NFL

• Colts sign G Quenton Nelson to four-year, $80M extension
  • Nelson is one of the league’s best players, so there’s nothing wrong with giving him a record-breaking deal for a guard. He’s a perfect fit in the Indianapolis offense, and will be for a very long time.
• Raiders sign TE Darren Waller to three-year, $51M extension
  • Waller is a really good player, but this is an overpay. The 29-year-old is now locked in with Las Vegas for five more seasons, and it’s unclear if Waller will be effective at all in years four and five of the deal. Regardless, despite being in a loaded division, the Raiders are in win-now mode, and clearly wanted to keep one of their best players happy. They may come to regret handing out this deal, though.

NCAAF

• Ohio State 45 Arkansas 12
  • This wasn’t the sharpest of victories, but at least the Buckeyes offense got back on track. The attack unit for Ohio State should be a nightmare for opposing defenses all year, especially when superstar receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba returns.
• Alabama 20 Texas 19
  • Alabama has a loaded and highly-regarded roster, but boy, most of the team didn’t get off the bus yesterday. Bryce Young will have a much tougher time this season than he did last year in terms of finding open receivers. The defense is still fine, as Will Anderson, the country’s top player, is still on the roster.
  • Texas isn’t back, but this game was a major step forward for Steve Sarkisian’s program. Unfortunately for the Longhorns, Quinn Ewers went down with what might’ve been a major injury in this contest, so Hudson Card may have to lead the way moving forward. The Longhorns probably won’t sleep well for awhile, as the team missed out on plenty of opportunities to win this game — both self-inflicted and due to bad calls. Next week’s game against UTSA feels like a potential letdown game.
• Miami 30 Southern Miss 7
  • This wasn’t a great performance by the Hurricanes. Tyler Van Dyke is a talented signal-caller, but he hasn’t gotten off to the best start in 2022. Miami has a lot to figure out ahead of next week’s trip to College Station.
• Arkansas 44 South Carolina 30
  • The Razorbacks seem legit. I was probably more impressed with their victory over Cincinnati than the average person, and they validated that win with yesterday’s performance. Arkansas’ run game is just so overpowering at times.
  • South Carolina is a fine team, but they won’t come anywhere close to contending for an SEC title this year. Spencer Rattler has lived off a lot of hype, but he simply isn’t a great quarterback. We’ll see if he and the Gamecocks can give Georgia any sort of difficulties next week.
• Wake Forest 45 Vanderbilt 25
  • It was nice to see Sam Hartman back behind center for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons, obviously, are a different team with Hartman leading the charge. A.T. Perry also benefits from the presence of Hartman.
  • Vanderbilt has fallen back down to Earth. The victory over Hawaii seemed impressive at the time, but the Rainbow Warriors are simply a horrendous football team. It wouldn’t shock me to see Vanderbilt lose to Northern Illinois next week in DeKalb.
• Minnesota 62 Western Illinois 10
  • The Golden Gophers usually lean on a run-heavy offense, so it was encouraging to see them have success throwing the ball, even against a lesser opponent. A lot of Minnesota’s potential success in the Big Ten West rides on the shoulders of veteran signal-caller Tanner Morgan. The Golden Gophers should improve to 3-0 next week after defeating Colorado.
• Duke 31 Northwestern 23
  • Duke has been super impressive so far. They won’t be a factor in the ACC this season, but this was a program-building victory.
  • Northwestern threw the ball a TON yesterday, which is uncharacteristic of a Pat Fitzgerald team.
• Penn State 46 Ohio 10
  • Penn State should do this to an inferior MAC opponent, but it was encouraging to witness how well the team ran the ball. For now, Sean Clifford is still the guy at quarterback, but next week’s game versus Auburn could prompt a change.
• North Carolina 35 Georgia State 28
  • It hasn’t been pretty, but the Tar Heels are 3-0. The recruiting has also gone well for North Carolina, so maybe Mack Brown has something cooking again in Chapel Hill.
• UTSA 41 Army 38
  • Two games, two nail-biters for UTSA. Fortunately, the Roadrunners came out victorious in this contest. Frank Harris is an excellent for quarterback to have as a Group of Five team, and he did everything in this game, throwing for 359 yards and three scores, while also being effective on the ground. If Quinn Ewers, as expected, is out next week, look out for a potential upset in Austin.
  • Army has had two difficult games thus far, but you’d like to see the team come out of it at least 1-1. The Black Knights should win their next two against Villanova and Georgia State.
• Kansas State 40 Missouri 12
  • Adrian Martinez is incredibly underwhelming as a quarterback, but the Wildcats have a strong enough roster to be 2-0.
  • Missouri is … not in a good spot as a program. Eliah Drinkwitz has run his mouth an awful lot as Missouri’s coach, but his team hasn’t backed it up on the gridiron, and most of that is the head coach’s fault.