I was at a family wedding last Saturday, waiting in line at the bar when I noticed another guest checking his betting app. When I asked how he was doing, he grumbled about Alabama, well, screwing up, his parlay.

Week 6’s seemingly lackluster slate instead demonstrated why there are no bad weekends of college football, as many have pointed out in the days since. It was also a reminder not to dismiss a matchup based purely on the magnitude of its gambling line, particularly in conference play (Alabama was a 23.5-point favorite over Vanderbilt). In an NFL-dominant landscape where double-digit favorites are rare, it’s easy to forget how fickle those big spreads can be in college football. Until Alabama mucks up your parlay.

Let’s rank the top 10 games of Week 7, starting with honorable mentions and counting down.

Honorable Mention: Washington at Iowa, Wisconsin at Rutgers, Cincinnati at UCF, Stanford at No. 11 Notre Dame, Louisville at Virginia, Memphis at USF, Arizona at No. 14 BYU, Florida at No. 8 Tennessee, Vanderbilt at Kentucky

(All point spreads come from BetMGM; click here for live odds. Stream college football on fubo. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)

10. Cal (3-2) at No. 22 Pitt (5-0), 3:30 p.m., Fubo, ESPN

Put some respect on the Pitt Panthers, who entered the Top 25 this week and are 5-0 for the first time since 1991. Quarterback Eli Holstein, an Alabama transfer, looks like one of the best pieces of portal business this offseason. He’s eighth in the FBS at 313.4 passing yards per game and the first Pitt QB to win his first five starts since Dan Marino in 1979. Add transfer running back Desmond Reid and first-year offensive coordinator Kade Bell, and the new-look offense has turned Pitt into one of the early surprises of 2024. Cal and the Calgorithm make a cross-country trek looking to rebound from the high-to-low swing of last Saturday’s “College GameDay” atmosphere and late-night collapse against Miami.

Line: Pitt -3

9. No. 17 Boise State (4-1) at Hawaii (2-3), 11 p.m., Fubo, CBS Sports Network

Ashton Jeanty is reason enough to tune in for Boise State. The running back and Heisman hopeful leads the FBS with 1,031 rushing yards — 260 more than the next closest player — and 16 rushing touchdowns, averaging 10.9 yards per carry. That’s on top of the fact that the Broncos are in pole position among Group of 5 programs for a Playoff berth. Boise’s offense is third in the FBS at 8 yards per play (the equivalent of a subpar handoff to Jeanty) and first at 50.6 points per game. That should be more than enough to handle a Hawaii team that has yet to log an FBS victory, though the Rainbow Warriors have been respectable on defense. And with a bye week followed by a trip to UNLV on the horizon, the Broncos can’t afford to get caught looking ahead.

Line: Boise State -20.5

8. No. 16 Utah (4-1) at Arizona State (4-1), Friday, 10:30 p.m., Fubo, ESPN

Not to be confused with the other Big 12 game featuring a ranked team from Utah against a team from Arizona, but this one gets the nod in our list. The Utes, preseason favorites in the Big 12, will try to avoid a second conference loss on the road against the surprisingly feisty Sun Devils, a team defying its dead-last position in the league’s preseason poll. The never-ending Cam Rising injury saga continues as well, with Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham again noncommittal on the quarterback’s status for Saturday. The Big 12 race is already looking like the toss-up everyone expected, but two losses this early would put a real dent in Utah’s conference title ambitions.

Line: Utah -5.5

7. South Carolina (3-2) at No. 7 Alabama (4-1), Noon, Fubo, ABC

Big moment for the Tide. How will they respond to the loss at Vanderbilt, back home against a very hot-and-cold South Carolina? The Gamecocks beat Kentucky, should have beaten LSU, then managed only three points at home last Saturday against Ole Miss. But this is all about a humbled Alabama, featuring a defense that has been gashed since halftime of the Georgia game. Losing to Vanderbilt not only put Alabama on notice, but it will instill a level of confidence in every other team it faces this season — the type of confidence that was usually lacking from opponents when Nick Saban was on the sideline. Kalen DeBoer’s squad has Tennessee and Missouri waiting on the other side of this one, but it first needs to prove it can weather the scrutiny and bounce back.

Line: Alabama -21.5

6. No. 18 Kansas State (4-1) at Colorado (4-1), 10:15 p.m., Fubo, ESPN

A marquee, prime-time television window for Colorado against a ranked opponent that is sure to draw significant viewership numbers — be prepared for something wild to happen. Both teams are coming off bye weeks, before which Kansas State had a big win in the best performance of quarterback Avery Johnson’s young career, and the Buffs played arguably their best all-around game of the Deion Sanders era. This matchup is another critical one for the Big 12 race; similar to Utah, the Wildcats need to avoid picking up a second conference loss, while a win would assert Colorado as a legit contender for the league crown. And if recent history is any indication, expect Travis Hunter to do something to burnish his Heisman resume.

Line: Kansas State -3.5

5. No. 11 Iowa State (5-0) at West Virginia (3-2), 8 p.m., Fubo, Fox

Iowa State is quietly on the verge of a top-10 ranking, taking care of business in workmanlike fashion as chaos reigns supreme elsewhere. The Cyclones tend to lean on defense under Matt Campbell, and this year’s unit is again one of the best in the country. But a balanced offense is elevating this team to Playoff contention, led by steady redshirt sophomore Rocco Becht at quarterback and a pair of game-breaking receivers in Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins. West Virginia will look to play disruptor a week after rushing for almost 400 yards against Oklahoma State — and while wearing new black alternate uniforms for the program’s first-ever Coal Rush game.

Line: Iowa State -3

4. No. 4 Penn State (5-0) at USC (3-2), 3:30 p.m., Fubo, CBS

This feels like a massive prove-it game for both teams. USC fell out of the Top 25 after the loss to Minnesota, but if Penn State manages to fly across the country and get a victory against a big-name opponent, it will be a boost to that top-five ranking and the team’s Big Ten chances, with Ohio State at home the only currently ranked opponent left on the schedule. For the Trojans, a third loss would essentially be curtains for their season and put Lincoln Riley under the microscope. Yet a top-five win keeps Playoff hopes alive, with Notre Dame looming to end the regular season but no Ohio State or Oregon (or Indiana!) in league play.

Line: Penn State -4

3. No. 9 Ole Miss (5-1) at No. 13 LSU (4-1), 7:30 p.m., Fubo, ABC

Could be a barnburner: Both offenses rank in the top 20 nationally in yards per play. However, Ole Miss hasn’t been nearly as efficient the past two games, going a combined 4-for-23 on third down in the loss to Kentucky and win over South Carolina, and running the ball for only 3.3 yards a pop over those two games. The Rebels need to rediscover that top gear at what will be a rowdy Tiger Stadium. Save for a narrow escape at South Carolina, LSU hasn’t been tested too much beyond the season-opening loss to USC and could use a quality win. The victors here get to stay in the upper echelon of SEC and Playoff Contenders for another week, while the losers get kicked to the Pretenders bin.

Line: Ole Miss -3

2. No. 1 Texas (5-0) vs. No. 18 Oklahoma (4-1), 3:30 p.m., Fubo, ABC

It took a top-five showdown to keep the Red River rivalry from the top spot, but this matchup has rarely disappointed in recent years. Nine of the last 11 meetings, including the 2018 Big 12 Championship, have been decided by one score, though Oklahoma has won eight of those 11, including a quadruple-overtime victory in 2020 and last year’s last-minute upset. The two face off in Dallas for the 120th rendition of the rivalry and first as SEC foes. Quinn Ewers is back at quarterback for Texas after missing two-plus games, and his experience could be vital against an aggressive Sooners defense and its league-leading plus-eight turnover margin.

GO DEEPER

Texas to start Quinn Ewers vs. Oklahoma

Line: Texas -14.5

1. No. 2 Ohio State (5-0) at No. 3 Oregon (5-0), 7:30 p.m., Fubo, NBC

Our last top-five matchup was the Georgia-at-Alabama instant classic a couple of weeks ago, so this game has a lot to live up to. Oregon and Ohio State battle for the first time as conference opponents after the Ducks won the most recent tilt in Columbus in 2021, the program’s only win over the Buckeyes in 10 tries. There are major Big Ten and CFP implications in what should be a much-needed litmus test for both. Ohio State has glided to a 5-0 start in which Marshall tallied the most points against the Buckeyes all season with 14. Oregon’s trail hasn’t been as smooth, including a last-second win over Boise State. The offense has played better of late but is still below the lofty standard the Ducks established last season. Saturday should provide answers to whether Ohio State is a cut above in the Big Ten, or if Oregon is a legit national title candidate.

Line: Ohio State -3.5

 (Photo of Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson: Ian Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Reggie Jackson will always be “Mr. October” in the minds of baseball fans, but around these parts, that moniker could be attached to a lesser-known and little heralded Dodgers utility man who seems to do his best work on baseball’s biggest stage.

Kiké Hernández delivered his latest in a long line of autumnal blasts on Friday night, sending a 95-mph fastball from Yu Darvish deep into into the left-field pavilion for a solo home run in the second inning of a 2-0 National League Division Series-clinching Game 5 victory over the San Diego Padres.

And, just for good measure, Hernández moved from center field to third base in the ninth inning and made two nice plays on Donovan Solano and Fernando Tatis Jr. grounders, the latter ending a tense winner-take-all game and igniting wild celebrations of players on the mound and fans amid the sellout crowd of 53,183 in Chavez Ravine.

Not that his teammates expected anything less.

“Kiké hitting a home run and making big plays is probably the least surprising thing of the night,” Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux said amid pulsating hip-hop music, Champagne and beer showers and a haze of cigar smoke in a victorious clubhouse.

“In the bigger games, he’s always gonna show up. He’s got that look in his eyes that he’s gonna do something big, and this team feeds off of that.”

Hernández, who was acquired at the trade deadline in 2023 and returned to the Dodgers. on a one-year, $4-million deal last winter, is a career .238 hitter with a .713 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 11 big-league seasons. But in 75 postseason games, he’s batting .277 with an .899 OPS and 14 home runs, nine for the Dodgers.

“We’re in Los Angeles with some of the greatest athletes of all time, and those great ones aren’t afraid to fail,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Everyone knows Kiké loves the spotlight. Some people love it. Some people run from it.

“When you’re talking about this market, the postseason, people in [his native] Puerto Rico watching him all over the country, that’s when he’s at his best. This guy always rises to the occasion. The reason we got him this year was to win 11 games in October.”

Hernández didn’t always wear a cape in October. Way back in his first postseason for the Dodgers, in a 3-2 loss to the New York Mets in the decisive Game 5 of the division series, Hernández struck out in the first inning with runners on first and third and grounded into a double play with runners on first and third to end the third.

In 2016, Hernández went hitless in eight at-bats in an NL Championship Series loss to the Chicago Cubs.

“My first postseason, we lost [Game 5] by one run, and you go through scenarios of how the game could have gone differently — if I came through for my team, the game would have been different, and maybe we would have advanced,” Hernández said. “I went with that same mentality in 2016, and it didn’t go well for me.

“But in 2017, I had a completely different mindset. We had a great team, we were rolling, and the night before Game 5 of the NLCS, I switched gears for the first time and said, ‘I’m tired of feeling what if, what if.’ I went to bed thinking about how I’m going to answer questions because I had a great day to put the team in the World Series.”

The next night in Wrigley Field, Hernández hit three home runs and drove in seven runs in an 11-1 victory over the Cubs that sent the Dodgers into the World Series against the Houston Astros, “and I haven’t looked back since,” he said.

As much pregame work as Hernández puts in to prepare himself for the outfield and four infield positions and to keep his swing in shape, some of his most important work takes place between his ears, often the night before big games.

“You have to understand there’s only two ways it can go — you can either have success or you can fail — but you can’t be afraid of failure,” Hernández said. “You’ve got to want the moment, want the at-bat. But it’s very easy to see yourself failing in the postseason, and the anxiety, the self-doubt, all these things start creeping into your mind.

Kiké Hernández, center, celebrates with Mookie Betts, left, and Teoscar Hernández after hitting a solo home run for the Dodgers in the second inning against the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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“That’s why I am such a strong believer in the power of visualizing the night before the game. Whenever those doubts come in, I visualize myself having success over and over again. You get to the field the next day, and you’ve already seen the day happen. So nothing overwhelms you. No moment gets too big.”

Hernández, who moved into the starting lineup after shortstop Miguel Rojas aggravated his left-adductor injury in Game 3 and singled twice in an 8-0 Game 4 victory, doesn’t hog those visualization techniques for himself.

“Kiké told me before the game that me and him are gonna be the first players with the same last name go yard in a playoff game, and we did it,” said outfielder Teoscar Hernández, whose solo shot in the seventh gave the Dodgers a huge insurance run. “I believe in him. He believes in me. I believe in myself, and we enjoyed today.”

A pregame decision to follow his gut — and not necessarily the team’s scouting report — contributed to Kiké Hernández’s home run.

“I was talking to the hitting guys and I was like, ‘I think we gotta be on the fastball against Yu — he’s got way too many pitches to cover, and if you’re sitting off-speed, he’s got like five off-speed pitches,’ ” Hernández said. “They were pretty strongly disagreeing with me. I’m glad I proved them wrong.”

Hernández jumped on Darvish’s first-pitch fastball on the inner-half and sent a 109.2-mph drive 428 feet into the left-field seats. Always the prankster, Hernández grabbed the groin of third-base coach Dino Ebel on his trot. After the game, he was so excited he dropped an expletive during an on-field Fox Sports television interview.

“I kept telling myself, ‘They brought you here for a reason, they brought you here to play in October,’ and I wanted to come back to make a run with this team, because I really want to have a parade,” Hernández said. “I knew that whether it was on defense or at the plate, I was gonna find a way to win this game for us.”

KANSAS CITY — It was just an allusion, still too early in October to bookmark the clip for history. But it’s a familiar and comforting visual that has preceded champagne before: with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a New York Yankees center fielder in a gray uniform glides to his right to track a fly ball, then squeezes it to end a postseason series.

Two dozen years ago, it was Bernie Williams at Shea Stadium. This time it was Aaron Judge in Kansas City, snagging a routine fly from Yuli Gurriel, pumping his fist and pointing to the sky. Onward they go.

Get ready for chicken buckets in the Bronx!

The @Yankees are heading back to the #ALCS!

(MLB x @BudweiserUSA) #CLINCHED pic.twitter.com/JrFHzavHIF

— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2024

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The Yankees finished off the Kansas City Royals in Game 4 on Thursday, 3-1 on the scoreboard and 3-1 in games for this American League Division Series. They are the second MLB team to earn an invitation to the league championship series and, yes, they’re aware of the other: the New York Mets.

“It’s going to be definitely a fun time in New York, man,” Judge said, after the usual boozy revelry in the visitors clubhouse. “They’re having a great season, and it’s going to be fun to look forward to, down the road, getting a chance to face them again.”

For the Yankees and Mets, those roads rarely converge this time of year. In the 55 seasons of LCS play, this will be just the third to feature both the Yankees and Mets. You might remember the others: 1999, when only the Yankees won, and 2000, when New York City had the World Series all to itself.

The Mets and the Yankees met for five thrillers, each decided by one or two runs. The series was purely delectable, right until the waiter took your plate too soon. When Williams caught Mike Piazza’s drive to end Game 5, it left fans starving for more.

We’re still hungry — at least in New York, where the World Series seemed like a birthright in the years before expansion. From Game 1 in 1949 through Game 2 in 1957, 44 of a possible 48 World Series games took place in New York. It couldn’t have been much fun for the rest of the country, but in the land of Yankees, Giants and Dodgers, it must have been a delight.

Lately, the World Series has mostly taken place elsewhere: 80 of the last 83 games have been staged outside of New York, dating to the Yankees’ last championship in 2009. The Mets reached the World Series in 2015, but the Yankees have dropped their last five appearances in the ALCS, three with Judge as their centerpiece.

“It means everything,” Judge said of this latest chance. “Since I’ve been here with the Yankees, we haven’t secured a pennant. The group that we have, how special this is — just excited for this opportunity. It’s going to be something special.”

The Yankees’ last division series victory was a choppy, waterlogged mess: five games in eight exhausting days against Cleveland in 2022. They had no days off before a series with the Houston Astros, then the defending AL champions, who had three days to rest and rolled to a sweep.

This time, the Yankees will be rested, their opponent rushed. By winning here on Thursday, the Yankees earned a three-day break before Game 1 in the Bronx on Monday against the Guardians or Tigers, who will settle their ALDS on Saturday in Cleveland.

“In ’22 we kind of limped into it a little bit,” manager Aaron Boone said, recalling the late-season injuries and punishing division series. “I remember getting into Houston middle of the night — not an excuse, but I feel like we’re in a better place right now, just from a roster standpoint, health standpoint.

“But you get to this point, now we’ll be down to the final four. Everyone is feeling pretty good about their teams. That’s the case for me.”

The Yankees are doing what good teams should in October: protecting late leads, playing solid defense and wearing down the other team’s pitchers. The bullpen spun 15 2/3 scoreless innings against Kansas City, novice first basemen Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera played flawlessly, and Yankees hitters drew 27 walks — while striking out just 28 times — against a Royals staff that had prided itself on control.

“The way that the whole lineup was able to work at-bats, make the pitchers work and get the next guy up,” catcher Austin Wells said. “That’s been what we’re trying to do here, so I think (we’ve) done a really good job.”

The Yankees never trailed in two games here, but the opener last Saturday was the first postseason game ever with five lead changes. The Yankees prevailed that night, and that’s what Judge cited when asked what gives him the most optimism now.

“I think (it goes) back to that first game,” he said. “We faced a lot of adversity in the regular season, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of tough times, a lot of good times. To come away with the best record in the AL was huge for us, and then you go to the first game where they punch us, we punch them, they punch us back, we take back the lead. Just a lot of back and forth, which that’s what’s going to happen in the postseason.

“You guys have been watching the postseason and what’s been going on. Just a lot of lead changes and who can keep throwing punches when you’re getting beat on. A lot of fight out of these guys. Just never quit.”

It’s the same story with the Mets, who staged comeback victories in their postseason clincher in Atlanta, both of their first-round wins in Milwaukee, and two of their NLDS victories against the Phillies.

The Yankees are not surprised. They revere the Mets’ manager, Carlos Mendoza, who coached on Boone’s staff for six seasons before switching boroughs last fall.

“I knew he was fully ready for that job,” Boone said. “Connects well with people. He’s obviously bilingual and he’s very good at communicating with anyone. You realize what a good dude he is, and you recognize his intelligence, too. So he’s just the real deal.”

Imagine a World Series pitting Boone and a protégé; the Steinbrenners and the Cohens; the homegrown sluggers (Judge and Pete Alonso); the imports who seem made for New York (Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor); the Bleacher Creatures and that Grimace creature.

OK, so we don’t even know the LCS matchups quite yet. Four other teams are also desperate to crash the stage in late October. But for right now — for a New York minute, you might say — the only ones who know they’ll be playing for the pennant are the Mets and Yankees.

A Subway Series? In 2024, they could make it there.

The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty contributed to this story.
(Top photo of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto in July: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)