The proposed fight between Jake Paul and Gervonta Davis, facing opposition in Georgia from a top boxing official, will now be held in Miami, according to Most Valuable Promotions, co-founded by Paul.

The fight, originally scheduled to be held Nov. 14 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, will be held Nov. 14 at the Kaseya Center, according to a press release issued by MVP on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Kaseya Center is home to the NBA’s Miami Heat and has a capacity of about 20,000.

MVP did not immediately respond to questions about whether the Florida Athletic Commission had approved the fight. Members of the commission did not return messages USA TODAY Sports left by email, voicemail and text message.

Rick Thompson, chairman of the Georgia Athletic Entertainment Commission (GAEC), told USA TODAY Sports he adamantly opposed the fight in part because of the weight discrepancy of the two boxers. Paul weighed in at 199½ pounds for his last fight and Davis weighed in at 133¾ pounds for his previous fight.

The GAEC was scheduled to meet on Thursday, Sept. 18, and vote on MVP’s request for a rule waiver to address restrictions on the allowed weight difference between boxers. But MVP withdrew the request and others related to gaining approval to hold the fight in Georgia.

‘We’re grateful to State Farm Arena and the GAEC for their support in this process,” Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of MVP, said in the press release.

Thompson, who serves as one of GAEC’s five commissioners, told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday, Sept. 16, that MVP had withdrawn their request for event permits and rule waivers required to hold the event in Georgia. MVP would have needed the votes of three of the five commissioners to gain approval.

On Wednesday, tickets to the scheduled fight in State Farm Arena still were available for purchase online, and the fight still was listed on the State Farm Arena event calendar. MVP announced the fight, which is supposed to be carried by Netflix, on Aug. 20.

MVP did not respond to questions about the fight USA TODAY Sports submitted by email and text message.

But in its press release, MVP said press conferences for the fight and its new location are scheduled for Sept. 22 in New York and Sept. 23 in Miami. Initially, press conferences had been scheduled for Sept. 17 in New York and Nov. 18 in Atlanta.

Weight discrepancy issue

In hopes of holding the fight in Georgia, MVP had requested a rule waiver that would have addressed the weight discrepancy between Paul and Davis.

On MVP’s leaving Georgia, Thompson said, “They probably evaluated a situation, knew that their weight differences were too much.”’

In an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Sept. 8, Thompson blasted the fight, calling it ‘the dumbest (expletive) I’ve ever heard.’ He also said he didn’t think Paul was a competitive fighter.

But on Tuesday, Thompson said he hoped MVP could reconsider holding the proposed undercard for the Paul-Davis bout in Atlanta.

“We would love for the undercard to still fight in the state of Georgia,’’ he said. “We believe the undercard is something people would like to see.’’

On Sept. 2, USA TODAY Sports reported that the proposed fight between Paul and Davis had hit an apparent snag.

This story was updated with new information.

The era of the unbeaten national champion in college football is likely over due to factors like the expanded playoff and player movement.
The article ranks the 39 remaining undefeated FBS teams and predicts when each team’s perfect season will end.
Miami is ranked as the team with the best chance to finish the regular season undefeated, while many others are expected to lose within the next few weeks.

The unbeaten season, the Holy Grail of college football championship royalty, is on the verge of extinction. 

Parity through an expanded College Football Playoff, free-flowing NIL dollars and rampant player movement (and off-field distractions) will quickly put an end to this once attainable goal. 

It began last season when national champion Ohio State lost in the regular season final against Michigan, and then won the CFP as the No. 8 seed. 

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There were 12 unbeaten national champions in the first 25 years of the 2000s. There may not be 12 in the next 75 years. 

Or as Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this summer, “(Parity) is around every corner during a season.”

A ranking of the current 39 undefeated Football Bowl Subdivision teams, their strength of schedule ranking per Jeff Sagarin ratings that includes Championship Subdivision teams, and where the dream ends. 

1. Miami

Schedule: 77.

Where it ends: An unbeaten regular season. Have you seen the schedule? A road trip to rival Florida State is the only potential hiccup for a complete team with motivated QB Carson Beck.

2. LSU

Schedule: 10.

Where it ends: Nov. 29, at Oklahoma. The LSU defense is special, and will dictate nearly every game. Until it meets Oklahoma star QB John Mateer, and his season-long vengance tour.  

3. TCU

Schedule: 97.

Where it ends: Nov. 22, at Houston. This TCU team has 2022 vibes. But a dangerous quarterback and an opportunistic defense meet a team (under Willie Fritz) with a developing giant killer identity. 

4. Oklahoma

Schedule: 84.

Where it ends: Nov. 15, at Alabama. The Tide will be a completely different team by November, playing at home against the Sooners with a chance to strengthen a CFP resume. They won’t blow it this time. 

5. Iowa State

Schedule: 61.

Where it ends: Nov. 8, at TCU. Let’s be honest, nothing about this team is pretty. But it’s operationally flawless to a fault. Only a dangerous TCU offense can stop it in the Big 12. 

6. Navy

Schedule: 242.

Where it ends: Nov. 8, at Notre Dame. Nothing quite like winning your first eight games, and losing your last four (Notre Dame, South Florida, at Memphis, vs. Army). 

7. Georgia

Schedule: 71.

Where it ends: Nov. 1 vs. Florida. But for an injury to QB DJ Lagway, the Gators would’ve beaten Georgia last year. An elite Florida defense will be the difference this time in a bitter rivalry. 

8. Penn State

Schedule: 213.

Where it ends: Nov. 1, at Ohio State. At some point, the Lions (and QB Drew Allar) have to find a way to beat Ohio State. It won’t be this season — at least, not in the regular season.

9. Georgia Tech

Schedule: 33.

Where it ends: Nov. 1, at North Carolina State. The fourth quarter of last year’s game: combined 36 points, and a last-second, game-winning Georgia Tech touchdown. This one will be just as wild.

10. Texas A&M

Schedule: 21.

Where it ends: Oct. 25, at LSU. The LSU defense was embarrassed in this game in 2024, and the loss – as much as anything – led to wholesale changes from the transfer portal. Watch the LSU defense dominate this time around.

11. UNLV

Schedule: 186.

Where it ends: Oct. 18, at Boise State. Broncos may be the only team to get the Rebels, which could be bad news for UNLV’s ability to keep coach Dan Mullen (hello, Virginia Tech).   

12. Texas Tech

Schedule: 254.

Where it ends: Oct. 18, at Arizona State. This sets up exactly how you’d think. Tech has enough talent to navigate dicey early tests, but Sun Devils and QB Sam Leavitt are too much in Tempe.  

13. Washington

Schedule: 173.

Where it ends: Oct. 18, at Michigan. Huskies fortunate to get games against Maryland and Rutgers after Ohio State, but long trip to play physical Michigan team is too difficult to overcome.

14. Illinois

Schedule: 168.

Where it ends: Oct. 11, Ohio State. Bad news: the unbeaten season ends. The good news: Illini would only need a win at Washington the following game (not an easy ask) to all but lock up a CFP spot.

15. Missouri

Schedule: 147.

Where it ends: Oct. 11, Alabama. As bad as it looked against Florida State, the Tide is stabilizing — and that’s not good for anyone on the schedule. 

16. North Carolina State

Schedule: 51.

Where it ends: Oct. 11, at Notre Dame. Irish QB CJ Carr gets three games against overmatched defenses (Purdue, Arkansas, Boise State) to set up critical game for already shaky CFP run. 

17. Florida State

Schedule: 94.

Where it ends: Oct. 4, Miami. Affect the quarterback, protect the quarterback. The Canes do it as well as any team in the nation, and will ride that formula in Tallahassee.

18. Vanderbilt

Schedule: 34.

Where it ends: Oct. 4, at Alabama. If there’s one game Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer must win this season, it’s Vandy. Imagine anyone ever saying that about any Alabama team.    

19. Houston

Schedule: 141.

Where it ends: Oct. 4, Texas Tech. No better illustration of what happens when you spend multimillions in private NIL deals on the roster (Texas Tech), and when you don’t (Houston). 

20. Ohio State

Schedule: 87.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Washington. The first road game for an offense still figuring it out. A brutal environment (noise and weather), and dealing with underrated Washington QB Demond Williams Jr.  

21. Oregon

Schedule: 81.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Penn State. The environment, the Penn State defense, the line in the sand moment for coach James Franklin in Happy Valley.

22. Mississippi

Schedule: 32.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, LSU. This isn’t about Ole Miss revenge from 2024 loss, it’s about Rebels’ inability to block the LSU front seven.  

23. Southern California

Schedule: 136.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Illinois. This is about as predictable as it gets: finesse USC vs. ground and pound Illinois, and more fuel for Lincoln Riley detractors.     

24. Louisville

Schedule: 172.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Pittsburgh. Hell hath no fury like a Pat Narduzzi-coached Pitt team with two weeks to prepare after blowing the Backyard Brawl. Or something like that. 

25. Mississippi State

Schedule: 113.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, Tennessee. The home win over Arizona State was impressive, but things get serious when SEC play begins against a team that – but for a missed field goal against Georgia at the end of regulation – should be on this list. 

26. California

Schedule: 118.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Boston College. A fun Cal team with exciting freshman quarterback Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele (just call him JKS) traveling 3,083 miles to Chesnut Hill, Massachusetts, to play a football game. Ridiculous. 

27. Central Florida

Schedule: 248.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Kansas State. A horrific start for K-State, and two weeks to prepare for UCF. If QB Avery Johnson is ever going to elevate the team with his play, this is it. 

28. Arizona

Schedule: 155.

Where it ends: Sept. 27, at Iowa State. QB Noah Fifita is one of the most exciting players in the country. And then there’s the rest of the Arizona team. 

29. Utah

Schedule: 109.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, Texas Tech. These aren’t the Utes of the past. Texas Tech is a significant step up from UCLA, Cal Poly and Wyoming. 

30. Nebraska

Schedule: 226.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, Michigan. Dylan Raiola, meet Wink Martindale. Get ready to be blitzed from the moment you run out of the tunnel at Memorial Stadium.

31. Indiana

Schedule: 228.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, Illinois. The Illini will do what the CFP selection committee couldn’t for six weeks in 2024: expose a laughable schedule.  

32. Tulane

Schedule: 55.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, at Ole Miss. Understand this: if Tulane somehow finds a way in Oxford, the odds of an unbeaten regular season significantly increase. 

33. Auburn

Schedule: 89.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, at Oklahoma. The first loss, and the fuse is lit on Hugh Freeze’s powder keg of a crossroads season. Buckle up, lovely people on Toomer’s Corner.  

34. Michigan State

Schedule: 146.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, at USC. Not only do the Spartans have to travel across the country to Los Angles, kickoff is 8 p.m. local. Or 11 p.m. in the heads of all things Sparty.

35. Brigham Young

Schedule: 218.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, at East Carolina. A one-time bluechip recruit at Michigan State, QB Katin Houser is off to a big start in Year 2 at ECU. He’ll be on someone’s roster in the NFL in 2026.

36. Memphis

Schedule: 134.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, Arkansas. A trendy upset pick, but Memphis hasn’t seen an offense like Arkansas. Hogs will get to bowl eligibility by simply outscoring teams. 

37. Maryland

Schedule: 191.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, at Wisconsin. Freshman QB Malik Washington looks like Cam Newton, but he can’t do it all to avoid three consecutive losses — beginning with a suddenly desperate Badgers team.

38. North Texas

Schedule: 174.

Where it ends: Sept. 20, at Army. You want to deal with these guys after an emotional win at Kansas State? 

39. Rutgers

Schedule: 191.

Where it ends: Sept. 19, Iowa. Two of the Big Ten’s best defenses and worst offenses. Translation: take the under, and Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker. 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

Natalie Nakase was named WNBA coach of the year after a historic season for the Golden State Valkyries.
The Valkyries were the first WNBA expansion team to make the postseason in its inaugural season.
The Valkyries finished the season with 23 wins, marking the most by an expansion team in its inaugural season.

The Golden State Valkyries reached new heights in their inaugural season and set the standard of success for expansion teams, under the tutelage of first-year head coach Natalie Nakase.

Nakase led the Valkyries to the team’s first playoff bid, the first expansion team to make the postseason in its inaugural season. Nakase was named the WNBA 2025 Coach of the Year as a result on Wednesday, but if you ask the California native, her team did what ‘we’re supposed to do.’

‘That’s my mentality. I told the girls that we intentionally picked you guys for this reason, to do things for the first time,’ Nakase said after the Valkyries punched its postseason ticket on Sept. 4. ‘We’re not done yet.’

Nakase cultivated the Valkyries’ culture from scratch and built a roster with a ‘never satisfied mindset’ through the expansion draft, WNBA draft and free agency. The grittiness of Nakase can be seen in her team, which allowed the fewest overall points (76.3) and finished with the third-best defensive rating this season.

WNBA MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton wins

The Valkyries put the league on notice after jumping to a 10-9 record to start the season, becoming only the third expansion team in WNBA history to pick up its 10th victory in 20 games or less. But after All-star forward Kayla Thornton went down with a season-ending knee injury in late July, many assumed the Valkyries would fade into fade into obscurity.

Not on Nakase’s watch. She continually got the most out of her players and transformed previous role players to main characters, as evidenced by Veronica Burton, who was named the 2025 WNBA Most Improved Player on Monday after improving from 3.1 points per game last season in Connecticut to averaging 11.9 points in a career-high 44 games (all starts) this year. The Valkyries finished the season with 23 wins, marking the most by an expansion team in its inaugural season.

‘I’ve been an underdog my whole life,’ Nakase said. ‘I think all of our players have that type of mentality. They like to be doubted, to prove people wrong and that’s what connected us too. I think that’s the beauty of our season is that we’ve been connecting on all different levels of past experiences, past trauma, past everything.’

Nakase has always had a chip on her shoulder. The 5-foot-2 guard wasn’t highly recruited out of high school. She received a full-ride scholarship from UC Irvine, but ultimately turned it down to walk on at UCLA. After recovering from a knee injury, Nakase went on to become a starter for three seasons, averaging 5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals.

Nakase played two seasons in the now-defunct National Women’s Basketball League (NWBL) and competed overseas in Germany before another knee injury ended her playing career. Nakase transitioned to coaching, with stints in Germany and Tokyo, and landed with the Clippers in 2012 and Aces in 2022.

Nakase served as an assistant coach under Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon the past two seasons and was a key piece in the Aces’ back-to-back WNBA championships (2022, 2023). Before that, Nakase spent 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, working her way up from a video coordinator to an assistant coach and player development coach for both the Clippers and G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers.

‘Tyronn Lue taught me that you have to be able to communicate with every single player,’ Nakase told USA TODAY Sports in December, following the WNBA expansion draft. ‘The best thing (Becky Hammon) taught me was to coach with an open heart. She has such a big heart. When you have a conversation with her, you feel like you can lean into her and tell her anything because of the way she approaches everything. Having an open heart is huge, that’s why we had quick buy-in with the Las Vegas Aces.’

Nakase not only got complete buy-in from the Valkyries this season, she also got it from the community. The Valkyries sold out each of their 22 regular-season home games at Chase Center and set an all-time WNBA attendance record, welcoming 397,408 total fans and an average attendance of 18,064 this season.

Nakase will face her biggest challenge yet on Wednesday. The No. 8 seed Valkyries host the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx for Game 2 of the best-of-three first-round WNBA Playoffs series on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET) at SAP Center at San Jose in San Jose, California, where Golden State must win to keep their season alive.

Nakase received 53 of the 72 votes for coach of the year. Dream coach Karl Smesko got 15 votes, Hammon got two votes, as did the Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve.

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At this point, there’s really just one more meaningful plateau Cal Raleigh can reach:

Sixty home runs.

He’s hit every other round number and set records for catchers and switch-hitters and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr., insane company for a 6-2, 235-pound backstop nicknamed Big Dumper to keep.

As Raleigh lumbers into the last 10 games of this season – all while aiming to keep the Seattle Mariners afloat atop the American League West – here’s a look at four startling facts about his historic 56-home run season:

He’s a catcher out-homering Kyle Schwarber, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge

Johnny Bench was the last catcher to lead the major leagues in home runs, hitting 45 in 1970. That was three years before the designated hitter was introduced to the American League in 1973.

Bench’s closest competition that year was slugger Frank Howard, who hit 44 home runs at age 33 and never hit more than 26 in any season thereafter. And like Billy Williams, Harmon Killebrew, Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Perez and everyone else chasing Bench, Howard had to play the field.

That’s not the case for Kyle Schwarber (54 home runs) or Shohei Ohtani (50), save for the weekly pitching forays for the latter. And even the great Aaron Judge (48) has served 54 games as DH thanks to an arm injury (and to be fair, Judge has played in just 141 games due to that ailment).

In other words, hitting is the only thing those guys do most of the time. Raleigh, meanwhile, has to squat 130 or so times a night as the catcher and, in an era when preparation is paramount, devote more of his pregame mental bandwidth to attacking other hitters rather than perfecting an offensive gameplan for himself.

Schwarber is a three-time All-Star and Judge and Ohtani will be a Hall of Famer. That Raleigh is out-homering them all with one hand essentially tied behind his back defies belief.

He homers with nearly the same frequency right-handed as left-handed

There’s no such thing as a perfect switch-hitter. Simply, it’s impossible to feel exactly as comfortable from one side of the plate as the other, and even the greatest will sacrifice something – usually, power or perhaps batting average – in order to jump in the other batter’s box and enjoy a handedness advantage against any pitcher.

Yet consider this: Raleigh has hit 35 home runs in 464 left-handed plate appearances – a home run in 7.5% of his plate appearances.

And as a right-hander facing lefties, he’s hit 21 homers in 193 plate appearances – a home run in 10.8% of his plate appearances.

As if Raleigh wasn’t scary enough to face already, it’s even more daunting for opposing managers to think that there’s really no platoon advantage to gain turning him from one side of the plate to the other.

Heck, not even Mantle can make that claim. In 1961, when he hit 54 home runs to set the switch-hitting record Raleigh just broke, Mantle, over 443 plate appearances, hit 43 of his homers left-handed – 9.7% of his plate appearances. That’s almost twice the frequency as Mantle’s 203 plate appearances batting right-handed, when he hit just 11 home runs – 5.4% of his plate appearances.

Nothing against The Mick: It’s awfully hard to maintain your power stroke when you bat right-handed with far less frequency. It’s just another head-scratching feat from the Big Dumper.

His 56-homer season is better than Ken Griffey Jr.’s

Well, this is in a sense comparing the Pacific Northwest’s king salmon and its Dungeness crab – both are going to taste pretty good.

While 56 home runs is 56 home runs, regardless of when you hit it, rate statistics can at least partially allow us to compare which season is more impressive. And the offensive environment within which Raleigh is pushing 60 home runs makes his feat even more improbable.

Raleigh’s adjusted OPS – calibrated for league average, ballparks and other factors – is 169. When Junior slugged his 56 home runs in 1997 and 1998, his adjusted OPS were 165 and 150, respectively.

And when Griffey set the Mariners franchise record for homers that Raleigh has now matched, his home ballpark was the Kingdome, where baseballs flew out with abandon. Two years later, Safeco Field – now T-Mobile Park – opened up, suppressing offense for Junior – along with dozens of sluggers to come – and Griffey was traded to Cincinnati.

That’s not to whitewash Junior’s great seasons. His home run totals came just as baseball’s steroid era was kicking into high gear, although the home run rate did not spike until 1999 (1.14 per game compared to 1.04 in 1998). Seems like quite a few sluggers were “inspired” by the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa showdown.

Now, the home run rate is 1.16 per game, a product of the information revolution and the “three true outcomes” desires that remade how the game was played. Nonetheless, Raleigh is still outkicking the league average.

And there’s still some similarities between the two. Griffey was a Gold Glove center fielder and the AL MVP in 1997. Raleigh is poised to match that, two king fish leaving a mark on a franchise.

 He was ‘just’ a third-round pick, never a Top 100 prospect

Raleigh never hit more than 13 home runs at Florida State, where he was better-regarded as a handler of pitchers and leader than power threat. The Mariners snagged him with the 90th overall pick in 2018, a third round led off by Kody Clemens.

Yet the power came quickly as Raleigh, already 22, hit a combined 29 homers in his first full professional season in 2019. The following season was canceled due to COVID-19, yet by 2021, Raleigh was still barely hanging among the top 10 Mariners prospects – and nowhere near an overall top 100.

Heck, the Mariners had five of ‘em – outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez, pitchers Logan Gilbert and Emerson Hancock and infielder Noelvi Marte.

By midseason 2021, though, Baseball America had moved Raleigh to No. 5 and seemed to sense something was coming.

“A switch-hitter, Raleigh has ironed out his righthanded swing to be a legitimate threat from both sides of the plate, and improved pitch recognition has helped him lay off high fastballs that previously gave him trouble,” the publication wrote.

He’d debut that July, hit an unremarkable two home runs in 47 games, yet by early 2022 was back in the bigs for good.

Just goes to show that for all the attention MLB’s draft now garners, the gold may take a while to pan out.

Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata has heard plenty of chatter about the team’s ‘Tush Push’ play being the reason they beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the teams’ Week 2 Super Bowl 59 rematch.

The 28-year-old strongly disagrees with that assessment, as he made clear during an appearance on 94 WIP Sports Radio.

‘I understand the outrage,’ Mailata said, referencing the efficacy of the Tush Push. ‘What I don’t understand is them using it as an excuse to why we won the game.’

Why does Mailata feel that way?

‘I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to our defense and our special teams who balled out, and my brothers on defense and special teams who balled out that game, who had our backs when we weren’t moving the ball or weren’t doing anything,’ he said.

‘Tush Push’ face criticism from NFL world after Eagles win

Mailata’s comments come as the Tush Push has faced heavy criticism following the Eagles’ Week 2 victory. NFL fans and analysts alike noted Philadelphia seemed to be lining up offsides on some of their seven Tush Pushes while the interior offensive linemen also appeared to be getting away with false starts.

Fox color commentator Tom Brady even pointed out the latter issue, saying it appeared both of Philadelphia’s guards left early on one of the team’s fourth-quarter Tush Push attempts.

Fox’s rule analyst and former NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino later chimed in with his opinion of the play after a video review of the play in the game’s final two minutes.

‘I am done with the Tush Push, guys,’ Blandino said on the Fox broadcast. ‘This is – it’s a hard play to officiate.’

From there, the Tush Push became a national talking point, with many media pundits scrutinizing the advantages the Eagles get from their ability to execute the play at a high level.

That included ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who wholly credited the NFL’s decision not to ban the Tush Push with allowing the Eagles to once again beat the Chiefs.

‘The biggest thing here, to me, is that this game was lost in March,’ Schefter said Monday on ‘Get Up.’ ‘This game was lost when the NFL owners refused to ban the Tush Push from happening. It wasn’t lost yesterday, it was lost in March. And there might be a lot of games that the Eagles play that are lost in March, because this play is unstoppable.

‘Not only does the defense not know how to handle it, but even the officials don’t know how to handle it. You’re seeing the Eagles linemen jump offsides every play and nothing’s called. So, the officials have no idea, defenses have no idea and the Eagles get to do whatever they want on every single play in the Tush Push. And I know people hate it, but they have mastered it.’

Why ‘Tush Push’ discourse bothers Jordan Mailata

Mailata explained he tries to avoid discourse about the Tush Push in the rare occasions he is on social media. However, occasionally a rogue post slips into the 2024 All-Pro second teamer’s timeline and ‘kinda irks [him] a little bit.’

‘That pisses me off because we give so much to this game, and to kind of base off a short-yardage play, that is a football play,’ Mailata said, with his voice climbing up an octave. ‘And say that we won the game off that, but not how our defense played and not how our special teams have played, putting us in those positions. You know I think it’s bullcrap.’

Nonetheless, Mailata knows conversations about the Tush Push will continue to surround the Eagles during the 2025 NFL season. It also figures to once again be a topic of discussion for the NFL Competition Committee following the season.

But as long as the Tush Push remains legal, the Eagles figure to keep running the play consistently and effectively.

And Mailata will continue to make it clear how he views any assertion that the Eagles are winning games largely based on that play.

‘I just think it’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish, man,’ Mailata said. ‘It makes my blood boil just thinking about it.’

No. 20 Michigan will head to Nebraska this weekend without coach Sherrone Moore, who is serving out the remainder of a two-game suspension this season for his part in the program’s sign-stealing scandal.

While Moore prepares to watch from the couch, Nebraska is thriving in coach Matt Rhule’s third season.

After sneaking past Cincinnati in the opener, the Cornhuskers have topped Akron and Houston Christian by a combined 120 points. Sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola has completed 72 of 94 attempts for 829 yards and eight touchdowns without an interception. His backup, freshman TJ Lateef, has hit on 11 of 12 throws for 254 yards. The offense is rolling under coordinator Dana Holgorsen.

A win would move the Cornhuskers into the US LBM Coaches Poll and make them a genuine College Football Playoff contender.

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For the Wolverines, a loss on Saturday could essentially end the quest for the playoff, given an earlier loss to No. 12 Oklahoma, the season finale against No. 1 Ohio State and the tough games in between, including a trip to Southern California and a home game against Washington.

Moore’s absence looms over this matchup. A setback in Lincoln would drop Michigan to 2-2 for the second time in a non-COVID season since 2009. A win with interim coach Biff Poggi at the controls would be better, of course, but could still stoke criticism of Moore’s game-day management.

He’s not the only one under scrutiny. Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood was awful against the Sooners, though he rebounded with a strong performance in the win against Central Michigan. Nebraska will devote resources to stopping the run and look to force Underwood to win the game; whether he can do so in a tough environment is an extreme unknown at this early stage of his development.

This spotlight cast on the Wolverines puts them front and center in this week’s look at the team, game, coach and quarterback facing the most pressure:

Team: No. 21 Notre Dame

Notre Dame remains in the Coaches Poll after opening the year with losses to No. 6 Miami and No. 10 Texas A&M by a combined four points.

The last 0-2 team to earn a national ranking was 1988 Michigan, which dropped close games to the Fighting Irish and the Hurricanes and then went 9-0-1 the rest of the way. It’ll take a similarly unblemished run to get the Irish back into the playoff after reaching last year’s championship game.

That starts against Purdue, which was competitive in last week’s against Southern California and is clearly on firmer footing under new coach Barry Odom. But the Boilermakers are still vastly outmatched against one of the most talented teams in the Bowl Subdivision.

Notre Dame has to get back on track with a lopsided win. Anything less could drop the Irish out of the Top 25 and damage the team’s confidence heading into a key stretch against Arkansas, Boise State, North Carolina State and USC.

Game: No. 8 Illinois at No. 17 Indiana

The winner in this contrast of styles will have a huge advantage in the playoff race. For Illinois, the Hoosiers join an October home game against the Buckeyes as the two most important games on this year’s schedule. You can make the case that Saturday is even more vital for Indiana, which also has road trips to No. 2 Penn State and No. 5 Oregon; the Hoosiers have to win at least one of these three games, if not two of three.

Crucially, this head-to-head result will give the winner an enormous advantage with the selection committee should these two teams be in contention for an at-large playoff bid.

The Hoosiers remain somewhat of an enigma after beating Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State. Illinois’ credibility was boasted by a 45-19 win at Duke. Look for the Illini to hammer away on the ground against an Indiana run defense that gave up 218 yards on 9.5 yards per carry against Old Dominion, though the Hoosiers rebounded to allow just 128 yards in their past two games.

Coach: Hugh Freeze, Auburn

Taking the must-win season opener at Baylor dramatically improved Auburn’s postseason hopes after falling short of bowl eligibility last season. After beating Ball State and South Alabama, the Tigers are 3-0 for just the second time in the past six seasons, giving Freeze just a little more room to breathe after a tumultuous offseason. There are still some warning signs amid the unbeaten start, though,

The running game has been very good: Auburn is averaging 242 yards per game on 5.8 yards per carry. Oklahoma quarterback transfer Jackson Arnold has protected the football while averaging 7.3 yards per throw with 192 yards and four scores on the ground. But the Tigers’ special teams have been subpar and the defense has struggled, giving up 419 passing yards to Baylor and allowing several explosive gains in Saturday’s win against South Alabama.

The defense will be tested by John Mateer and the Sooners. This is a key matchup and a potential tipping point for the Freeze era given what’s ahead: Auburn will take on four ranked teams in a row in the Sooners, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 3 Georgia and No. 23 Missouri. A win on Saturday will change the complexion of the season and go a long way toward getting Freeze back in Auburn’s good graces.

Quarterback: Devon Dampier, Utah

No. 18 Utah’s offensive reboot this offseason included a new quarterback, Dampier, and new coordinator, Jason Beck, both from New Mexico. In that way, the Utes mirrored what No. 23 Vanderbilt did before last season, when the Commodores brought in quarterback Diego Pavia and multiple offensive coaches from New Mexico State. Oklahoma did the same heading into this year with Mateer and former Washington State coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

The changes have turned the Utes back into a national contender. Utah ranks 15th nationally in yards per game and fourth in rushing yards, with Dampier accounting for 628 passing yards, 198 yards on the ground and eight scores.

But UCLA and Wyoming are much easier tests than No. 16 Texas Tech, which has cruised past Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kent State and Oregon State. The Red Raiders have the largest point differential (139 points) in the country.

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was honored as the team’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.
Lindor’s wife, Katia, a classically trained violinist, performed the national anthem before the game.
Wearing Roberto Clemente’s No. 21, Lindor hit a home run in the second inning.

It was a memorable night all the way around for New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and his family.

On the field before their Sept. 16 game against the San Diego Padres, the Mets honored Lindor as their nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award. It marked the third consecutive year Lindor has been nominated for the award, which goes to the player who ‘best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.’

Lindor and his wife Katia have been actively involved in education programs, hurricane relief and environmental initiatives and just recently created a new charitable foundation.

To make the evening even more special, Katia Lindor, a classically trained violinist, performed the national anthem before the game – as the beaming shortstop watched alongside their three children.

That, in itself, would have been enough to make the evening special for the Lindors. But there was still a game to play.

Rising to the occasion and wearing Clemente’s No. 21 (instead of his usual No. 12), Lindor came to bat in the second inning of a crucial game in the thick of the playoff chase … and provided the exclamation point.

The Mets went on to an 8-3 victory over the Padres to keep them in position for the National League’s third wild-card playoff spot.

They’re four games behind second-place San Diego, and 1½ games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final playoff berth.

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