Football season doesn’t slow down, and Week 5 in college proved it again. We saw playoff contenders rise, others stumble, and plenty of swings that mattered to bettors. On Sunday, Week 4 of the NFL brought its usual mix of chaos — big wins, ugly mistakes, and bets that turned on one play. From Saturday’s shake-ups to Sunday’s wild finishes, here’s a look at who impressed, who disappointed, and what it all means going forward from a betting angle. Keep reading for some Week 5 college football and Week 4 NFL winners and losers.
College Football Week 5: Winners
Alabama Crimson Tide (and Kalen DeBoer, Ryan Grubb, and Ty Simpson)
After Alabama’s Week 1 loss to Florida State, a lot of people were calling for DeBoer’s job. However, the Crimson Tide are now 3-1 after rolling into Athens and earning a 24-21 victory over the Bulldogs. Suddenly, DeBoer’s seat isn’t nearly as hot, and he can dump some more cold water on it by earning a convincing win over Vanderbilt on Saturday. Last year’s loss to the Commodores was what really started the Tide’s downfall.
Alabama’s offense was brilliant against Georgia. Ty Simpson threw for 276 yards with two touchdowns, and he added another score on the ground. He’s now second on the oddsboard to win the Heisman Trophy at DraftKings Sportsbook, and he’s really looking awesome pressing the buttons in the Ryan Grubb offense. Speaking of Grubb, he’s in his bag as he calls the shots for a Tide team that is now tied for seventh in the nation in Adjusted EPA per play (0.24). If there’s any question as to whether or not he’s feeling himself right now, go watch the screen pass he called for lineman Kadyn Proctor last week.
Bobby Petrino Halloween Costumes
I don’t have much to say about this one, and it certainly doesn’t apply to betting. But Sam Pittman was fired after Arkansas got destroyed by Notre Dame on Saturday, and Petrino is somehow the designated survivor in Fayetteville. Petrino was the head coach at Arkansas from 2008-2011, so it’ll be interesting to see him as the main man on the sidelines again. But it’ll be more interesting to see if there’s a second wave of Petrino Halloween costumes. After his motorcycle incident in 2012, people put together some clever portrayals of him.
Ole Miss Rebels
Can Ole Miss avoid taking a bad loss the rest of the way? If so, Lane Kiffin’s Rebels will make the College Football Playoff. Ole Miss’ 24-19 win over LSU in Week 5 was monumental. The Rebels are now 5-0 with a win over a highly-ranked program, giving the Rebels one of the better resumes in the nation as we approach the season’s halfway mark. Perhaps most importantly, Ole Miss’ Adjusted EPA per play allowed is -0.11, giving the Rebels the type of defense they need to make sure they don’t waste another elite offense. Now, the only thing left for Kiffin to do is embrace Trinidad Chambliss as the team’s starter. Kiffin continues to insist that Austin Simmons is the team’s QB1, but Chambliss just threw for 314 yards and a touchdown against a good LSU defense. He also added 71 yards with his legs. I don’t see how he can turn away from the dynamic dual-threat talent now.
Oregon Ducks (and Dante Moore)
Dan Lanning has done nothing but win since taking the Oregon job, but Saturday’s win felt super impressive — even with the high standards he has set with the Ducks. Lanning’s Oregon team is very talented this year, but it’s also very young. Meanwhile, Penn State is loaded with upperclassmen, and the Nittany Lions were playing at home with a “whited out” crowd. Nobody would have looked down on the Ducks if they went into Happy Valley and came up short. Instead, Oregon earned one of the most impressive wins of the season, edging Penn State out in overtime. Sophomore quarterback Dante Moore also passed the biggest test of his young career, throwing for 248 yard with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also made some big plays with his legs. Moore is now the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy at DK, as he has thrown for 1,210 yards with 14 touchdowns and only one pick. And if Moore can turn in a solid performance in a win over Indiana in two weeks, the award very well could be his. That’s the biggest obstacle remaining on the Ducks schedule.
College Football Week 5: Losers
Florida State Seminoles
I have been hyping up Florida State all year, so it’s only right that I get on them after a bad loss. And that’s exactly what Friday’s defeat at Virginia was. The Seminoles were only favored by a touchdown in that game, and sharp bettors were flocking to the Cavaliers side. But no matter what the situation was, that was a game Florida State needed to win. This is a Seminoles team that earned a home win over the Crimson Tide, and they had a chance to go into next week’s meeting with Miami undefeated. That would have been a massive game for them when looking at the College Football Playoff landscape. Of course, Florida State can still win that game and make themselves appealing to the committee. But for the first time this year, the Seminoles have some question marks. Virginia had 440 yards of total offense in that game, and Florida State made Chandler Morris look like Michael Vick. Will Tony White find a way to fix his defense before facing a Miami team that is very good offensively?
Indiana Hoosiers bettors
It’s hard not to feel bad for anybody that laid 6.5 or 7 with Indiana in Week 5. The Hoosiers went up 20-13 on a touchdown pass from Fernando Mendoza to Elijah Sarratt with 1:28 left in the fourth quarter. Indiana followed it up with a quick stop on Iowa’s attempt to tie the game up. So, the Hoosiers had the ball in the final seconds of the game, and they ultimately got faced with a fourth-and-19 with three seconds remaining. Curt Cignetti, who isn’t paid to care about angry gamblers, then told Mendoza to hike the ball, run backwards, and take a safety to kill the rest of the clock. Many have noted that Mendoza could have just gone down in the field of play, and the quarterback himself said, “I know I really cooked people’s spreads. My apologies out to them.” But the damage was done.
It should, however, be noted that Indiana closed as a favorite of anywhere between 7.5 and 8.5 points, so this isn’t exactly something that impacted all Hoosiers bettors. Also, Iowa was neck and neck with Indiana for 58 minutes, so the Hawkeyes were the right side.
LSU Tigers offense
What the heck is going on with the LSU offense? LSU averaged 30+ points in three straight seasons heading into this year, and the Tigers were the highest-scoring offense (45.5 points per game) in college football three seasons ago. Well, this year, LSU is averaging only 27.0 points per game, and it was a 56-point outing against SE Louisiana that drove that number up. After last week’s loss to Ole Miss, the Tigers have now scored 24 or fewer points in four of their last five games. LSU is also outside the top-50 in EPA per play (0.09). This Tigers team, with Garrett Nussmeier at quarterback and a whole arsenal of dangerous pass catchers, was supposed to be unstoppable on this side of the ball. But right now, LSU’s offense is the reason this team has a loss. It’s also the reason it’s getting harder to believe in the Tigers as national championship contenders.
NFL Week 4: Winners
Ashton Jeanty
Fire up the Undertaker memes because there’s life for Jeanty Offensive Rookie of the Year bettors. After rushing for 144 yards on 47 carries in the first three weeks of the season, Jeanty exploded for 138 yards and a score on 21 carries in a Week 4 loss to Chicago. He also caught a seven-yard pass from Geno Smith for the game’s first touchdown. The No. 6 pick looked comfortable in every facet of the game, and a 64-yard touchdown in the second quarter showed that his homer hitting ability on the ground is still in there. Of course, the Bears defense is just 21st in the NFL in Rush EPA per play allowed (-0.044), so this wasn’t a breakout against a strong opponent. But this felt like a good shooter breaking a slump by getting to the free throw line and seeing the ball go through the hoop. Let’s see if he can build on it when the Bears take on the Commanders after a Week 5 bye, but Jeanty is back to being the favorite to win OROY at DraftKings Sportsbook.
New York Giants
Brian Daboll was seemingly itching to start Jaxson Dart, the team’s 25th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. However, the presence of Russell Wilson made it difficult. Well, Wilson’s slow start to the season allowed Daboll, who is on the hot seat in New York, to make the switch for Week 4. And while Dart wasn’t perfect under center, he did total two touchdowns in an upset win over an undefeated Los Angeles team. Dart has some work to do as a passer, but he avoided costly mistakes and made tons of plays with his legs. And overall, he gave the team some much-needed juice, and the crowd fed off all of that. New York will now look for two wins in a row when it heads to New Orleans for a meeting with the Saints. That’s not a guaranteed win or anything, but the Giants will like their chances. And overall, this team could be a little more competitive moving forward.
NFL Week 4: Losers
Adonai Mitchell Anytime TD bettors
The Indiana beat was probably the worst of the weekend, as more people bet on college football games than they do Anytime TD plays on third or fourth receiving options in the NFL. But I can’t even imagine what it most have felt like to be holding a +450 ticket for Mitchell to find the end zone. The 22-year-old made one of the plays of the year, coming down with an outrageous contested catch before breaking free and streaking for a potential score. However, Mitchell dropped the ball an inch before the goal line when he was trying to transfer it to one hand and reach it across. The result was a touchback through the back of the end zone, and to make matters worse the Colts lost by seven. For what it’s worth, this fumble wasn’t as dumb as some of the ones in which guys have just dropped the ball on purpose on their way in. He fully intended to run into the end zone with it. But it was still a bone-headed move and people surely lost out on some nice paydays because of it.
By the way, it wouldn’t have been great to be a Tucker Kraft first TD (11-1) or Anytime TD (+200) ticket holder either. He went down at the one-yard line twice in the Sunday Night Football game.
Baltimore Ravens
Things are getting really ugly in Baltimore. After a 37-20 beatdown at the hands of an average Kansas City team, John Harbaugh’s squad is now 1-3 on the year. The Ravens are 29th in the league in EPA per play allowed (0.149), which is problematic for a unit that was billed as a huge strength before the season. Last year, Baltimore also got off to a very slow start defensively, but coordinator Zach Orr was able to figure things out and turn his group into a top-five defense down the stretch. Will he able to do the same this season?
The Ravens have a manageable four-game stretch coming up: vs. Texans, vs. Rams, vs. Bears, at Dolphins. So, they really should be over .500 by mid-November. But it’s hard to buy into this team as a serious contender after seeing the way the defense got carved up by Buffalo, Detroit, and Kansas City. Injuries are also piling up in a hurry. Lamar Jackson tweaked his hamstring against the Chiefs, causing him to come out in the third quarter. He’ll probably be fine, but Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, Ronnie Stanley, and Nate Wiggins are all banged up after Week 4. Nnamdi Madubuike is also out for the season with a neck injury.
Brian Callahan
To quote one of the Bobs in Office Space, “What would you say you do here?” The Titans hired Callahan after a five-year stint with the Bengals, where he worked as an offensive coordinator under Zac Taylor. Cincinnati was successful in Callahan’s time with the franchise, even earning a spot in Super Bowl LVI. However, Taylor was the play caller for those Bengals teams. So, Callahan didn’t have nearly as much experience as most offensive coordinators do, yet he was hired to fix a broken Titans offense — and specifically 2023 second-round pick Will Levis. Well, Levis threw 12 picks in 12 games in 2024, the Titans were 27th in scoring offense (18.3 points per game), and they were 30th in EPA per play (-0.104). Things went so poorly in Callahan’s first season that Tennessee got the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and the team drafted Levis’ replacement, Cam Ward. Well, four games into this new season, things have only gotten worse. Tennessee is averaging a league-worst 12.8 points per game, the team is last in the league in EPA per play (-0.237), and Callahan has had to give up play calling.
The Titans also hit rock bottom in Week 4, losing 26-0 against a previously winless Texans team. After the game, Ward said his team is playing like “a**.” Simply put: Tennessee is the worst team in football, by far. And this offensive-minded coach currently has one of the worst offenses in recent history. Don’t be surprised if Callahan gets canned soon, and you should continue to fade this Titans team however you can.
