still play free like we’ve been playing these last few weeks.’

The D-backs were left for dead after going 1-8 in their final nine games before the trade deadline, and once they traded staff ace Merrill Kelly, All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suarez, first baseman Josh Naylor and reliever Shelby Miller, the D-backs front office reluctantly waved the white flag.

“I wish we had those guys,’ D-backs starter Zac Gallen said, “but we did it to ourselves. We forced the front office to subtract.’

The D-backs were just 51-59 on Aug. 2 but they have since gone 28-18 – the third-best record in the National League. Their starting rotation has a 2.67 ERA since Aug. 27, with an MLB-leading 15 quality starts.

And now, with six games remaining, with three against the Dodgers beginning Tuesday night and three against the Padres in San Diego, well, here they are.

“We never shut down, we never stopped believing in one another, and we never stopped staying connected,’’ D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “When you’re connected, you’re capable of doing a lot of special things, and you’re dangerous.

“We had every right to feel sorry for ourselves. We had every right to say ‘why us?’ and let’s chalk it up to a learning experience and go get them next year.’ But that clubhouse did not allow that to happen, and they stayed together. …

“It wasn’t pretty for a long time here, whether it was injuries, or style of play, lack of play, but they continued to hustle, continued to believe, and focus at the right times. … We put ourselves right in the thick of things because we stuck together.’

The D-backs still have only a 6.4% chance of reaching the playoffs according to FanGraphs, and their biggest obstacle now is the schedule. They not only play the defending World Series champion Dodgers for three games at Chase Field, but the Dodgers are throwing their three best starters – Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers also are motivated to win with a magic number of 3 to clinch their 12th NL West title in 13 years.

“I’ve been playing baseball long enough to know this is not impossible’’ D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez said. “You’ve seen a lot of teams do this over the years. We’ve just got to keep winning games.’

The Mets had the best record in baseball on June 12 at 45-24, but have since gone 35-52. It could be a brutally long winter in Queens if they miss the playoffs with their $340 million payroll, rivaling their 2007 collapse – blowing a seven-game lead with 17 to play.

Reds in NL wild card standings: ‘Can’t kill us’

The Reds are the only team among the three remaining NL wild-card contenders who control their own fate. They have the tiebreaker advantage over the Mets and the D-backs, and if the three teams end in a tie, they would win out.

It’s hard for them to believe they’re still in the hunt, too, considering they had lost 16 of their last 24 games before their five-game winning streak, including a four-game sweep over the Chicago Cubs.

“Go back seven days ago and it looked like we were packing up and going home,” Reds catcher Jose Trevino told reporters. “You fast-forward a week and look at where we are.”

Yep, in the driver’s seat, even after being swept a week ago by the Athletics, and falling to fourth place in the wild-card derby.

“You can’t kill us,’ Reds pitcher Nick Martinez said Sunday.

The Reds finish the season playing three games at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates (67-89), who have the third-worst record in the National League, and three against the Brewers in Milwaukee, who already clinched the NL Central title.

Just like that, they smell their first postseason in a full season since 2013.

“We deserve it, we’ve grinded it out and we’re seeing the rewards at the end of it,’ Reds infielder Gavin Lux told reporters, “but we’ve got to finish it. We’re in control of our own destiny, which is great, but we’ve still got to finish out these last six games strong.”

If the Reds pull it off, it will be manager Terry Francona’s 12th playoff team, after already winning two World Series titles and three pennants.

“Damn, man, I’m not a big drug user,’ Francona said Sunday, “but I’m guessing this is probably what it feels like.’

Mets collapse nearing completion

Meanwhile, for the first time since April 5, the Mets aren’t in the postseason field. They may be tied with the Reds, but just lost back-to-back games to the Washington Nationals (64-92) at Citi Field. Their schedule also provides no comfort, playing their final six games on the road against the Chicago Cubs (88-68) and the sizzling Miami Marlins (76-80), who have won six consecutive games and 10 of their last 11. The Marlins even pushed back Sandy Alcantara to assure he’d face the Mets in their season-ending series at home, which could be his final start in a Marlins uniform.

“We’ve put ourselves in this position,’ Mets All Star shortstop Francisco Lindor told reporters Sunday, “so we’ve got to find a way to get out of it.

“And that comes down to winning.”

The Mets haven’t done a whole lot of that for months now, going 4-11 in their past 15 games, 7-12 in September, and 18-29 since Aug. 1. The only teams with a worse record than the Mets since June 13 are the Nationals, Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies.

“Everybody here knows where we’re at and what’s ahead of us,” Mets starter Clay Holmes told reporters. “But as a player, I think there’s still the opportunity to make something special happen. …

“It’s still there. It’s just up to us to go out and see what we can do with it’

It may not be a race to the wild-card finish line, but simply a matter of survival at this juncture. The losers go home. The winner will have an all-expense trip, most likely to Los Angeles, trying to beat the defending champions in a best-of-three series at Dodger Stadium.

October will never feel so good after what these teams have endured.

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DE Aidan Hutchinson showed Monday night that he’s back with a vengeance.
So is RB David Montgomery, whose career night was a key to the takedown of the Ravens.
And no Ben Johnson to run the offense? QB Jared Goff suggests the change might ultimately benefit Detroit.

Aside from a neutral-zone infraction, he literally didn’t show up in the game’s box score through three quarters. While wondering in the final period if I’d (somehow?) missed an injury or benching, I purposefully scanned the field to confirm Hutchinson was present and accounted for – and there he was, lined up wide on the right side of the defensive line on the outside shoulder of Baltimore tight end Charlie Kolar.

No sooner had I located Hutch than he flashed off the line at the snap but appeared to overrun a rush by Ravens steamroller Derrick Henry … except Hutchinson never gave up on the play, changing direction on his surgically repaired leg, before throwing a haymaker at the ball. Henry couldn’t withstand the punch and gave up the rock – a turnover the Lions turned into a field goal with 1:51 to go that ultimately provided the decisive cushion.

“I saw that ball cradling a little bit,” said Hutchinson, who revealed the play was actually designed to create a takeaway, “and I put my head down and just threw the biggest hook I could. And then I got up, and everybody started running at the end zone. At that moment, I knew that ball came out. So, that was a fun moment. I’ve never actually done that before, where I got a clean punch-out on a ball carrier. So, that was a lot of fun, actually. That was really, really cool.” 

Hutchinson, 25, wasn’t done being Mo(town) Cool.

Known for his typically redlined motor since before he was the No. 2 overall draft pick out of the nearby University of Michigan three years ago, he sacked Baltimore superstar Lamar Jackson for a 6-yard loss on Detroit’s very next defensive snap – one of the seven times Jackson went down Monday night, tied for the most the two-time league MVP has suffered in a game during his eight-year NFL career.

‘I wasn’t getting a ton of action,’ Hutchinson replied when USA TODAY Sports asked him to assess an evening that started quietly but ended with a bang.

‘But I think at the end of the day, we made the plays that we had to to win the game. It might have been a little quiet at first, but we surged onto the scene with a couple of big plays to finish them off at the end.” 

It was a sequence the 2025 Lions can only hope typifies their season – from the ability to throw timely knockouts to the relentless approach this organization will need to break the league’s longest Super Sunday hex, Detroit the only NFL franchise that’s been in operation for the entirety of the Super Bowl era, which began in 1966, yet never appeared in the game.

“Our hardest workers are our best players. It’s not lip service. It’s not fake – our best players are our hardest workers,” said Detroit coach Dan Campbell. “Go out and watch them practice. It’s like that every day. So, that’s the standard.

“If you’re not up to that standard with the effort matching what our best players do, then you’re not going to be around here very long.”

And maybe there was also a timely reminder here in light of the dominant offseason narrative that’s followed the Lions, who lost coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn to head coaching opportunities at a time when six other assistants also departed.

Yet don’t forget that Detroit, which went one-and-done in the 2024 postseason despite its No. 1 seeding – largely undone by a rash of injuries – has also made significant gains (recoveries maybe?) that are easy to gloss over.

Start with the return of Hutchinson, who broke his leg last October, aborting a campaign that seemed destined to end with him feted as Defensive Player of the Year. Also restored to full strength is running back David Montgomery, who suffered an MCL injury last December that cost him three games and limited him to 17 snaps in the playoffs. Guards Tate Ratledge, a rookie, and Christian Mahogany, a second-year player, have supplied a needed boost to the offensive line following the offseason retirement of Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow.

Running behind the reconfigured blocking, Montgomery racked up a career-high 151 rushing yards, including a 72-yard breakaway, and two touchdowns Monday. Of the Lions’ 426 yards, 224 (and 4 TDs) came on the ground) as Detroit manhandled a Baltimore squad with a deserved reputation as one of the league’s bullies.

“We know what we’ve got here,” said Campbell. “We don’t need anybody telling us what we do or don’t have.”

But it’s apparent.

After starting flat in a season-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Lions sent an early message to Johnson, his new team and everyone else with a 52-21 demolition of the Chicago Bears in Week 2. Now, with replacement coordinator John Morton calling the offensive shots, Detroit has scored 90 points over its past two games. Quarterback Jared Goff even indicated the reimagined attack’s wrinkles create further opportunities for this group.

“Two and one is pretty good,” said Goff, who passed for 202 yards and touchdown in his latest precision performance.

“I do like that we are winning in different ways. … We are running some different schemes, slightly, and being able to win down the field – on certain routes that are new to us – and win in certain run game stuff that is new to us, it’s great. We obviously won a lot of games last year running what we ran last year, but being able to tweak it slightly and still be successful with it on offense is awesome.” 

And it’s not like most of the ingredients that helped this team to consecutive NFC North crowns disappeared. An explosive group of pass catchers, led by Amon-Ra St. Brown, remains. An opportunistic defense with ball hawking safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph remains. Campbell’s fourth-down bravado − 3-for-3 Monday night − remains.

Factor in a healthy Hutchinson, their defensive closer, and what’s basically the full complement of weapons that’s underpinned an offense that’s been a top-five unit – both in terms of yards gained and points scored – in every season since 2022, and there’s certainly a sense that this could finally be the pride of Lions that leaves no unfinished business at season’s end.

Said Montgomery: “We’ve got something special here.”

The Indiana Fever keep winning without star guard Caitlin Clark, begging the question: How?

At the beginning of the 2025 season, the Fever had championship expectations. They had just finished a successful offseason, bringing in a new coach, Stephanie White, and a few players, DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Cloud and Sophie Cunningham, to help them get there. However, it hasn’t played out as the likely imagined. Five players have been lost to season-ending injuries, setting the Fever up for a rough end to the year.

Still, through all the obstacles, Indiana is going strong. So, the question becomes: How are the Fever cruising through the WNBA playoffs without Clark? Here are three reasons why they are stacking win after win.

1. The Indiana Fever have depth ― a lot of it

Due to injury, Clark played 13 games in 2025, which means the Fever spent a significant amount of time without her, trying to replicate a fraction of what she brings to the team. That’s hard to do. It’s like taking the engine out of a car and trying to drive it anyway. (Hint: That doesn’t work.) So the Fever turned to their depth, which included guards Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Cunningham, Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald. Then, in a wild twist of events, the depth got hurt. Cunningham, Colson and McDonald all suffered season-ending injuries, putting Indiana at a real disadvantage.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. The forwards on the team were impacted, too. Chloe Bibby also had a season-ending injury. Damiris Dantas missed the entire first round of the 2025 playoffs with a concussion. So, how is Indiana still going after all of that sort of turmoil? The Fever have depth ― a lot of it. The team’s front office deserves a ton of credit for going out and signing guards Odyssey Sims and Shey Peddy for relief. They also drafted forward Makayla Timpson and signing veteran Brianna Turner.

Sims and Peddy have extensive WNBA experience and seamlessly integrated into the Fever’s system after just a few games. Timspon and Turner were further down in the depth chart, but have played critical minutes as the season went on. All four players, plus Mitchell, Hull, forward Natasha Howard and center Aliyah Boston, have become crucial to the Fever’s success in the back half of the season. The Fever don’t upset the No. 3 seed Dream and steal a game from the No. 2 seed Aces in the playoffs without the contributions.

2. Stephanie White’s WNBA playoffs coaching clinic

As of the publishing of this story, Fever coach Stephanie White has 30 games of playoff experience in the WNBA. She’s led teams on deep playoff runs three separate times between her tenures with Indiana and the Connecticut Sun. In other words, White is not new to this. She’s true to this. Quite frankly, she and her staff deserve a lot more credit for what they have done to keep the Fever operating at a high level. That’s likely a lot of hours of film study, clipboard work and the unseen moments of pouring into players to get the most of them.

Perhaps what is most impressive about White’s current run with the Fever is her ability to not only come equipped with a formidable game plan but also to deploy timely adjustments. It often goes under the radar, but it’s that sort of work that has the Fever in the semifinals. For example, deploying Peddy in the waning minutes of Game 3 against the Atlanta Dream when the Fever’s season was seemingly on the line. Peddy immediately hit a 3-pointer and caused a deflection moments later, which went onto ignite a series-sealing momentum shift. That sort of small in the moment but ultimately large decision is a glimpse of not only White’s thought process and brilliance, but the trust in her players to execute.

3. The Fever are extremely resilient

As cliché as it sounds, the Fever are a resilient team. They are playing inspired basketball, with a lot of energy and intensity. That’s probably a walking nightmare for opposing teams to deal with because Indiana is already one of the most prolific teams in the league when fully healthy. What’s more, it’s likely motivating for the team that not many people expected the Fever to be in the second round of the playoffs, given all the injuries and, at times, the up-and-down nature of their season.

That sort of belief in one another and White is noteworthy, and ignites a much larger conversation. Could the Fever actually win it all without Clark? Then, if they were to win a championship this season without their top player, how many could they potentially win with Clark once she returns?