IS HE CAMPAIGNING OR JUST ATTENDING President Trump will not be ESPN’s celebrity guest picker for “College GameDay” on Saturday. That honor goes to Johnny Nashville. But the Big Orange will still have a big presence in Knoxville. Trump will be on hand for Saturday’s game between No. 1 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. It will be President Trump’s first college football game of the season. President Trump has attended multiple national title games and a couple of big regular-season games. While fans can expect longer security lines and a larger police presence on Saturday, Texas and Tennessee’s players and coaches will be affected, too. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian admitted on Thursday that whenever President Trump changes locations on Saturday, all communication inside the stadium will be cut off. That means that players and coaches will have to prepare for signal calling. “Anytime the President changes locations within the stadium, they cut all communication. They cut your headsets for coach-to-player communication. So you have to plan for that,” Sarkisian said. Sarkisian was an assistant coach at Alabama when President Trump attended a game between the Crimson Tide and LSU, so he knows the routine. The real question is, will he be there to watch football or talk politics? #Longhorns #Vols #Trump #PlaybookSports

FOUR ALARM FIRE There’s nothing quite like a poker player down to his last chip, shoving it into the middle and praying the cards finally fall his way. Most times, the chip disappears and the dream dies with it. But until the river card lands, hope remains. Welcome to Atlanta, where the Falcons are already all-in after only two weeks. Michael Penix Jr. will become Atlanta’s fourth named quarterback of the young season when he starts Thursday night against Green Bay. Yes, fourth. While most teams are still shaking off their preseason rust, the Falcons are rummaging through the quarterback room like a desperate bettor searching his pockets for cab fare. This disaster began gradually, then arrived suddenly. Atlanta handed Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180 million contract in March 2024, was fined $250,000 for tampering, then drafted Penix only weeks later without warning Cousins. Nothing says organizational harmony quite like buying a mansion and immediately shopping for another house. Since then, Cousins and Penix have bounced in and out of the lineup amid injuries and ineffectiveness. Penix has been sidelined since tearing his ACL last November. Tua Tagovailoa arrived on a bargain prove-it deal, earned the Week 1 job, then suffered an oblique injury before taking a regular-season snap. Cooper Rush produced as many red-zone possessions as the average season-ticket holder. Then Jack Strand entered Sunday’s rout against Carolina and threw a pick-six on his first NFL play. The last Falcon to accomplish that trick was Brett Favre. He didn’t remain in Atlanta very long, either. Not after he tossed a 'pick-six' on his very first pass with Atlanta. John Madden once said that when you have two quarterbacks, you have none. The Falcons apparently wondered what happens when you have four. The cruelest part is that the rest of the roster looks playoff-ready. Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts provide plenty of horsepower. Unfortunately, a Ferrari body doesn’t help when there’s a lawnmower engine under the hood. Atlanta hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2017, despite operating in the accommodating NFC South. Now Penix gets one final audition. Play brilliantly, and he might rescue the franchise. Collapse and Atlanta can join the 2027 quarterback lottery. The real danger lies somewhere in between: winning enough games to miss the playoffs while losing enough draft position to miss Arch Manning, Dante Moore, or the next fast-rising prospect. Either way, the Falcons have pushed their last chip forward. Thursday night, the cards turn over. #NFL #Falcons #PlaybookSports

BELOW THE MENDOZA LINE: Where have all the winners gone? Does anyone want to win the AL West? With five games left in the season, that remains unclear, as the Rangers and Astros are tied for first at 78-79. Whichever one ends up on top could become the worst division winner in MLB history, a title currently held by the 2005 Padres (82-80). Consider this: Neither team has been more than three games over .500 all season (Houston peaked at 6-3 in April; Texas peaked at 55-52 in July), and both would be tied for the ninth-best record in the NL right now. Instead, one of them will be hosting a playoff series next week. Sheesh. #MLB #ALWest #PlaybookSports

THROWING DARTS From today's Coffee Club at PlaybookSports.com The knee told a different story. You just knew the other shoe was going to drop. Monday night in Los Angeles, Jaxson Dart’s left knee met Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart. First diagnosis: MCL sprain, a few weeks. Tuesday’s imaging told a different story. Season-ending surgery is now on the table. The Giants are in the quarterback market whether they like it or not. Jameis Winston is the starter for now. Experience in Matt Nagy’s system is the selling point. Dual-threat juice is not. Dart’s rookie year was 2,272 passing yards, 487 on the ground, 24 total scores. You don’t replace that overnight with a pocket passer who prefers to stay in the pocket. Enter the whisper. Gary Myers floated Minnesota’s third-stringer J.J. McCarthy. Joe Schoen already kicked the tires in 2024 before taking Malik Nabers sixth overall. McCarthy helped Jim Harbaugh win a national title in 2023. John Harbaugh is now on the sideline in East Rutherford. The brothers have a habit of circling back to players they already know. Cost? A mid-round pick, give or take. Low-risk. McCarthy is 23, a few months older than Dart. Minnesota soured on him. New York could plug him into the same RPO package Dart was running—the one that doesn't fit Winston—and see if the kid can rebuild his stock. Play well, and he’s a trade chip next spring or Dart’s backup. Play poorly, and you spent a fourth or fifth. The catch is obvious. McCarthy still has to learn Nagy’s playbook. Winston already speaks the language. Time is not a luxury in September. Harbaugh did not come to New York to stand pat. If Dart is done, the G-Men can sit on Winston and hope the offense doesn’t stall, or they can make the small swing on a quarterback the new coach already likes. Sometimes the cheapest chip is the one that still has some life left. #NFL #NewYorkGiants #PlaybookSports

SHOUGH IT OFF: It was mighty refreshing to see New Orleans take Baltimore down in outright fashion on Sunday’s NFL card. I’ve been on the Saints bandwagon since they inserted Tyler Shough as their starting quarterback in the second half of last season. A second-round draft pick by the Saints last season, Shough was schooled at Louisville, Texas Tech, and Oregon. He’s been flying under the radar since becoming the starter last November, going 6-5 SU and 9-2 ATS with 14 TDs and 7 INTs and a QB Rating of 95.8, with a 7-1 ATS dog log. Rest assured, it won’t be the last time he’ll be on our ticket. #NFL #Saints #TylerShough #PlaybookSPorts

ONCE A SH-T, ALWAYS A SH-T For Arch Manning and Holly Rowe, the little controversy between them ended about two days ago. But for onlookers such as Linda Cohn, it remains something to analyze and parties to assess for damages. On her latest podcast, Cohn said Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian owns some responsibility for the situation Manning found himself in earlier this week. She pointed out that Sarkisian’s impatience with Rowe during that now-infamous on-field interview started the whole thing. “Here’s the irony I just can’t get past: the 22-year-old quarterback Arch Manning has now publicly acknowledged his mistake; the reporter who posted the exchange has acknowledged his mistake; maybe the head coach should acknowledge his part in the original moment too,” Cohn said. “When you’re Steve Sarkisian, you’re not just coaching football, no, you’re setting an example for all those young men watching you, including Arch Manning. And if you are going to demand patience, demand accountability, and maturity from your players, you have to show those things yourself, especially when you’re frustrated. “Arch Manning apologized, and he should have, but maybe the biggest lesson in this entire ridiculous circus isn’t for the 22-year-old Arch Manning. It’s for all the adults in the room. For Arch, he won’t and shouldn’t be defined by this. But I can’t help but think he never would have been in this position if his head coach just did the right thing, not run off like someone was chasing him and run away from your responsibility, but instead say, ‘Hey, Holly, I’m sorry about the technical issues that you’re going through. I can’t wait. I want to really go celebrate with my team, and then walk away.” Really. Would it have been that hard, Sark? Act like you’ve been there before. #SteveSarkisian #ArchManning #HollyRowe #PlaybookSports

CIRCLED IN LIPSTICK Hey, did you hear Lane Kiffin is returning to Ole Miss this weekend? Of course you did. College football’s biggest September showdown arrives dripping with drama as Kiffin brings unbeaten LSU into Oxford to face his unbeaten former team. The loser won’t be eliminated from the College Football Playoff chase, but its road to the SEC Championship Game will suddenly become considerably steeper. And then there’s the delicious irony surrounding Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Shortly after taking the LSU job, Kiffin quietly connected attorney Tom Mars with Chambliss’ family and agent as they fought the NCAA for another year of eligibility. When the waiver was denied, the battle moved into a rural Mississippi courtroom, where an emotional judge barred the NCAA from enforcing its ruling and restored Chambliss’ eligibility. Seven months later, Chambliss has emerged as a Heisman Trophy contender—and the centerpiece of one of the most anticipated regular-season games in SEC history. That means LSU’s head coach played a role in keeping Ole Miss’ star quarterback eligible to play against him. Naturally, folks in Oxford insist Kiffin’s intentions weren’t entirely charitable. “His sole motivation was to get him eligible and bring him to Baton Rouge,” said one person familiar with Kiffin’s recruiting efforts. Instead, Chambliss stayed in Oxford, while Kiffin returned wearing purple and gold as the most despised man in town. The animosity is real, the stakes are enormous, and the storylines are thick enough to cut with a knife. The Rebels circled this game in lipstick immediately after Kiffin bolted for LSU. Former Kiffin associate Walker Jones may have captured it best: “Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same. He’s been a chaser and always will be.” Now the chase leads straight back to Oxford. And this time, Kiffin may have helped arm the quarterback waiting to ambush him. #LSU #OleMiss #SEC #PlaybookSports

DRILLING DOWN Week Three of the college football season is no small matter for clubs sitting pretty at 2-0. One more win and they’re halfway home to a bowl. That third victory, however, is rarely served on a silver platter. Let me explain, if I may. Since 1980, 1,740 FBS teams that opened 2-0 have stepped into a lined Game Three. Of those, 645 — a tidy 37% — absorbed their first loss of the year right then and there. Drill a little deeper. When those same 2-0 outfits covered the number in each of their first two starts, they beat the spread only 45% of the time in Game Three. Put them on the road and the number sags to 70-100 ATS, a chilly 41%. Park those same clubs on the conference road and the picture turns colder still: 20-43 ATS, including a brutal 1-10 against the number in the last eleven such games. That should give Mississippi State pause this week. SEC #MississippiState #NCAAfootball #PlaybookSports

WHAT ARE THE ODDS? When the Chiefs routed the Broncos 31-10 on Monday night behind a huge game from offseason addition Kenneth Walker (23 carries, 173 yds, TD; 3 receptions, 18 yds, TD), it put a bow on the opening week of the NFL season — and completed a truly unbelievable stat. Per Yahoo! Sports, every Week One game had a different margin of victory, making this the first 16-game week in NFL history with 16 unique point differentials. Every single one. 1 point: Lions 31, Saints 30 2 points: Eagles 24, Commanders 22 3 points: Seahawks 13, Patriots 10 5 points: Bills 36, Texans 31 6 points: Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27 7 points: Steelers 20, Falcons 13 8 points: Giants 28, Cowboys 20 12 points: Cardinals 26, Chargers 14 13 points: Jets 23, Titans 10 14 points: Raiders 27, Dolphins 13 17 points: Vikings 39, Packers 22 18 points: Ravens 41, Colts 23 20 points: 49ers 27, Rams 7 21 points: Chiefs 31, Broncos 10 22 points: Bears 59, Panthers 37 24 points: Jaguars 34, Browns 10 What are the odds of an occurrence like this happening? 430-1. #NFL #PlaybookSports

CAN'T DIGG IT You can call it a costly case of premature celebration. Stefon Diggs’ touchdown didn't guarantee Washington would tie the game, but his excessive-celebration penalty backed the Commanders up 15 yards and made the task much tougher. In a game decided by inches, Diggs handed Philadelphia 45 feet of breathing room. Washington signed Diggs to a one-year, $12 million contract last month to juice up its receiving corps. He arrived after producing 1,013 yards and four touchdowns with New England last season, making the Commanders his fourth team in four years. His touchdown was his third reception of the game—and then, after he ran not the goalpost and started to hump it, came the flag for excessive celebration. Philadelphia wasted no time applying the punishment. The Eagles immediately answered with a 43-yard touchdown strike to tight end Dallas Goedert, reclaiming control and reducing Washington’s late rally to desperation mode. The Commanders still refused to fold. Jayden Daniels marched them back into scoring position and found Antonio Williams for a touchdown inside the two-minute warning, cutting the deficit to two points. One conversion separated Washington from overtime. No dice. Daniels dumped the ball to John Bates, but the Eagles stopped him short and slammed the door. You can't pin the loss entirely on Diggs. Philadelphia’s defense made the decisive play, and Washington still had opportunities to change the outcome. But if Diggs had kept the celebration under wraps, the final minutes might have unfolded very differently. The lesson? When chasing the defending champions, act like you’ve been there before—especially when the game is still very much alive. #NFL #Commanders #Eagles #Diggs #PlabookSports

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN First-year Giants coach John Harbaugh said it out loud in May. He would build a team good enough to kick the Cowboys’ ass. Sunday night at MetLife, he cashed the check. New York 28, Dallas 20. First win on the new job. The building was loud. The rivals were not amused. Second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart ran the show. Three touchdown passes, two of them to offseason addition Isaiah Likely. That’s the second three-score night of Dart’s young career. The kid is not shrinking from the moment. We learned something else. Harbaugh’s Giants will put a professional, highly functional product on the field. Unlike too many New York teams since that last Super Bowl in February 2012, this one looks prepared nearly every time they walk out. It was not clean. Four fumbles, one lost. Fifty-seven yards of pass interference that gifted Dallas a second-quarter touchdown drive. Still, they kept playing with passion and belief against a Cowboys club sold as a Super Bowl contender. They punched the ball out of Dak Prescott’s hands before the half with a brutal interception and never looked back. So much for the Cowboys' dominant 16-2 series record. John Harbaugh is in town, and his playbook is hard to deny. #NFL #Giants #JohnHarbaugh #PlaybookSports

UNDER CONTROL Compliments of Victor King's Playbook NFL Totals Tipsheet, the only weekly newsletter devoted exclusively to NFL Over/Unders: Broncos: 1-8 UNDER on Mondays, 1-6 UNDER Game One Chiefs: 0-9 UNDER division home games, 0-6 UNDER in this series We'll file this UNDER, as a competitive divisional series matchup between two good teams tends to play out that way more often than not. #NFL #CHIEFS #BRONCOS #PlaybookTotalsTipsheet

WE WILL NEVER FORGET Sports have always been the glue that holds a nation together. And when the country needs a few hours away from the wreckage, the games always show up right on time. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people and left a nation bruised and looking for something to hold onto, sports didn’t just play. They mattered. Here are three moments that helped stitch the country back together 25 years ago. • NEW YORK FOOTBALL, ON THE ROAD Paul Tagliabue did the only thing that made sense. He shut the league down that first weekend. When the Jets and Giants finally kicked it off, they were visitors. Both won. That’s not a footnote. That’s a statement. • PIAZZA GOES DEEP Ten days after the towers fell, the Mets came home to Shea. First sports game back in New York. Trailing the Braves 2-1 in the eighth, Mike Piazza steps in with a man on first and one out. Takes strike one. Then he unloads. The ball disappears into deep center. Mets 3-2. The place erupts like the city itself just exhaled. • BUSH ON THE MOUND Game 3 of the 2001 World Series. Yankees and Diamondbacks. First World Series game in New York after the attacks. President George W. Bush walks out wearing an FDNY jacket over a bulletproof vest. Takes the mound. Throws a strike, right down the pipe. No speech needed. The country got the message. Thank you, sports, for always being there. And thanks to all who were actually there, helping out at the Twin Towers, not twisting and bending the truth for political gain. You are the ones we are forever indebted to. #WeWillNeverForget #GeorgeBush #MikePiaza #PaulTaglibue

THE SEC PITCHED A NO-HITTER LAST WEEK The second AP poll of 2026 is out, and the voters didn’t just like the SEC’s opening week. They bought the whole catalog. Nine SEC clubs landed in the Top 25: Georgia (2), Texas (4), LSU (8), Ole Miss (9), Texas A&M (10), Oklahoma (11), Alabama (12), Tennessee (18), Missouri (23). Four more cashed votes: Florida (83), South Carolina (19), Auburn (2), Vanderbilt (2). The only ones left standing outside the vote tent were Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. All three still walked off Week 1 at 1-0, which is the only stat that pays on Saturday. That 16-0 league start? It's the first time the SEC has gone undefeated in Week 1 since 1997. Back then the conference had 12 teams. Now it’s 16. Same result. Different neighborhood. Meanwhile, Michigan, which opened the year at No. 16, got a Hail Mary and a second-chance tick from the officials against Western Michigan and still dropped to 69 votes. That’s 28th in the country, behind Boise State and Florida. The Wolverines host No. 11 Oklahoma next. Win that one and the voters will remember how to spell Ann Arbor. Lose it, and the drop continues. Leave the ego at the door. The poll is just a snapshot. The tape from Week 1 already told you who controlled the line of scrimmage and who needed help to get out of their own stadium. #SEC #PlaybookSports

BAKER'S AMMONIA The Buccaneers spent four straight years ruling the NFC South before tumbling to 8-9 and out of the playoffs last season. The offense remains in good hands with Baker Mayfield, who has quietly become one of the league's most reliable quarterbacks. He'll direct an attack featuring Chris Godwin, rising star Jalen McMillan, tight end Cade Otton, and dynamic running back Bucky Irving. If the offensive line holds up, Tampa’s offense can be potent. The bigger concern is on defense. Longtime leader Lavonte David is gone, leaving head coach Todd Bowles searching for new voices and playmakers. The Bucs are counting on an influx of youth, particularly along the front seven, to restore the unit's bite. The good news? The NFC South remains wide open, with no dominant team in sight. The bad news? Tampa no longer enjoys the margin for error it once had. The Playbook Bottom Line: Mayfield gives the Buccaneers a puncher's chance every week, but this team is no longer chasing championships. Instead, Tampa is fighting to prove its recent run atop the division was the beginning of something sustainable, not the end of something special. STAT YOU WILL LIKE: QB Baker Mayfield is 17-29-2 ATS as a favorite in his NFL career, including 0-7-1 ATS versus .600 or greater opponents #NFL #NFCSouth #Buccaneers #PlaybookSports

LSU's LOUSE OF A HEAD COACH Our message: Lane Kiffin “When all trees are cut down, When all the animals are dead, When all the waters are poisoned, When all the air is unsafe to breathe, Only then will you discover YOU CANNOT EAT MONEY.” #SEC #LSU #LaneKiffin #PlaybookSports

HAIL YES! Michigan’s new rallying cry is officially one for the ages: If one doesn’t get the job done, then two should do it. That’s precisely how the Kyle Whittingham era escaped disaster Saturday. Trailing mighty Western Michigan, 12-7, Bryce Underwood’s apparent final-play Hail Mary from the Broncos’ 47-yard line sailed harmlessly through the end zone. Game over. Upset complete. Not so fast. The zebras mysteriously restored one second to the clock, handing Michigan another swing at the piñata. This time, Underwood’s prayer was answered, transforming what would have been the greatest upset in Western Michigan history into a gut punch the Broncos will feel forever. Was Michigan caught looking ahead to this week’s revenge rematch with Oklahoma following last season’s double-digit loss? Or were the Wolverines simply that bad? The final numbers scream the latter: 19:52 of possession time, 3-for-10 on third down and nine penalties for 80 yards. It may also have marked the first time more than 100,000 fans stormed the field to celebrate a 28-point favorite surviving a MAC opponent that is now 1-42 all-time against AP-ranked teams. Call it miraculous. Call it controversial. Call it whatever you wish. One name comes to mind, and we'll leave it there... Doug Flutie; only he needed one try. #BigTenFootball #MACFootball #Michigan #WesternMichigan #DougFlutie

THE BEST IS YET TO COME The NFL Draft has twice produced a record six first-round quarterbacks—1983 and 2024. Could the Class of 2027 make it a lucky seven? It’s a tall order, but the talent pool looks deep, and the list of quarterback-needy teams could be even deeper. Here are the top 7 candidates preparing to crash the first-round party and perhaps establish a new NCAA record: 1. Arch Manning, Texas: The famous bloodline fuels the hype, but the talent validates it. Manning possesses better raw tools than uncles Peyton and Eli and enters the season as an early favorite to go No. 1 overall. Remember, he had the top QBR of all college quarterbacks from November on out last season. 2. Dante Moore, Oregon: Some scouts believed Moore could have been the second player selected this year. Instead, he returned for another season of polish while directing one of the nation’s leading championship contenders. Moore was a stat machine before arriving in college, passing for 9,880 yards and 135 touchdowns during his high school career—nearly seven TD passes for every interception. 3. Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State: After leading the FBS in passing yards and touchdowns at North Texas, Mestemaker followed head coach Eric Morris to Stillwater. The tools are raw, but the ceiling is first-round high. Here's the Hollywood script: Mestemaker was a backup quarterback, punter, and safety in high school and walked on at North Texas. 4. CJ Carr, Notre Dame: Carr flourished as a redshirt freshman, firing 24 touchdown passes against only six interceptions, which tied for the most by a Notre Dame quarterback through his first 12 career starts since Terry Hanratty in 1966. Now comes the heavier lifting after the Irish lost first-round running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, along with third-round targets Malachi Fields and Eli Raridon. The lineage is there: His Grandfather is former Wolverines national-championship coach Lloyd Carr. 5. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina: At 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, Sellers looks as if he were built in a quarterback laboratory. However, after entering last season as a possible No. 1 pick, his stock slipped. This fall offers a chance to reboot the computer. Sellers has already completed his coursework and will graduate in December. His only off-field assignment this fall is an internship at a local driving range. If he straightens out his game, his draft stock could land right down the middle of the first-round fairway. 6. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss: The former Division II star led the SEC with 3,937 passing yards and carried the Rebels into the CFP semifinals. Lane Kiffin may be gone, but Chambliss’ dual-threat talent remains impossible to ignore. Chambliss received no stars as a high-school recruit and became the first Ole Miss quarterback since Eli Manning in 2001 to pass for at least 250 yards in each of his first six starts. 7. Darian Mensah, Miami: Mensah led the ACC with 34 touchdown passes before transferring from Duke for a reported $6.5 million NIL package. With a stronger supporting cast in Coral Gables, he has a golden opportunity to turn that payday into a first-round ticket. Mensah once fired 211 consecutive passes without an interception, another Duke record. He led Duke to its first outright ACC championship since 1962, earning MVP honors in the game. He is the highest-paid athlete in the class of 2026. 8. Julian Sayin, Ohio State: Sayin finished fourth in the Heisman voting after tossing 32 touchdown passes and leading the nation with a sizzling 77% completion rate, the third-highest in FBS history, trailing only Bo Nix and Mac Jones, who each completed 77.4%. Now a team captain, he pilots a Buckeyes squad operating under championship-or-bust orders. Sayin's debut season brought a trophy haul: Heisman finalist, National Freshman of the Year, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and second-team All-American. #NCAATopRankedQBs #PlaybookSports

YOU'LL ACCOMPANY ME [ From an article that I authored in this week's PLAYBOOK Football Newsletter] "A gypsy wind is blowing warm tonight The sky is starlit and the time is right And still you're tellin' me you have to go Before you leave, there's something you should know Someday, lady, you'll accompany me Someday, lady, you'll accompany me." Venturing into the unknown requires resolve, a willingness to risk humiliation, and the smoldering belief that what your heart desires is worth pursuing. Few songs capture that feeling better than Bob Seger’s lively 1980 single, “You’ll Accomp’ny Me,” from Against the Wind—his 11th studio album and fourth with the Silver Bullet Band. Released in February 1980, Against the Wind became Seger’s only No. 1 album, spending six weeks atop the Billboard chart after knocking Pink Floyd’s The Wall from its perch. The message arrived without pomp or pretense: Someday, lady, you’ll accomp’ny me. College football operates on similar faith. Nothing fuels belief quite like a new head coach inheriting a team fresh from a 10-win season. The machinery is already humming. All he needs to do is keep his foot on the gas. And that leads us to this week’s discovery from the Well-Oiled Machine, which tells us to: _________________________ PLAY ON any FBS team at home in its season opener with a new head coach if it won 10 or more games the previous season. _________________________ That's because these energized hosts have gone 21-5 straight up and 17-9 ATS. Better yet, when they have won at least 18 of their previous 28 home games, they improve to a sparkling 16-2 straight up and 15-3 ATS since 2000. This week’s qualifying play is James Madison, where Billy Napier inherits a 12-win machine coming off the first College Football Playoff appearance in program history. Lady Luck will accompany every team at some point this season. The trick is knowing when she is most likely to appear. #PlaybookFootballNewsletter #PlaybookBlackBook #PlaybookSports

PLAYBOOK ADVANTAGE: Week One Coaches' Edge - Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is 56-12 in September, with only 3 losses by more than 7 points. He's also 5-1 ATS as a dog in September and 4-1 ATS with revenge in September. #ACC #ClemsonTigers #DaboSwwinney #PlaybookSports