A Houdini Performance....

Well Saturday sure brought some surprises for rivalry weekend and some teams had to escape with Houdini-like performances. Some top-ranked teams just made it through with a W and there are a lot of sad people in Ohio today (but we’re not biased).

Let’s run through some scores before we look at today’s NFL schedule.

Rivalry Weekend

The Game

#2 Ohio State _^(11-1) 24 | #3 Michigan _^(12-0) 30

👀 Let’s chop this one up real quick. Michigan got a huge W in Ann Arbor yesterday and they didn’t have their head coach on the sideline. Sign-stealing or not, the Wolverines have had the Ohio State Buckeyes number the last 3 years.

👎️ Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day made an obvious statement at his presser when he was first hired. He said the priorities were "No. 1, win the rivalry game. And No. 2, win every game after that." He’s been doing the opposite. Day’s been doing the opposite as he’s been 1-3 against Michigan and 54-3 against everyone else.

🤡 Again, we’re not biased but Ryan Day has been a bit of a clown this year. He was yelling at the camera about 86-year-old Lou Holtz when Ohio State beat Notre Dame and he can’t even beat Harbaugh when Harbaugh isn’t even in the stadium.

👉️ In all seriousness, THE GAME was another that will go down in history. Michigan made some good 2nd half adjustments and used their powerful run game to take a big chunk off of the clock during the 2nd half. Ohio State had two costly mistakes with Kyle McCord throwing a pick early and a pick late to effectively end the game. McCord did make some impressive throws to receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (5 rec, 118 yards, 1 TD), but it was just too little too late.

Iron Bowl

#8 Alabama _^(11-1) 27 | Auburn _^(6-6) 24

👉️ You can’t have an Iron Bowl without a wild ending. Saturday’s game brought just that. Throw out the records, they really don’t matter. It looked as if Auburn was about to pull off an epic upset and ruin Alabama’s season as they were up 24-21 with 5 minutes left and Auburn muffed a punt return when Koy Moore slipped as he was catching it. Bama got the ball back and it looked like Auburn made the key stop they needed.

⌛️ Auburn had Bama on their heels. Just over 40 seconds left with a 4th and goal from the 31-yard line and Auburn only rushing three, Jalen Milroe drooped back and had 10 seconds to throw. Milroe somehow threw a dime to Isaiah Bond and he caught it in the corner of the endzone. UNBELIEVABLE

Washington State _^(5-7) 21 | Washington _^(12-0) 24

🏈There was an epic battle in the Pacific Northwest and Washington took some risks to get the W.

👀With the game tied 21-21, on a 4 &1 with 67 seconds left, Washington had drawn up a wild play that would have given the ball back to Washington State in field goal territory if it wasn’t executed properly. Well, with one fake dive and a toss with Michael Penix Jr. lead blocking, Rome Odunze converted the 4th and 1 and got 22 extra yards.

🔼Expect to see Washington at #3 in the rankings. It’s time to go Duck hunting.

Florida State Survives

#5 Florida State _^(12-0) 24 | Florida Gators _^(5-7) 15

👉️ It was another down-to-the-wire game in Gainesville and it looked like the Gators were going to pull out an upset. The Florida Gators were all over the FSU offense and newly starting QB Tate Rodemaker in the first half. The FSU defense didn’t take a break all game either as they hounded Gators’ backup QB Max Brown. FSU sacked Brown 6 times and Jared Verse had 2.5 on his own

🏃 The Florida State offense has Trey Benson to thank for the win after he ran for 95 yards and 3 TDs on on 19 carries.

⏩️ FSU isn’t really seen as a competitor for a National Championship now that Jordan Travis is out for the season but if they beat Louisville in the ACC Championship next week, there’s no doubt that they deserve a seat at the table.

Louisville Doesn’t Survive

Kentucky _^(7-5) 38 | #9 Louisville _^(10-2) 31

🏈 Louisville was looking to keep their CFP hopes alive even though it would be a stretch for them to get in. If Louisville could win yesterday and beat FSU in the ACC Championship, mix in a few other crazy scenarios, there could be some possibility that Louisville could sneak into the CFP. That’s no longer the case.

👉️ Louisville was facing their rivals from just an hour away and it was clear that this Kentucky team was better than their record showed. Kentucky put up a strong final 20 minutes scoring 31 points after just 7 in the first half to get the W.

👀 Louisville can still win the ACC next week and spoil Florida State’s season, which is a nice victory for any team at the end of a long season.

NFL Sunday

That’s enough college ball, let’s jump to the NFL and check out a few key matchups today.

First off, check out all the NFL matchups today, right here.

Here are some of our favorite matchups and bets for today.

Jacksonville @ Houston

📺️ 1 pm ET on CBS

💰️ Jacksonville is the favorite at -1 and the O/U is 45.5. We like Jacksonville ATS here.

👉️ Here’s why we like Jacksonville. It seems like Trevor Lawrence is healthy and the offense is looking pretty good now. The Jags are a better team than many of the teams the Texans faced early in the season and when these two teams met at the beginning of the season, Texas won even though the Jags outgained them. I think Jacksonville will win by at least a field goal here.

Cleveland @ Denver

📺️ 4:05 pm ET on FOX

💰️ Denver is the favorite at -2 and the O/U is 37.5. We like Denver ATS.

👉️ Taking Denver against the spread seems a little crazy this year but I’ll take the better QB and coach in this matchup. Plus, the defense will need to chase Russell Wilson around at altitude and Russ is starting to get his feet warm again. If you don’t like the spread the money line is at a pretty decent price at -125 for the Broncos right now

Buffalo @ Philadelphia

📺️ 4:25 pm ET on CBS

💰️ Philly is the favorite at -3. This actually opened around -4.5, which I thought was too much. We’ll still take Buffalo at +3 here. The O/U is 48.5

👉️ The Bills had a resurgence last week against a good Jets defense and the Eagles battled it out and got a win over the Chiefs. I actually think the Bills could go in a win in Philadelphia if Josh Allen can limit turnovers. The Bills run game is looking good and there might be some rain today. I also think the Eagles are winning games they statistically shouldn’t and it’s going to catch up to them this week.

Baltimore @ LA Chargers

📺️ 8:20 pm ET on NBC

💰️ Baltimore is the favorite at -4 and the O/U is 48.5

👉️ If you’re watching Sunday Night Football, you might as well make a bet. We like the Ravens ATS the spread. This is a weak Chargers defense and they’ve been getting torched every week. I’d like to think the Chargers are going to get a home win after losing too many close ones recently, but this ain’t the week. The Ravens are going to run all over them and get some big plays on play-action.

That’s all for today. Enjoy the games and remember…

Don’t let your Mondays ruin your Sundays!

-The Daily Breakroom