Expectations are high for the Purdue Boilermakers going into the season, ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press poll for the first time, and bookmakers are giving them the added pressure of being preseason national championship favorites.
Purdue is the consensus favorite to win the national championship ahead of the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season, showing +850 odds at ESPN BET. Last season’s runners-up, the Houston Cougars, are the consensus second-favorites at +1000 at ESPN BET, with Duke (+1100), UConn (+1200) and Kentucky (+1500) rounding out the top five.
Purdue didn’t open as the favorite around the time of the 2025 national championship game in April, but a productive offseason and hype around a talented team, led by Wooden Award preseason favorite Braden Smith (+400), has created a groundswell of support: The Boilermakers have garnered the highest share of national championship handle at both ESPN BET and BetMGM.
“There’s been a lot of offseason buzz around Purdue with them bringing three players back and addressing some weaknesses in the portal,” Caesars college basketball trader Patrick Berbert told ESPN. “So, they’ve been the popular team it seems so far.”
“In recent years, the transfer portal has become one of the biggest factors in preseason odds, as we evaluate how teams are balancing adding talent with roster continuity and chemistry,” ESPN BET senior director Adrian Horton said over email. “You can have a team that did well last season completely re-tooled with new faces, which may look like an upgrade on paper, but we need to see it in game action.”
Duke, by contrast, opened as the favorite for the 2026 national championship, but the Blue Devils saw their odds lengthen after they lost all five of their 2024-25 starters, including No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, to the NBA draft. A third-best 8.1% of the bets are backing Duke at BetMGM, but they’ve taken only 6.4% of the money there.
Meanwhile, Houston has simply maintained its standing as second best on the odds board and has received healthy support from the public, attracting the most bets (13.6%) at ESPN BET. BetMGM considers the Cougars to be its third-largest liability after it took the second-most wagers and handle there.
Last season’s national champions, the Florida Gators, come into the 2025-26 campaign with +1600 odds, sixth on ESPN BET’s odds board, which is a marked improvement over the +6000 they had going into last season. This season’s Gators have attracted only moderate action from bettors, but bookmakers will be on the lookout for a longer team on the board that could make a run to favorite status with early impressive play like Florida did last season.
“Most years, there is a sleeper team out there that wasn’t expected to do well and they’ll play really well early on,” said Berbert. “So it’s really important, just on a day-to-day trading basis, to be able to spot these teams when they’re exceeding expectations and to not be slow to react, especially in the futures market.”
The former Today anchor and her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman reunited over the weekend for some post-Halloween family time with their kids Hayley, 8, and Hope, 6.
The former couple—who broke up in 2022 after eight years together—posed with their daughters at the dining table as they enjoyed a meal consisting of pepperoni pizza, grilled chicken, sandwiches, pasta and fruit.
The Nov. 3 Instagram post also included a heartwarming pic of the girls with their arms wrapped around Joel, 67, who flashed a wide grin for the camera. And in a third snap, Hoda’s puppy, Waffles, also made an appearance, sitting comfortably in a patch of grass surrounded by fall leaves.
Hoda, 61, certainly seemed to enjoy the leisurely bonding time, captioning the post, “Funday Sunday!”
In the years since ending their romantic relationship, Hoda and Joel have focused on maintaining a friendly co-parenting partnership. In fact, she still speaks highly of him beyond his role in Hayley and Hope’s lives.
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Two top-10 teams fell on the road to unranked opponents. A third fell to a lower-ranked team. No. 5 Georgia flirted with disaster, as always, and just because nothing is allowed to make total sense in the ACC, No. 15 Virginia and No. 16 Louisville also thought hard about face-planting before rallying.
Week 10 didn’t give us quite as many absolute disasters as it could have, and the damage was mostly contained to the increasingly chaotic ACC. And with two-thirds of the 2025 college football season done, we now shift into Playoff Hyperdrive.
Let’s look back on Week 10 with help from the construct I used for the Week 10 preview: Playoff Tiers.
Updated playoff tiers
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season come out Tuesday, and using a combination of the Allstate Playoff Predictor and odds driven by my SP+ rankings, we can pretty easily bunch teams into groups of playoff likelihood. The tiers didn’t change all that much this weekend, though conveniently, each team that lost fell into the tier below.
Tier 1
Indiana (9-0, 99.5% average playoff odds) — def. Maryland 55-10 Saturday Ohio State (8-0, 99.3%) — def. Penn State 38-14 Texas A&M (8-0, 95.7%)
With A&M off and Indiana and Ohio State winning by a combined 93-24, nothing changed here. These are the three most likely teams to make the CFP, and while the playoff committee could overthink and try to talk itself into ranking Alabama ahead of A&M or something because of ranked wins, the Aggies deserve the edge to me, both because of their road win over Tier 3’s Notre Dame and the extremely important fact that they didn’t lose to a 4-4 Florida State team like the Tide did.
Tier 2
Ole Miss (8-1, 83.6%) — def. South Carolina 30-14 Oregon (7-1, 75.6%) Alabama (7-1, 74.0%) BYU (8-0, 69.3%) Texas Tech (8-1, 68.5%) — def. Kansas State 43-20 Georgia (7-1, 54.1%) — def. Florida 24-20
With Georgia Tech’s loss to NC State on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets dropped from Tier 2 to Tier 3, but with a surprisingly comfortable road win over a smoking hot Kansas State, Texas Tech jumped from Tier 3 to 2. I’m curious how the CFP committee might view the Red Raiders, a team with eight wins by at least 23 points and a lone loss coming without starting quarterback Behren Morton. Their strength-of-schedule numbers aren’t very good, but they ace the eye test, and if “best” is supposed to matter over “most deserving,” well, they’re fourth in SP+.
Georgia, meanwhile, is uninterested in passing “eye tests.” The Bulldogs once again painted themselves into a corner, this time spotting rival Florida a 20-17 lead and letting them drive into field goal range midway through the fourth quarter. But they rallied once again, stuffing Jadan Baugh on fourth-and-1, immediately driving for a touchdown, then forcing a four-and-out and winning the game. They look impressive for about one quarter per game, but they’re 7-1 with a Tier 2 win over Ole Miss and a lone loss to Tier 2 Bama. The road still features games against Texas and Georgia Tech, however.
Tier 3
Notre Dame (6-2, 41.1%) — def. Boston College 25-10 Virginia (8-1, 37.6%) — def. California 31-21 Louisville (7-1, 37.1%) — def. Virginia Tech 28-16 Texas (7-2, 33.5%) — def. Vanderbilt 34-31 Georgia Tech (8-1, 30.2%) — lost to NC State 48-36
Tier 3 is evidently the transition tier. Of last week’s four Tier 3 teams, one moved up with a win (Texas Tech), and two moved down with losses (Miami, Vanderbilt). Meanwhile, it caught Georgia Tech on the way down and Texas on the way up. And with all the other chaos in the ACC, two one-loss teams that won as favorites Saturday (Virginia and Louisville) saw their conference title odds rise by solid amounts. They also moved up from Tier 4.
Oklahoma and Vanderbilt both have decent enough odds that I could have slipped them into Tier 3, but since they’ve both lost to Tier 3 Texas, and head-to-head matchups between two-loss SEC teams could matter a lot, we’ll go ahead and put them here. At this point, Tier 4 is a mix of two-loss Big Ten and SEC teams (OU, Vandy, USC, Washington, Mizzou, Michigan, Iowa), two-loss Big 12 and ACC teams that either have impressive wins (Miami) or are simply smoking hot (Utah, Pitt) and three-loss ACC teams that still have a puncher’s chance at the conference title (Duke, SMU).
Tier (Group of) 5
James Madison (7-1, 27.7%) — def. Texas State 52-20 North Texas (8-1, 26.4%) — def. Navy 31-17 Memphis (8-1, 15.9%) — def. Rice 38-14 USF (6-2, 13.9%) San Diego State (7-1, 8.9%) — def. Wyoming 24-7
There’s still a scenario in which, say, SMU wins the ACC at 10-3 but ranks behind a pair of one-loss Group of 5 champions, and the G5 ends up with multiple bids. That said, one G5 bid is still far and away the most likely scenario, and that race remains awfully interesting. JMU impressed enough in San Marcos last Tuesday that the Dukes jumped from 50th to 36th in SP+. They aren’t going to finish with a great résumé — their most impressive performance was a loss to Louisville in which they were tied in the fourth quarter before a fumble recovery touchdown put them behind — but they look the part enough that they should feel good about their chances if they finish 12-1 to win the Sun Belt, and the American Conference champ is 11-2.
Still, it’s clear the American winner, whoever it ends up being, is most likely to score the bid even if JMU’s odds are better than any single team.
What Tuesday’s rankings should look like
For the past couple of years, I’ve been fiddling with what amounts to a BCS-ish formula, derived half from the AP poll and half from a combination of both computer power ratings (SP+ and FPI) and computer résumé ratings (Résumé SP+ and Strength of Record). With a few exceptions — Alabama over Florida State in 2023, SMU over Alabama in 2024 — it tends to adhere pretty closely to what the committee ends up deciding.
Tuesday’s rankings will be the first since the CFP committee began using “enhanced metrics to help evaluate schedule strength,” however. What does that mean in practice? I have no idea. So in anticipation of Tuesday’s release, let’s look at four rankings for the teams most likely to be ranked by the committee: 1) their AP poll ranking; 2) their ranking in this BCS-ish formula; 3) their Strength of Record ranking and 4) their Résumé SP+ ranking.
This obviously adheres pretty closely to the tiers above, but it gives us a good idea of what to look for Tuesday night. If the committee really is taking strength of schedule or strength of record further into account — and for the record, I really don’t think it needed to — then we might expect teams that are more well regarded by the computers to win some arguments. Texas A&M would definitely rank ahead of Alabama in this case, and BYU might rank higher as well. Also, two-loss Texas and Vanderbilt would likely trump one-loss Louisville and Georgia Tech.
All in all, I think the top 11 on Tuesday should end up looking almost identical to the AP poll, while the spots from No. 12 to No. 21 could end up in pretty much any order.
A hypothetical playoff simulation, because why not?
Based on where teams are most likely to rank this week (via the BCS-ish rankings above) and which teams are currently most likely to win their conferences (per SP+), here’s what I’m going to call Week 11’s playoff bracket.
9 Texas Tech at 8 BYU Winner plays 1 Ohio State
12 North Texas at 5 Georgia Winner plays 4 Alabama
11 Louisville at 6 Oregon Winner plays 3 Texas A&M
10 Notre Dame at 7 Ole Miss Winner plays 2 Indiana
We’ll see a shakeup following Week 11’s Texas Tech-BYU battle in Lubbock, but for now, this gives us Notre Dame’s first-ever trip to Oxford, a potential playoff rematch between Indiana and Notre Dame in the quarterfinals and another Alabama-Georgia playoff game (this time in the quarterfinals). Based on current SP+ rankings, it would also give us these national title odds based on 10,000 simulations:
Hypothetical title odds based on the above bracket: 1-seed Ohio State 30.6% 2-seed Indiana 28.2% 6-seed Oregon 12.4% 3-seed Texas A&M 7.4% 4-seed Alabama 6.8% 9-seed Texas Tech 5.6% 5-seed Georgia 3.0% 10-seed Notre Dame 2.4% 7-seed Ole Miss 1.7% 8-seed BYU 1.1% 11-seed Louisville 0.4% 12-seed North Texas 0.2%
And because odds alone aren’t very satisfying, I grabbed a random simulation from the batch of 10,000. Here’s what’s officially going to happen this postseason. You can stop watching now.
(Please don’t stop watching.)
FIRST ROUND Texas Tech over BYU in Provo Georgia over North Texas in Athens Oregon over Louisville in Eugene Notre Dame over Ole Miss in Oxford
QUARTERFINALS Rose Bowl: Texas Tech over Ohio State Sugar Bowl: Alabama over Georgia Cotton Bowl: Texas A&M over Oregon Orange Bowl: Indiana over Notre Dame
SEMIFINALS Peach Bowl: Alabama over Texas Tech Fiesta Bowl: Indiana over Texas A&M
FINALS Indiana over Alabama in Miami
If you Google Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, as he told you to a couple of years ago, it might soon tell you that he’s a national title-winning head coach.
5 other random thoughts from Week 10
Damn, Mario. By Mario Cristobal’s standards, his late-game management against SMU wasn’t a crime against humanity or anything, but after SMU tied the game with 25 seconds left, Miami got the ball back with a timeout in hand and a quarterback Cristobal paid loads of money for … and the Hurricanes kneeled out the clock to go to overtime. Granted, Carson Beck’s dreadful overtime interception, which set up SMU’s winning touchdown, certainly didn’t help his cause, but it doesn’t matter how much money you shell out if you’re still going to play by “Three things can happen when you pass, and two are bad” rules in the 2020s.
But since Cristobal took over at Miami in 2022, his Hurricanes have lost five games as double-digit favorites; only Alabama can match that total, and (A) Bama has been a double-digit favorite 50% more often and (B) three of the Tide’s five such losses came in a small cluster of games last season. Cristobal has lost at least one such game each year that he’s been in charge. Death, taxes and Miami suffering a catastrophic loss it should have put away.
Holy (whistle) smokes (whistle), Arkansas (whistle). Generally speaking, penalties and penalty yards don’t correlate to wins and losses as much as you might think. Committing a lot of penalties can often signify that you’re properly pushing the limits from an aggressiveness standpoint, and of the 66 teams to have suffered more than 100 penalty yards in a game this season, 38 ended up winning the game.
It’s nice to know there are limits, however. Arkansas committed 18 penalties for 193 yards against Mississippi State on Saturday, the third most for any FBS team in any game over the last 10 seasons. Only Kansas (216 yards in a win over UNLV in 2023) and Northern Illinois (194 in a win over Eastern Illinois in 2017) can top that number. But while those teams still managed to win, Arkansas’ discipline ran out late. Mississippi State scored 17 points in the game’s final 11 minutes to overcome a 14-point deficit and win 38-35. If Sam Pittman hadn’t already been fired, he probably would be now. (And it probably goes without saying that interim coach Bobby Petrino hasn’t shined enough to justify hiring him full time, though I’m sure you can still find an Arkansas booster advocating for it.)
So many close SEC games. We can question whether the SEC has a team the caliber of Ohio State or Indiana this season, but we cannot question its commitment to competitiveness. The league featured six games Saturday, five were decided by one score — including both of its ranked-versus-ranked encounters — and the sixth was within one score with 12 minutes left. For the season, the league has had 43 conference games to date, with 26 decided by one touchdown or less. It’s been close enough overall that Arkansas somehow (A) ranks first in the league in points per drive in conference play and (B) is 0-5 in conference play.
Close games will define the rest of November, too. Texas A&M (5-0 in SEC play) has two road games with a projected margin of less than two points, and despite being pretty close to the finish line the Aggies have higher odds of losing two or more in November (27%) than reaching 12-0 (25%).
Alabama (5-0) has three conference games remaining, and all three are projected within single digits, two within one score. SP+ gives the Tide only a 25% chance of winning its four remaining games, with 26% odds of losing at least twice.
Georgia’s odds, meanwhile, are almost identical — the Bulldogs (5-1) have two projected one-score SEC games remaining (at Mississippi State, Texas), plus a one-score visit to Georgia Tech. The result: a 25% chance of winning out and a 30% chance of losing at least twice.
Texas (4-1) actually looked the part for most of Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt, but the Longhorns are projected underdogs in two of three remaining games (at Georgia, Texas A&M), and Arkansas is not a gimme. Odds of winning out: 15%.
Ole Miss (5-1) has the most navigable path of any major conference contender, with only Florida and Mississippi State remaining in SEC play. Odds of winning out: 54%. Then again, the Rebels lost to Florida last year, and the Egg Bowl lives for nonsense.
Colorado looks done done. Over its last two games against Utah and Arizona, Colorado was projected to lose by a combined 23.1 points. The Buffaloes instead lost by 81. Last week’s 53-7 loss to Utah was almost understandable in retrospect (the Utes just walloped Cincinnati, too), but they were equally moribund in Saturday evening’s home loss to Arizona. And based on a weighted average of recent performances (where the most recent game carries more weight), they are officially the team that is underachieving the most against current SP+ projections.
There are plenty of other teams staggering and/or falling at the moment – Syracuse, Penn State, Louisiana-Monroe, Delaware, Maryland, Texas State, Bowling Green – but CU leads the pack. And if the Buffs can’t beat West Virginia in Morgantown this coming weekend, a 3-9 finish begins to look awfully likely. Would that increase the odds of Deion Sanders stepping down at the end of the season?
DeSean Jackson was a spectacular hire. Remember in the offseason, when Norfolk State (Michael Vick) and Delaware State (DeSean Jackson) went the Deion Sanders/Eddie George route and hired celebrated former players as their head coaches? Vick was the bigger headline-grabber – he’s Michael Vick, after all – and he has struggled in year one, as you might expect from a first-time head coach. Norfolk State went 4-8 and finished 101st in FCS SP+ last season; the Spartans are just 1-8 and 115th this season. They have a couple of semi-winnable games left against Morgan State and Howard (they will likely get drubbed by N.C. Central this coming week), but it’s been a year of growing pains.
For Jackson and his Hornets, however, it’s been the exact opposite story. DSU went 1-11 and finished 123rd in SP+ last season, and they haven’t finished higher than 5-6 or 83rd over the past decade. Last Thursday’s win over Vick’s NSU, however, brought them to 6-3 and 54th overall. They’ve already upset N.C. Central, and if they can win a tossup game at home against S.C. State in Week 13, they’ll win their first MEAC title since 2007 and score their first Celebration Bowl bid. It’s looking like Jackson was one of the best hires of last offseason’s coaching carousel.
This week in SP+
The SP+ rankings are updated for the week. Let’s take a look at the teams that saw the biggest change in their overall ratings. (Note: We’re looking at ratings, not rankings.)
Moving up
Here are the 10 teams that saw their ratings rise the most this week:
Fresno State: up 3.7 adjusted points per game (ranking rose from 93rd to 78th)
East Carolina: up 3.4 points (from 61st to 48th)
Florida State: up 3.3 points (from 34th to 24th)
Louisiana Tech: up 3.3 points (from 76th to 67th)
Western Kentucky: up 3.1 points (from 88th to 72nd)
Buffalo: up 2.9 points (from 99th to 87th)
James Madison: up 2.8 points (from 50th to 36th)
Arizona: up 2.8 points (from 43rd to 31st)
UTSA: up 2.7 points (from 70th to 65th)
North Carolina: up 2.5 points (from 98th to 89th)
The ACC’s oddities didn’t stop at the games involving ranked teams. Duke’s win over Clemson was the most statistically unlikely result of the week — Duke somehow won despite a mammoth efficiency disadvantage (success rate: Clemson 58.3%, Duke 37.5%) — and in Tallahassee, Florida State somehow transferred all of its bad vibes to its opponent. Wake Forest collapsed under the weight of its mistakes and the Seminoles’ sudden excellence, and the teams basically traded seven points: FSU moved up 3.3 and, as you’ll see below, Wake moved down 3.7.
Meanwhile, this is the faintest of praise, but since bottoming out at 103rd in SP+ three weeks ago, North Carolina has rallied to 89th, suffering a pair of gut-wrenching losses and finally getting off the schneid with a thumping of quarterback-less Syracuse. The Tar Heels will have to pull at least a pair of upsets to have any hope of bowling, but improvement can be encouraging in and of itself.
Moving down
Here are the 10 teams whose ratings fell the most:
Wake Forest: down 3.7 adjusted points per game (ranking fell from 56th to 68th)
Cincinnati: down 3.5 points (from 23rd to 32nd)
Maryland: down 3.3 points (from 37th to 51st)
Georgia Tech: down 3.2 points (from 25th to 34th)
Boise State: down 3.0 points (from 47th to 55th)
Colorado: down 3.0 points (from 68th to 82nd)
UCF: down 2.9 points (from 51st to 56th)
Rutgers: down 2.5 points (from 63rd to 69th)
Sam Houston: down 2.4 points (no change from 135th)
South Carolina: down 2.4 points (from 54th to 61st)
Georgia Tech entered Week 10 as the lowest-ranked unbeaten power-conference team by a comfortable margin. After getting pushed around by NC State, the Yellow Jackets are lodged between 4-5 Auburn and James Madison in SP+.
Who won the Heisman this week?
I am once again awarding the Heisman every week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?
Here is this week’s Heisman top 10:
1. Jeff Sims, Arizona State (13-for-24 passing for 177 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, plus 228 non-sack rushing yards and 2 TDs against Iowa State).
2. Julian Sayin, Ohio State (20-for-23 passing for 316 yards and 4 touchdowns against Penn State).
3. CJ Bailey, NC State (24-for-32 passing for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 41 non-sack rushing yards and a TD against Georgia Tech).
4. Jordan Marshall, Michigan (25 carries for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 25 receiving yards against Purdue).
5. Owen McCown, UTSA (31-for-33 passing for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns against Tulane).
6. Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame (17 carries for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 30 receiving yards against Boston College).
7. Arch Manning, Texas (25-for-33 passing for 328 yards and 3 touchdowns against Vanderbilt).
8. Haynes King, Georgia Tech (25-for-35 passing for 408 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT, plus 113 non-sack rushing yards and 2 TDs against NC State).
9. Darian Mensah, Duke (27-for-41 passing for 361 yards and 4 touchdowns against Clemson).
10. Melkart Abou Jaoude, North Carolina (6 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble against Syracuse).
Jeff Sims is the journeyman prototype for the transfer portal era. He has started 28 career games at three schools (Georgia Tech, Nebraska and Arizona State), and in those, he has produced some duds — 10 games with a Total QBR under 30.0, three under 10.0. But he has also thrown for more than 250 yards five times and rushed for 100 or more yards (not including sacks) seven times. And on Saturday in Ames, Iowa, he painted a Sims-ian masterpiece, throwing the ball reasonably well but ripping off an 88-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and nearly doubling his previous career high in rushing.
Sims is quite obviously not a Heisman contender, but one of the reasons I love this Heisman of the Week approach is that we can celebrate when guys like Sims do something beautiful. He even topped nearly perfect performances from Julian Sayin and Owen McCown and a gutsy, hobbled game from CJ Bailey.
Honorable mention:
• Luke Altmyer, Illinois (19-for-31 passing for 235 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT, plus 95 non-sack rushing yards and a TD against Rutgers).
• Alonza Barnett III, James Madison (12-for-18 passing for 264 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT, plus 102 non-sack rushing yards and a TD against Texas State).
• Tommy Castellanos, Florida State (12-for-16 passing for 271 yards and a touchdown, plus 18 non-sack rushing yards and a TD against Wake Forest).
• Evan Dickens, Liberty (22 carries for 217 yards and 4 touchdowns against Delaware).
• Caleb Hawkins, North Texas (33 carries for 197 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 9 receiving yards against Navy).
• Kevin Jennings, SMU (29-for-44 passing for 365 yards and a touchdown, plus a rushing touchdown against Miami).
• Jayden Scott, NC State (24 carries for 196 yards and a touchdown, plus 11 receiving yards against Georgia Tech).
• Danny Scudero, San Jose State (7 catches for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns against Hawai’i).
Through 10 weeks, here are your points leaders. I’ve bolded the guys who are also in the top 12 in the current Heisman betting odds.
We might be approaching a “Winner takes the No. 1 seed, winning QB takes the Heisman” game between Sayin’s Ohio State — the current Heisman betting favorite, per ESPN BET — and Mendoza’s Indiana in the Big Ten championship game in four weeks. Simpson, Chambliss and Stockton still have clear paths to impress, however, and with Love shifting into fifth gear over the past two games (a combined 41 carries for 364 yards) he might catch voters’ eyes if he keeps ripping off 94-yard touchdown runs.
My 10 favorite games of the weekend
1 and 2. SMU 26, No. 10 Miami 20 (OT)and Duke 46, Clemson 45. Obviously, Miami was the main character in Saturday’s loss, but what a performance by SMU. Kevin Jennings nearly landed on the Heisman of the Week list with 365 yards, a TD pass and a TD run, and the Mustangs’ defense, much improved of late, allowed just one gain of more than 25 yards, forced Miami to go the length of the field and pounced on mistakes. A great performance in a frustrating season.
Meanwhile, because Manny Diaz is a soccer fan, I can confidently say he’ll know what I mean when I say Duke pulled an absolute smash-and-grab in Death Valley, overcoming a massive efficiency disadvantage with a kick return score and not only a 5-for-5 performance on fourth down but 29 points scored after a fourth-down conversion. The Blue Devils remain in the ACC title race, and Clemson has only about a 39% chance of bowling, per SP+.
3. Division II: No. 7 CSU-Pueblo 24, No. 6 Western Colorado 21. I love it when one of the Smaller-School Showcase games in my Friday preview lives up to its billing. Unbeaten WCU bolted to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, but CSU-Pueblo had tied it by the end of the third quarter, with help from an 88-yard Roman Fuller-to-Marcellus Honeycutt Jr. touchdown pass. In the end, the Thunderwolves won with special teams: First, Jusiah Sampleton blocked a 47-yard field goal attempt with 4:01 left; then, after a 20-yard pass on third-and-16, Jackson Smith knocked in a 32-yarder as time expired.
4. FCS: No. 25 Abilene Christian 31, No. 2 Tarleton State 28. Tarleton State was the best FCS team not named North Dakota State heading into the weekend, and after entering the fourth quarter down 28-10, the Texans rallied to tie it with 56 seconds left. But a 38-yard pass from Stone Earle to Bryan Henry set up Brandon Perez‘s 47-yard buzzer-beater. TSU is unbeaten no more.
5. No. 5 Georgia 24, Florida 20. This game would rank higher if Georgia hadn’t been involved, but the Bulldogs have pulled the football version of the “Call the ambulance … but not for me” meme too many times, falling behind and then winning with perfect late execution. Regardless, it was a fun, tense way to spend an afternoon even if I didn’t doubt the outcome.
6 and 7. FCS: Idaho 35, Northern Arizona 32 (OT) (Friday) and Idaho State 38, No. 6 UC Davis 36. Drama in the Big Sky! On Friday night in Flagstaff, Arizona, Idaho watched a 26-7 lead turn into a 29-26 fourth-quarter deficit, but Owen Adams nailed a 42-yard field goal at the buzzer, and after forcing an overtime field goal, the Vandals walked it off with a short Hayden Kincheloe touchdown.
On Saturday in Davis, California, Idaho State, which has felt pretty close to an upset win all season, got one thanks to a 219-yard rushing performance from Dason Brooks and a 50-yard, final-minute field goal from Trajan Sinatra, the best-named kicker this side of Florida’s Trey Smack.
play
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Trajan Sinatra makes 50-yard field goal
Trajan Sinatra makes 50-yard field goal
8. Mississippi State 38, Arkansas 35. After heartbreaking losses to Texas and Florida extended MSU’s SEC losing streak to 16 games (and more than two calendar years), it would take something special to end the streak. Like a game-ending 17-0 run, 193 penalty yards from Arkansas and a monstrous 18-yard catch and touchdown run from Anthony Evans III.
9. New Mexico 40, UNLV 35. If you watched this one as I advised, you were rewarded. New Mexico played catch-and-release, losing leads of 21-0 and 34-21, but with the game on the line, the Lobos executed a perfect, eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, taking the lead on a 13-yard D.J. McKinney run, then making two late stops to move to 6-2 and secure bowl eligibility. It’s hard to say enough about the job Jason Eck has done there in Year 1.
10. Division II: West Texas A&M 53, Texas A&M-Kingsville 48. There should always be room for a nutty track meet on this list, and if you missed the first eight minutes of this one, you missed (1) a 74-yard return on the opening kickoff, (2) a 26-yard touchdown on the first offensive play, (3) a sack-and-strip fumble, (4) a 99-yard kick return, (5) two turnovers on downs and (6) a 43-yard touchdown pass. West Texas A&M took a 22-6 lead from all of that, Kingsville responded with a 22-3 run to charge ahead, and we got six more lead changes from there. Goodness.
Here’s your quick reminder that the CFP rankings are only the second-biggest landmark of the coming week. That’s right: IT’S MIDWEEK MACTION TIME. And we start with a doozy.
Miami (Ohio) at Ohio (Tuesday, 7 p.m., ESPN2). Miami has won five straight since an 0-3 start, and Ohio, the defending champ, has won four of five. The winner of this one will be your odds-on MAC favorite.
UTSA at USF (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN). USF needs to win out to keep AAC title (and playoff) hopes alive, and UTSA is coming off by far its best performance of the season.
Found footage movies are tough to pull off. For every classic like The Blair Witch Project or Rec, there are 100 movies like Slender and Megan Is Missing that are, at best, forgettable, and at worst, an affront to the very concept of cinema. My personal favorite, though, is Lake Mungo, a slow burn mokumentary with found footage elements that manages to be both creepy and emotionally wrenching. Oh, and it’s gloriously concise at under an hour and a half.
Lake Mungo is, first and foremost, one of the most convincingly realized mokumentaries ever made. If you told someone it was a legit documentary about a supposed haunting, there’s a chance they’d believe you. The style is spot-on, the performances pitch-perfect, and it never overreaches. Other horror films in this style eventually go too far, resorting to bombast, like the BBC’s Ghostwatch (which is also excellent). But Lake Mungo remains understated, even when it shows purported footage of a ghost.
Director and writer Joel Anderson hasn’t helmed a feature film since. Though he has found work in the film industry recently, including on 2023’s Late Night with the Devil, after an over 10-year absence.
The story follows the Palmer family as they struggle with the loss of 16-year-old Alice Palmer, who drowns while swimming in a lake. Mother June wanders her neighborhood late at night, unable to sleep, father Russell buries himself in work, and brother Matthew throws himself into his art. As you’d probably expect from this type of horror film, the family starts experiencing strange things — sounds, mysterious bruises, and even a full-on confrontation with an apparition.
From here, the film takes several twists and turns that elevate it above your typical “pots and pans” horror, which I will avoid spoiling. But its grainy, haunting segments and emotional interviews with the family get under your skin. There’s no jump scares, no gore, just expert tension building that eventually reaches a terrifying conclusion. The image at the climax of the film is one of the most haunting single frames of cinema ever.
The choice of Palmer as the last name here feels like an intentional nod to Twin Peaks, which also deals with the death of a young girl in a small town with secrets. Along the way, you discover more about Alice and the life she lived. She struggled to be seen for who she truly was, both in life and death. And just as the family finally finds closure and decides to move on, the film makes its final big reveal.
Because the movie spends its limited run time getting you invested in the characters and building backstory, the ending hits hard. If you want a horror film that packs an emotional punch, this is it. It’s definitely a downer of a flick, but one you’ll want to rewatch immediately.
As the couple marked their son Rocky Thirteen Barker turning 2, the Blink-182 drummer shared a touching birthday tribute to his youngest child.
“Happy Birthday my Rocky 13,” Travis, 49, wrote alongside a black heart emoji in a post on Instagram Nov. 1. “You’re such a special soul, and you make every day brighter. I love you. No one’s cooler.”
Along with the message, Travis—who also shares kids Atiana De La Hoya, 26, Landon Barker, 22, and Alabama Barker, 19, with ex Shanna Moakler—posted a photo of the toddler wearing a “13” tank top and baggy beige pants with a backwards hat while walking with his body turned away from the camera.
The occasion proved to be emotional for Kourtney—who is also mom to Mason Disick, 15, Penelope Disick, 13, and Reign Disick, 10, with ex Scott Disick—as she commented on Travis’ post with a simple puppy dog eyes emoji. The 46-year-old also shared the post on her Instagram Stories, where she used the same symbol to convey her feelings.
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Alaina Getzenberg covers the Buffalo Bills for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Nate Taylor
Nov 1, 2025, 06:30 AM ET
The leaves are falling, the hot takes are flowing, the clocks are turning back — and it is once again time for a meeting between two of the NFL’s best.
Both teams have finished atop their respective divisions for the past five seasons and have met in each regular season since 2020 — plus four postseason games in that span. After Sunday, the 10 matchups will mark the most between starting quarterbacks age 30 or younger from different divisions (three more than any other matchup). It is also tied for the most matchups over a six-season span between two teams from different divisions (1972-77, Steelers-Raiders).
Kansas City has had the advantage in the playoffs, winners of all four postseason matchups. But the Bills have won four of five regular-season meetings, including the past four in a row. The Bills’ defense has been the major difference. In the regular season, the Bills have allowed 20.8 points per game (while scoring 25.8). In the postseason, the Bills have allowed 34.8 points per game (while scoring 28.3).
There is potential for an 11th matchup this postseason, but both teams have real competition within their respective divisions and other AFC threats, including the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts.
Both teams have defensive lines with depth issues and MVP quarterbacks who have had to carry their offenses, at times. The Chiefs recently got back receiver Rashee Rice from suspension, but the Bills are still seeking a spark in the passing game.
This game is a stepping-stone for both teams in their quests for a Super Bowl title and could determine seeding later in the season. The Chiefs are looking to match the 1990s Bills as the only teams to reach four straight Super Bowls. The Bills haven’t reached the Super Bowl since 1993, the end of that run in the 90s, and are seeking a strong final season at their historic Highmark Stadium.
ESPN’s Chiefs reporter Nate Taylor and Bills reporter Alaina Getzenberg break down the matchup and where the two teams are in Week 9:
What is different about the Chiefs and Bills from last year?
Chiefs: Mahomes will have more passing options than he had a year ago. Receivers Rice and Hollywood Brown have helped the Chiefs’ offense become an explosive unit again, and even speedy receiver Xavier Worthy has shown improvement in his route running since his rookie season. The Chiefs have scored at least 28 points in each of their past five games, so this is a much better offense than a year ago.
Much of the attention for the Chiefs, winners in five of their past six games, has been on the offense. The Chiefs’ defense, however, appears to be more prepared. The Chiefs have surrendered just two touchdowns in the past 10 quarters, and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo should have all of his projected starters available. The linemen around pass rusher Chris Jones — defensive ends George Karlaftis, Charles Omenihu and Mike Danna — are performing better than at the beginning of the season, too.
One of the biggest themes for the Chiefs this season is Reid’s ultra-aggressiveness. With Mahomes on the field, the Chiefs have converted 14 of 16 fourth-down attempts (87.5%) — the highest success rate of teams that have had 10 or more attempts.
Bills: After a hot start to the season, the Bills lost two in a row before the team’s bye week. Injuries have piled up on defense, especially at defensive tackle, and continued adjustments will be needed.
The looming trade deadline marks an opportunity for the Bills, who have struggled with consistency in the downfield passing game. The struggles have played a part in Allen being sacked 14 times — the same number he had all of last season. He also has four interceptions, two shy of last season’s total.
Running back James Cook III has been an even bigger threat on the ground this year as the Bills seek a balanced offense, leading the league in rushing yards per game at 107.6. Unlike previous years, the Bills want the passing game to match the rushing attack, something coach Sean McDermott said was important this week.
There are some new faces along the team’s defensive line, including the offseason addition of Joey Bosa, who leads the league in pressure percentage (18.2%).
This year, the Bills and Chiefs have more competitors for the top seed in the AFC, increasing the importance of winning this game.
Speaking of those other AFC candidates …
play
0:45
Riddick: Bills’ roster is designed to beat Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
Louis Riddick explains why a Week 9 loss to the Chiefs at home would be a devastating blow for the Bills.
Both teams have competition in the division for the first time in several seasons. How will they perform?
Chiefs: Reid acknowledged before the season how much the Chiefs’ AFC West rivals improved. The Los Angeles Chargers proved that by beating the Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil, in the season opener. The Denver Broncos lead the division and have a 6-2 record entering Sunday behind the NFL’s top defense and Bo Nix‘s improved play in recent weeks.
The matchup against the Bills is the start of a critical stretch for the Chiefs, who still have four divisional games left. After their bye week, the Chiefs will face the Broncos and the red-hot Colts before their showcase game on Thanksgiving Day against the Dallas Cowboys. The Chiefs are hoping to capture their 10th consecutive AFC West crown, which would guarantee them at least one home playoff game. The Chiefs’ rematch against the Chargers, set for Dec. 14, will be an opportunity to illustrate how much their offense has improved since the opener.
With three losses already, the easiest way for the Chiefs to regain the division lead is to sweep the Broncos. Reid, Mahomes and the rest of the team will have plenty of motivation. Ten months ago, in the regular-season finale, the Broncos, needing a win to clinch the conference’s final playoff spot, beat Kansas City 38-0. One could argue the Chiefs, who had already clinched the top seed and rested their starters for the game, didn’t enjoy Broncos coach Sean Payton running up the score.
Bills: The New England Patriots are a real threat to the Bills’ quest for a sixth straight AFC East title. While the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets are near the bottom of the conference, Buffalo is second in the division at 5-2 behind the 6-2 Patriots, who are on a five-game winning streak.
The Patriots have the tiebreaker against the Bills after winning the Week 5 meeting, which ended Buffalo’s 14-game home winning streak. The Bills came into the season 26-6 vs. the AFC East in the regular season since 2020.
Last season, the Bills became the seventh team since 1980 to clinch a division title with five games remaining in a season. That’s not looking likely this season.
The Bills could even the score with the Patriots in December, but for now, Buffalo needs to keep up with New England to have a chance at the division title.
Allen and Mahomes are two of the NFL’s top QBs, but do they have the supporting casts to win the Super Bowl or make another deep run?
Chiefs: The Chiefs appear ready for another run in January and February. The Chiefs are one of the healthiest teams at the midway point of the regular season, and that’s one of the biggest benefits for Mahomes. He has his full complement of pass catchers, including tight end Travis Kelce and receivers in Rice, Worthy, Brown and deep-threat Tyquan Thornton.
Perhaps the biggest reason the Chiefs are ready for a playoff run is that they’ve appeared to solve their biggest issue from last season: left tackle. The Chiefs reached the Super Bowl last season despite using four players — Kingsley Suamataia, Wanya Morris, D.J. Humphries and All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney — at the position. The instability impacted Mahomes, who was sacked a career-high six times in the Chiefs’ blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX despite not being blitzed in the game; Mahomes also had a career-worst average of just 245 passing yards per game last season. But this season, the Chiefs have gotten improved play from rookie left tackle Josh Simmons, their first-round pick, and Jaylon Moore, their biggest acquisition in free agency.
With better protection, Mahomes has scrambled more often because of want rather than need. Each of his three touchdown passes in Monday’s win over the Washington Commanders occurred with him having at least four seconds to throw.
“It’s huge when you’re getting the time to sit in the pocket and kind of go through your reads and make that stuff happen,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “It gives you confidence that you’re seeing the right stuff. If you have confidence, then you can go out there and throw it the way you want to throw it. I think that’s huge, and it all starts up front with the O-line.”
The main issue for the Chiefs’ defense is the inconsistency of the pass rush. Jones is still one of the league’s most dominant interior rushers, often commanding two linemen to block him at all times. The Chiefs could look to add another lineman before the trade deadline.
The Chiefs will enter Highmark Stadium with the league’s second-best defense, which has allowed just 16.4 points per game. One reason for the success is that Spagnuolo might have the league’s best trio of linebackers in Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill and Leo Chenal. The three linebackers have been effective in limiting the production of some standout running backs — including Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Travis Etienne Jr., Jahmyr Gibbs and rookie Ashton Jeanty. The biggest test for Spagnuolo’s linebackers will be Cook, who has been excellent this season.
Although the Chiefs don’t generate many turnovers, they tackle well in the open field.
“Each week, we are constantly trying to improve [and] get better at the fundamentals, the techniques, whatever it is,” said Danna, who recorded an interception and sack last week. “It’s about weeks of preparation. We take that very seriously, practicing with a purpose. There’s always room for improvement. The moment you feel like you’re good, you get complacent, and we don’t want to take our foot off the gas pedal. We don’t have [any] time or [any] room for that.”
Bills: A big question in Orchard Park is if the Bills will trade for a wide receiver before the deadline for a second straight year.
Second-year receiver Keon Coleman has not emerged the way the team had hoped. After a splashy start in Week 1 with eight receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown in the win vs. the Baltimore Ravens, Coleman has averaged 25.8 yards per game and scored just one touchdown. His lack of consistency is an issue.
“I just do my job, man, do my 1/11 and then everybody else do their 1/11, and when the pass game really is needed for us to really do what need to do, we’re going to capitalize,” Coleman said.
Per NFL Next Gen Stats heading into the Week 8 game vs. the Carolina Panthers, Allen had targeted a downfield open receiver (passes of 10-plus air yards with 3-plus yards of target separation) on a career-low 6.7% of his passes, the seventh-lowest rate in the NFL at the time. On throws of 20-plus air yards, Allen has nine completions (15th), 238 yards (23rd) and two interceptions.
The Bills’ offense has Cook, who has been electric this season, and was dynamic in Buffalo’s loss in the AFC Championship Game last season to the Chiefs. He is coming off a career-high 216-yard rushing performance. Wide receiver Khalil Shakir is also fifth in the league in yards after the catch (293).
On defense, the Bills have been decimated by injuries this season, with no position hit harder than defensive tackle. Ed Oliver is out indefinitely because of a torn left biceps, while DaQuan Jones (calf) will miss a third straight game.
The good news for the defense is that linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard are trending toward their returns. It also wouldn’t be surprising if rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston takes on a bigger role in his second game because of the speed of the Chiefs’ wide receivers (Hairston ran a 4.28 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine).
How have Mahomes and Allen played so far?
Chiefs: Mahomes is one of the leading MVP candidates because he has recorded a league-leading 17 passing touchdowns and committed just four interceptions — and two of those turnovers are after Kelce bobbled the ball. Unlike last year, Mahomes is also using his legs more often. He has generated 280 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. He is on pace to break his career high of 389 rushing yards, which he set in 2023.
In each of the past six games, Mahomes has spread his passes to at least six different teammates. Part of the reason for Mahomes’ success is that the offensive line has given him plenty of time. On pass attempts of over four seconds in last week’s win over the Commanders, Mahomes completed 8 of 9 passes for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns, according to Next Gen Stats.
“His ability to do it on the move is unique,” Reid said Wednesday of Mahomes. “You see a little bit of that from Josh, too. Pat’s got great vision, and I know [Hall of Famer] Troy Aikman mentioned [that]. He goes, ‘Man, his vision is unbelievable.’ He says [Mahomes] seems to see everything. He’s blessed with that part.”
Bills: Allen certainly hasn’t been at his best this season. The seven-year veteran said in the first half against the Panthers, he was not trusting his feet or eyes enough.
“There’s still the want and the hunger to continue to get better with myself mechanically,” Allen said. “And just making sure I’m doing the right things and trying to find myself and put myself in the best spots possible to deliver the best ball that I can to our receivers to go make plays for us.”
Allen has a 37 Total QBR in three games since Week 5 (26th out of 31 qualified quarterbacks) and has a Total QBR below 55 in three straight games, tied for the second-longest streak of his career and longest since 2019 (five straight).
There’s no doubt he remains one of the league’s best dual-threat quarterbacks. He has his highest completion percentage since 2020 (68%) and has kept the Bills’ offense in games this year.
Allen always seems to rise to the occasion for big games.
What will be the key for each quarterback to win on Sunday?
Chiefs: Limiting negative plays
In last week’s win over the Commanders, the Chiefs had two turnovers on their first two drives. They can not afford to make similar mistakes against the Bills. One reason the Chiefs have played with the lead during much of their three-game winning streak is that they haven’t committed many mistakes, whether it’s Mahomes being sacked, him throwing an interception or one of his teammates committing a penalty.
In last year’s loss to the Bills, Mahomes threw two interceptions, one on the opening drive and the other at the end of the game. If Mahomes has a clean sheet, and spreads the ball to his teammates, the Chiefs should have a chance to score 30 points.
Bills: Josh Allen being Superman
The Bills beat the Panthers almost solely on the strength of Cook and the offensive line, but that game plan is unlikely to work against Kansas City. Instead, Buffalo’s best chance of success is Allen having a signature standout performance in a big game, along with Cook’s brilliance on the ground.
The question this time is whether the defense is healthy enough to assist Allen and if he has the receivers to get the job done.
Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.
Texas Tech secured a commitment from one of the top quarterbacks in the 2027 cycle on Saturday night, with a pledge from four-star recruit Kavian Bryant, No. 47 in the ESPN Junior 300.
A dual-threat passer from Palestine, Texas, Bryant is ESPN’s No. 2 overall quarterback in the 2027 class. He picked the Red Raiders over finalists Texas, Florida State, Colorado and SMU.
“They reached out the most,” Bryant told ESPN of Texas Tech. “They came with the best offer and the best opportunity for me to play. I just feel like it’s the best fit.”
Bryant lands as a cornerstone commit in Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire’s 2027 recruiting class.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound prospect is Texas Tech’s first offensive pledge and fourth overall commit in the cycle. Bryant now joins five-star defensive tackle Jalen Brewster (No. 6 overall), who picked the Red Raiders over a group of Big Ten and SEC powers on Oct. 4, as the program’s second top-100 commit in 2027. September defensive line pledges K’Adrian Redmond (No. 154) and Antonio Underwood (not ranked) round out Texas Tech’s collection of commits in the cycle.
The Red Raiders also hold the pledge of five-star linebacker LaDamion Guyton, who debuted at No. 13 in the 2026 ESPN 300 this week after reclassifying from the 2027 cycle last month.
Bryant has emerged as a highly productive quarterback across three seasons as the starter at Texas’ Palestine Westwood High School. He threw for 4,724 and 67 touchdowns to 10 interceptions across his freshman and sophomore seasons, accounting 1,521 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground over that span. Although Texas Tech was among the programs to offer Bryant in both football and basketball, he plans to focus solely on football at the next level.
Sources told ESPN that Texas, Florida State and Colorado lingered to the very end of the process late this week. But Bryant said no program recruited him more persistently than Texas Tech, highlighting his relationship with Red Raiders offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich as a key element in his decision.
Bryant worked out for Leftwich and McGuire in the summer, then returned to Texas Tech on Sept. 13 as part of a string of visits with each of his finalists this fall.
“They really, really wanted me,” Bryant said. “They watch my film every day. They show me what I’m good at and what I’m bad at, and I just listen. It’s part of why they’re the best.”
Sources expected the Red Raiders to remain aggressive in recruiting top talent in the 2027 cycle, with defensive tackle Georgia Toia (No. 29 overall), wide receiver Julian Caldwell (No. 40) and linebacker Kaden McCarty (No. 91) among their top targets. Now on board with the Red Raiders, Bryant will be tasked with helping to recruit an elite class to Texas Tech.
“I feel like I can go in there and lead a class,” Bryant said. “And whether it’s as a true freshman or the next year, I feel like I can go there and win a national championship.”
Anchored by five-star pledges in Guyton and offensive tackle Felix Ojo (No. 24), Texas Tech’s 2026 class sits at No. 18 in ESPN’s latest rankings for the cycle. The 13th-ranked Red Raiders visited Kansas State on Saturday at 7-1 with the nation’s fourth-ranked scoring offense.
There are plenty of good smartwatches out there, and Google’s last-gen Pixel Watch 3 is one of them. Right now, the 45mm / Wi-Fi model is available at Amazon, Walmart, and Target for $199.99 ($100 off), which is a new low price and $150 less than the Pixel Watch 4. In her review, our own Victoria Song noted how impressed she was by the larger size’s lengthy battery life, as well as how versatile a companion it was to Android phones, particularly Pixel devices. For example, you can use the watch as a remote for your Google TV, download offline Google Maps navigation routes, and create voice recordings that automatically sync and are transcribed on a Pixel phone.
The Pixel Watch 3 recently received an overhaul, too, as Google rolled out an update to Wear OS 6, which introduced a refreshed design and Gemini AI to the watch (our initial tests show that it still has a long way to go before becoming vital). On the fitness and wellness side, the Pixel Watch 3 can track your activity, sleep, blood oxygen level, and heart rate. You can also use it to take an EKG from your wrist, if you feel the need.
If you need to charge more than one device at a time, Anker’s 2-in-1 USB-C cable will let you do that. It’s a practical, inexpensive gadget we think you’ll enjoy, and it’s nearly matching its best-ever price at $16.99 ($9 off) at Amazon (with Prime) and Anker’s online storefront (with code WSPDV22SVFBJ). One end of the cable plugs into the power adapter, while the other splits into two USB-C cables that can be plugged into different devices.
You can use any USB-C power adapter with this cable, but you’ll take full advantage of its peak power throughput with a 140W adapter — such as Apple’s 140W USB-C Power Adapter, which is also on sale for $74.99 ($25 off) at Amazon. The cable will automatically allocate how much power to send to both devices, but if you plug in two laptops, the first one that’s plugged in gets priority.
Microsoft’s official Xbox Wireless Controller has held the top spot in our guide to the best Xbox controllers for years, and now the black and white versions are selling for a new low of $39.99 ($25 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The wireless gamepad is comfortable to hold, and its buttons, triggers, joysticks, and D-pad feel satisfying to use. I’ve used the one that came with my Xbox Series X for nearly five years, and it still feels new, with no dropped inputs or other signs of wear.
It runs on a pair of AA batteries, which you can easily swap out. You can also purchase a rechargeable battery pack for the controller if you prefer, but be mindful that it’ll lose its charging capacity over time. Xbox’s wireless controller costs as much on sale as many of our wired recommendations, and its wire-free design means you won’t feel tied down when you use it.
