As the NFL season heads into its final few weeks, the jockeying for playoff position is getting more intense.There are three teams grouped at the top of the NFC, and with the Lions and Vikings poised to face off in week 18, and the Eagles coming off a tough loss in Washington on Sunday, it looks like the road through the NFC could run through the north.Meanwhile in the AFC, the Chiefs and Bills held serve. Buffalo survived an early scare from the Patriots, and Kansas City scared us all by taking no precautions with Patrick Mahomes against the Texans (of course it worked out).So today ESPN sports analytics writer Seth Walder and Ben Solak dig into the numbers to explain all of the postseason machinations in play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After months of games, upsets, rankings, arguments and prognostications – the College Football Playoff is finally here. And tonight the race for the national championship starts in earnest in the heart of college football: Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.That showdown between Indiana and Notre Dame is just an appetizer for a full meal of games this weekend that could somehow create more questions than answers as we enter year one of this new 12-team bracket.So today, our intrepid expert Ryan McGee joins us to break down the first round and beyond in the CFP and also tells us why he hopes we will soon say bye-bye to all these byes.Check out the playlist, featuring our favorite stories of 2024.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 1970s were a tough decade for the New York Jets. After winning the Super Bowl in 1969, they quickly became the laughing stock in the NFL, unable to post a single winning season throughout the decade.But in 1981, four promising young defensive lineman changed everything. Mark Gastineau, Adbul Salaam, Marty Lyons and Joe Klecko became such a prolific force on the Jets defense that they earned the moniker ‘The New York Sack Exchange’.These players are the subject of the newest ESPN 30 for 30 Film 'The New York Sack Exchange' which debuted last Friday, and is available right now on ESPN +.Today Rich Cimini, a Jets beat reporter for ESPN, and a lifelong Long Islander, gives host David Dennis Jr. the inside scoop on the New York Sack Exchange. He describes the interpersonal tension that brewed alongside their incredible success on the field, and explores a legacy that persists to this day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's hard to believe that Indiana, which has lost more college football games than any other FBS program, has earned a spot in the inaugural twelve team college football playoff. And no matter what happens in their instate showdown with Notre Dame Friday night, it's already been a dream season for head coach Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers. A decade ago, Cignetti made a risky bet on himself, moving from a title-winning assistant role under Nick Saban at Alabama to head coach at little-known IU-Pennsylvania. But now his confident style has completely changed the culture in Bloomington. Today, Adam Rittenberg joins Harry Lyles Jr. to introduce us to the man himself and explain how Cignetti’s already thinking far past this season, with a vision to make Indiana a powerhouse for years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It started out as a rumor — one that most people thought was a joke — but now it’s all very, very real: Bill Belichick is the new head coach of the University of North Carolina football team.Just what would make someone with eight Super Bowl rings decide that an ACC afterthought should be the next stop in his career? And while many people could argue that the transfer portal and NIL deals are making the college game look more like the NFL every year, there is still one more important question: Can someone with a notoriously frigid demeanor handle the glad-handing and booster-hugging world of NCAA football?Ryan McGee joins host David Dennis, Jr. to answer all those questions and to spell out just what a Belchick Era in Chapel Hill might look like and also to remind everyone that there’s nowhere to go but up for a team that hasn’t really mattered for over a century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After 15 weeks of NFL football, the playoff picture is becoming more clear. But almost as important as who is going to get in, is how they are going to get there. We saw both the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks finish their games with questions about the health of their signal callers.While in Detroit, the Lions, already seriously injured on defense, suffered through more pain in a loss to the Buffalo Bills.But that’s what happens at this time of year. Nobody is playing healthy. Except for Ben Solak and ESPN sports analytics writer Seth Walder. Ben switches into the hosts chair, while Seth subs in as guest. The pair make sure you understand how the action unfolded on Sunday, and why it went down the way that it did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Few rivalries are as bitter as the ones that exist between two teams in one city. Ask New York Mets fans and New York Yankees fans, where the hatred can divide households. Or Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox fans whose team alliances mix with the pride in their neighborhoods. While out west, Los Angeles Lakers fans play the big brother, to their neglected stepsiblings, Los Angeles Clippers fans.Well across the pond on Sunday, in the United Kingdom, Manchester will be the site of one of those rivalries as Manchester United and Manchester City will meet in the Manchester Derby for the 195th time.Today Luis Miguel Echegaray, himself a former resident of the U.K., describes how these two clubs have defined the city for decades, and explores the modern challenges each of them are facing on and off the pitch, before explaining to Michele Steele how Liverpool is perched atop the Premier League standings, happy with whatever outcome emerges.You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2008, Lisa Salters reported an E60 documentary called Blood Brothers about the family of former NBA star Carlos Boozer and their quest to save their son, Carmani, from sickle cell disease.But it turns out that journey was just the tip of the iceberg, because in April of this year — 16 years later — Blood Brothers was back on for a very different reason.ESPN NBA Draft Analyst Jonathan Givony joins host David Dennis, Jr. to take us through Lisa and E60’s reporting from 2008 and April of this year, and explain how a story of medical triumph ultimately landed in his own jurisdiction as the Boozer’s younger sons, twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer, became top NBA draft prospects.You can stream the E60 Documentary Blood Brothers on ESPN+.You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The field for the College Football Playoff is set and with a new expanded 12-team format, this looks to be the most exciting path to the title that we have ever seen.And as we are quickly reminded, no matter how big the playoff bracket gets, someone is always going to be left out, and that someone is always going to have something to say about it.But what about those other 36 bowls? The ones that have nothing to do with winning a national title? Are they nothing more than a big show of pomp, circumstance and giant Pop Tarts?David Hale joins David Dennis Jr. to tell us what we can expect to see this bowl season, and beyond, as college football, in its second century of tradition, is evolving faster than it ever has.You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tim Bontemps, ESPN NBA analyst, joins to dissect the NBA Cup's second year, which is ramping up excitement early in the season. He highlights the intense rivalry between the Mavericks and Thunder as they seek revenge after a playoff clash. The New York Knicks are evolving with a high-powered offense but need to shore up their defense. Stephen Curry's resilience is crucial for the Warriors, while the youthful Rockets are generating buzz. Tune in for insights on which teams might truly contend for the title!