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🐻 Five things to know Friday

1. Caleb Williams outdueled Drake Maye on "Thursday Night Football." The Bears quarterback was the first of the two selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he one-upped the Patriots signal-caller again in the Bears' 30-24 win over the Patriots. Both former first-rounders put up big individual numbers in the first game of Week 7, but Williams was cleaner and more explosive, and he got a lift from his kicker, Cairo Santos, who drilled a career-long 58-yard field goal to ice the game in the closing minutes. One small knock against Williams (or perhaps Ben Johnson for designing the play): A rare illegal forward handoff. That's a penalty you don't see every day.
2. The World Series begins tonight -- with a twist. The Brewers will throw Jacob Misiorowski in Game 1, because why wouldn't they? The Rays, on the other hand, announced a surprising choice with their series-opening starter. The front of their rotation might give them a slight edge over Milwaukee and is a major reason why they could win their first championship, but it will instead be Nick Martinez on the bump tonight. Meanwhile, at the plate, watch for Junior Caminero and Jackson Chourio to make key impacts as they emerge as superstars on the sport's biggest stage. This is just the sixth World Series between No. 1 seeds in the Wild Card Era, and the Rays will be hoping it goes differently than the last time they were involved in one of these matchups.
3. Three days in, the NBA season is already a soap opera. If there is one thing the NBA does well, it's drama. That usually manifests through buzzer-beaters and overtimes, but it also often comes from trash talk and questionable calls. Look no further than Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg saying he "lost all respect" for Luka Dončić in his professional debut or Heat reserve Myron Gardner fueling Anthony Edwards' 45-point outburst with some spirited chatter from the bench. Then there's Clippers coach Ty Lue, who dedicated his season-opening win to Steve Ballmer amid his suspension. And on a far more feel-good note, Tyrese Haliburton, who was in tears following his first game back from his Achilles tear. We're even drumming up some drama of our own by overreacting to the first few games of the year.
4. Alexander Volkanovski has a shot at history at UFC 333. If the 38-year-old defeats Movsar Evloev in Saturday's main event, he would surpass the legendary Jose Aldo for the most UFC featherweight title wins with nine and match his 145-pound title defense record of seven. Whether he can and whether he will are two different questions. This bout is a toss-up, and we're projecting it to go the distance. See who Brent Brookhouse thinks has the edge, then watch it Saturday on Paramount+. Early prelims start at 10 a.m. ET.
5. Patrick Mahomes is among Week 7's toughest fantasy football start-or-sit calls. A tough road test against the Seahawks will do that. Our Dave Richard leans toward sitting Mahomes and foresees a bunch of short passes against a stingy defense. His decisions for every fantasy-relevant player are in, and while the Chiefs quarterback is on his bench, Braelon Allen and Woody Marks get the nod as starters. We're also keeping our eyes on a few injury situations. If you play in a PPR league, the Week 7 Cheat Sheet will help you make your own decisions for every player on your roster.

⭐ Do not miss this: College basketball's Top 100 And 1 players

An offseason of high spending and eligibility battles made this roster construction cycle easily the most chaotic in college basketball history. Power Five rosters cost, on average, more than $10 million as the result of an NIL and revenue-sharing arms race. Are the players really worth it? A lot of them will prove to be.

It is, of course, no coincidence that the most expensive rosters are also some of the most talented. Look at Duke and Florida, which boast five players inside the preseason Top 100 And 1 rankings. That's more than anyone else. The best of that bunch? Gators small forward Thomas Haugh, who our Matt Norlander says is a big reason why Florida could be the first team in 18 years to open the season ranked No. 1 and win the national championship.

• Norlander: "Haugh averaged 17.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his junior season. He turned down being a likely top-20 pick in order to come back as college basketball's most well-compensated player. He's got infectious on-floor energy, a great toughness streak, a terrific second jump and the ability to draw fouls at a high clip. Now we wait to see if he'll add a Takeover Mode to his game."

As for Duke, here is where each of its top five standouts landed in our preseason player rankings:

11. Senior SG John Blackwell
19. Freshman PF Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje
25. Junior C Patrick Ngongba II
51. Sophomore W Dame Sarr
90. Sophomore PG Cayden Boozer

☑️ College football Week 8 picks

The stretch run of the 2026 college football season is here. The second half of the campaign kicks off with only a couple of premier matchups, but even the lighter slates carry CFP implications this deep into the year. There are resume-building opportunities in the Big 12 and SEC, where the numbers tell us Houston, Ole Miss and Texas each account for one of the 14 best playoff cases in the nation.

Notice the one team absent from that list? Utah is the No. 10 team in the country and a 6.5-point favorite over Houston, but its resume is lacking, and that factors into why we have the Utes on upset alert.

Our Tom Fornelli is also on the under in the Utes vs. Cougars matchup, as he detailed in his weekly Six Pack of picks.

• Fornelli: "This game has the potential to be a late-night banger, as two of the Big 12's best will be going at it. Both of these offenses have gotten off to incredible starts to the season, but my read on this game has me fading them both a little. … It's a bit scary to bet against both of these offenses, but I believe they'll struggle more than we've seen so far, and 56.5 is a pretty critical number. The Pick: Under 56.5 (-104) at FanDuel"

We also have picks for all the other big games on the Week 8 slate:

• No. 18 LSU at Auburn
• No. 6 Indiana at Michigan
• No. 16 USC at Wisconsin
• Texas A&M at No. 13 Alabama
• Michigan State at No. 9 UCLA

🚨 NFL Week 7 upset alert

The 49ers have to lose eventually, right? The NFL's only 6-0 team could not be more injury-riddled if they tried -- actually, don't put it past them -- and they're going on the road this week to play against one of the more dangerous two-win teams in existence: The Falcons. San Francisco is the favorite in this spot, but should it be? We have the 'Niners on upset alert, and even though Jordan Dajani and Jared Dubin both like them to win straight up, Dajani is not fully convinced.

• Dajani: "I'm thinking about backing the Falcons in this spot. The 49ers had an emotional victory over the Seahawks in Week 5 and are now on a short week after Monday night's win against the Commanders. It looked like we were in for a blowout after the 49ers went up 23-3, but Washington then outscored San Francisco, 14-0, while outgaining the 49ers 201 yards to 7 yards. That was ... interesting to see."

And what about the Broncos? Can they really keep getting away with it? Bo Nix has passed for 200 or more yards only twice; they haven't had a running back carry the ball for more than 68 yards in a game, yet they stand at 4-2 with wins over a trio of Super Bowl hopefuls.

The offensive woes might finally catch up to Denver as a 4.5-point favorite on the road against the Cardinals. That's why our Tyler Sullivan would not be surprised if Nix ends up on the bench.

• Sullivan: "The Cardinals defense just stifled Matthew Stafford and the Rams last week, holding them to 16 points in an upset win at SoFi Stadium. If Arizona puts together a similar performance and they take advantage of some of Nix's riskier throws, another upset could be brewing, and if things get out of hand, it wouldn't be stunning to see Nix finish this game on the bench."

👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

• CBS Sports signed JJ Watt to a multi-year agreement to remain the lead analyst for the NFL on CBS.
• Should the Vikings trade for Justin Herbert? What would it take for a team to acquire Saquon Barkley? What could the Colts get in return for DeForest Buckner? Which receivers should the Rams target? Who should the Cowboys go after? We have all the answers.
• University of Miami president Joe Echevarria sounds ready to leave the ACC.
• Angel Reese has a superpower, and it's the reason why the Dream are two wins away from a WNBA title.
• Here's everything you need to know about the MLB lockout, which is almost certainly in our future.
• Which college football coach will be fired next? Here are the updated hot seat tiers.
• The Chiefs and 49ers are the two Super Bowl favorites and might be on a collision course for a third meeting, but these teams could stop them.
• Utah suspended defensive tackle Jamal Wallace following his arrest on suspicion of distributing intimate images and a rape accusation.
• The NFL hit Mike Vrabel, Nick Sirianni and Aaron Glenn with near-record fines for their conduct toward officials.
• In honor of Caleb Williams and Drake Maye going head-to-head last night, we re-drafted the top 10 of the 2024 NFL Draft.
• BYU broke the grading scale on our Big 12 midseason report card.
• Brian Schottenheimer issued a challenge to George Pickens as the Cowboys seek answers on offense.
• The Paris protests forced the Steelers to cancel a fan event ahead of Sunday's game at State de France.
• Manchester United plummeted a quarter of the way down our UEFA Champions League Power Rankings.

📺 What we're watching this weekend

Friday

⚽ Gladbach at VfB Stuttgart, 2:30 p.m. on Peacock

🏀 Knicks at Celtics, 7 p.m. on Prime Video

🏈 UMass at UConn, 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network

🏈 Duke at Virginia, 7 p.m. on ESPN

⚾ Game 1: Rays at Brewers, 8 p.m. on Fox

🏒 Canadiens at Blackhawks, 8 p.m. on NHL Network

🤼 WWE SmackDown, 8 p.m. on USA Network

🏈 Army at Tulsa, 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2

🏈 Air Force at Wyoming, 9 p.m. on The CW

🏀 Rockets at Spurs (in Austin), 9:30 p.m. on Prime Video

⚽ Courage at Thorns, 10 p.m. on Prime Video

🏈 NC State at Stanford, 10:30 p.m. on ESPN

Saturday

⚽ Manchester City at Aston Villa, 7:30 a.m. on USA Network

⚽ Sassuolo at Como, 9 a.m. on Paramount+

🤼 UFC 333: Volkanovski vs. Evloev, 10 a.m. on Paramount+

⚽ Everton at Arsenal, 10 a.m. on USA Network

⚽ Troyes at Toulouse, 11:15 a.m. on beIN Sports

⚽ Tottenham Hotspur at Chelsea, 12:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network

🏈 California at No. 23 SMU, noon on The CW

🏈 No. 6 Indiana at Michigan, noon on Fox

🏈 No. 18 LSU at Auburn, noon on ABC

🏈 Pittsburgh at No. 1 Miami, noon on ESPN

🏈 Rutgers at No. 24 Northwestern, noon on NBC Sports Network

🏈 No. 8 Texas Tech at Cincinnati, noon on FS1

🐂 PBR Team Series Games of the Week, 1 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+

🏀 Game 4: Valkyries at Dream, 1 p.m. on NBC

🏒 Ducks at Flyers, 1 p.m. on NHL Network

⚽ Montreal at Nashville, 1:30 p.m. on Apple TV

🥊 WBC junior welterweight title: Smith vs. Puello, 2 p.m. on DAZN

⚽ Crew at Toronto, 2:30 p.m. on Apple TV

⚽ RC Deportivo at Atlético Madrid, 3 p.m. on ESPN+

🏈 No. 2 BYU at UCF, 3:30 p.m. on Fox

🏈 No. 15 Iowa at Minnesota, 3:30 p.m. on FS1

🏈 Michigan State at No. 9 UCLA, 3:30 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+

🏈 No. 11 Tennessee at South Carolina, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN

🏈 Texas A&M at No. 13 Alabama, 3:30 p.m. on ABC

⚽ Red Bulls at Inter Miami, 4:30 p.m. on Apple TV

🏈 No. 21 Boise State at Washington State, 6 p.m. on USA Network

⚽ Racing Louisville at Summit, 6:30 p.m. on Ion

🏒 Rangers at Senators, 7 p.m. on NHL Network

🏈 Iowa State at No. 25 Arizona, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2

🏈 No. 7 Ole Miss at No. 19 Texas, 7:30 p.m. on ABC

🏈 No. 16 USC at Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m. on NBC

🏈 Vanderbilt at No. 12 Kentucky, 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network

🏀 Bucks at 76ers, 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV

⚽ Revolution at Union, 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV

⚾ Game 2: Rays at Brewers, 8 p.m. on Fox

🥊 Unified junior lightweight title: Navarrete vs. Foster, 8 p.m. on DAZN

⚽ Earthquakes at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. on Apple TV

⚽ Bay at Angel City, 8:45 p.m. on Ion

⚽ Whitecaps at Rapids, 9:30 p.m. on Apple TV

🏀 Warriors at Suns, 10 p.m. on NBA TV

🏈 No. 14 Houston at No. 10 Utah, 10:15 p.m. on ESPN

⚽ Charlotte at Timbers, 10:30 p.m. on Apple TV

Sunday

⚽ Fiorentina at Inter Milan, 7:30 a.m. on CBS Sports Network/Paramount+

⚽ Getafe at Athletic Club, 9 a.m. on ESPN+

🏈 Steelers at Saints (in Paris), 9:30 a.m. on NFL Network

⚽ Brighton & Hove Albion at Liverpool, 10 a.m. on Peacock

⚽ Real Betis at Celta Vigo, 11:15 a.m. on ESPN+

⚽ Bayern Munich at SC Freiburg, 12:30 p.m. on Peacock

🏈 Bengals at Ravens, 1 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+

🏈 49ers at Falcons, 1 p.m. on Fox

🏁 NASCAR at Talladega, 2 p.m. on NBC

⚽ Gotham at Pride, 3 p.m. on CBS Sports Network

⚽ Real Madrid at Barcelona, 4 p.m. on ABC

🏈 Broncos at Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+

🏈 Packers at Lions, 4:25 p.m. on Fox

⚽ Spirit at Current, 5 p.m. on ESPN

🏀 Raptors at Timberwolves, 7 p.m. on NBA TV

🏒 Canadiens at Jets, 7 p.m. on TNT

⚽ Legacy at Wave, 7 p.m. on Roku

🏈 Chiefs at Seahawks, 8:20 p.m. on NBC

⚽ Galaxy at LAFC, 9 p.m. on Apple TV