• If Ohio State gets greedy and demands more in media rights, that could threaten to disrupt the Big Ten.
• Hypothetical talks of a super league would gain steam if big brands like Ohio State get unhappy with conference structure.
• Ohio State president points to Buckeyes’ television viewership as sign of its worth.

So, this is how Big Ten football withers. This is how college football’s super-conference power structure dies. With an act of Ohio State greed.

How appropriate, within an industry guided by a get-mine, forget-you philosophy.

The past few years have included blue-sky ideation about the possibility of an elitist College Football League emerging that uplifts the crème de la crème to a higher stratosphere.

Enacting such a change would require the sport’s biggest brands to untether themselves from the existing conference structure.

PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter

Currently, a collection of 34 schools in the Big Ten and the SEC plus Notre Dame wield the power. But, what would happen if schools like Ohio State say, “Who needs the Big Ten? We’re bigger than the Big Ten.”

We might be only a few years from finding out.

Wildfires start with a spark, and a spark toward super-conference disruption came this week. Ohio State President Ted Carter alluded during an interview with USA TODAY that the Buckeyes could be deserving of a richer revenue distribution from the Big Ten.

The logic goes like this: A couple of Big Ten schools like Ohio State are much more valuable than the rest of the conference. These mega brands command the highest television ratings. So, why shouldn’t those schools get a greater percentage of the conference revenue distribution?

“There’s only a couple of schools that really represent the biggest brands in the Big Ten, and you can see that by the TV viewership,” Carter told USA TODAY during a wide-ranging interview.

Ohio State greed would be a spark for potential change

Carter gave no ultimatums, and we should note he said “we’re a proud member of the Big Ten, and that’s where we’re going to stay.”

But, let’s be real, the thinking that Ohio State deserves a larger Big Ten media-rights payout than most of its conference cohorts is the first step toward: Why does Ohio State need the Big Ten at all?

Carter drew attention to the whopper television ratings from Ohio State’s season opener against Texas on Fox.

“That’s what happens when you put the Ohio State brand out there,” Carter said.

That’s what happens when you put Texas and a Manning out there, too. No matter a quarterback’s surname, though, games featuring top brands like Ohio State and Texas offer ratings bonanzas.

So, you could see how Ohio State’s thinking might jump to: When Ohio State plays a smaller brand like Purdue, why shouldn’t the Buckeyes receive a higher media-rights payout from that game than Purdue?

If you’re wondering how unequal revenue sharing would be good for Purdue (or Minnesota, Rutgers, or any of the conference’s other smaller brands), well, it wouldn’t be.

But, do you think Ohio State cares about playing nice with the Big Ten’s underbelly? Not when there’s another dollar to be made and another championship to be bought.

Conference realignment coming in the 2030s, or a big-school breakaway?

Schools like Purdue wouldn’t have to agree to unequal revenue sharing, but if the Big Ten’s undercard takes a stand against Ohio State, what’s to stop the Buckeyes from ditching Purdue and its kind altogether?

Why bother with the Big Ten, when Ohio State could take a place at the vanguard of forming an elitist super league?

Get mine, forget you.

Get fellow mega-brand Michigan on board, and a spark becomes a flame.

Power Four conferences are locked into media rights deals that extend into the 2030s. Those deals help bind schools to conferences. Many have speculated the next major round of conference realignment will occur when those TV deals wind down.

But, perhaps that’s old-school thinking. New-school thinking is that the sport’s biggest brands will ditch their conferences, band together within an elitist super league, and strike a rich media deal to create games like Texas-Ohio State on the regular.  

Under the Big Ten’s current media rights deal, most members receive an equal revenue share. Oregon and Washington are exceptions. They accepted a smaller revenue share until July 1, 2030, in exchange for a Big Ten invite during the last round of realignment.

All SEC members receive equal distribution, too, meaning Vanderbilt and Mississippi State receive an equal share to Texas and Alabama.

If you’re a fan of Northwestern or Vanderbilt or any of the other smaller-branded schools in a super conference, the idea of a breakaway elitist league ought to terrify you.

The SEC affords Vanderbilt some notion of athletics relevance. And a nice paycheck, too. Same for the Big Ten and Northwestern. But, do you think the Buckeyes and their television partners give a rip about Northwestern and their kind being in a super league?

Not a chance, unless perhaps they’re willing to accept pennies on the dollar.

Equal revenue distribution is generally viewed as a positive for conference cohesion. The past iteration of the Big 12 catered to Texas, its richest brand, and how’d that work out? The conference came unglued, and the Longhorns eventually left anyway.

In this get mine, forget you, world of college football, leave it to a deep-pocketed, big-branded bully like Ohio State to demand even more cash.

Ohio State lacks the threat of leaving for another conference.

But, who needs conferences? That’s old thinking. A greedy wildfire could consume that structure. A spark came this week.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

Well, as painful and excruciating as this collapse may be for the New York Mets, they can at least take solace that they spared baseball the embarrassment of not having a single postseason race in the National League.

While the Philadelphia Phillies have buried the Mets in the NL East, the Milwaukee Brewers have a stranglehold on the NL Central Division, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have created some separation from the San Diego Padres in the NL West, there is the wild card race.

Well, one spot, at least.

The Chicago Cubs, with the second-best record in baseball, are positioned to be the top wild team in the NL with home-field advantage in the wild-card round.

The Padres, despite losing 11 of their last 16 games with their offense disappearing into the Pacific, still have a three-game lead over the Mets for the second wild-card spot.

And then, there are the Mets.

Remember three months ago to almost the day on June 12 when they had the best record in baseball, 45-29, with a 5 ½ game lead in the NL East?

Ok, how about two weeks ago when they swept the Phillies at Citi Field, moving to within just four games of the Phillies, after Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was declared out for the season?

Well, here they are now, with the fourth-worst record in baseball since June 13, losing nine of their last 13 games after being bludgeoned three consecutive games by the Phillies (21-5).

“We’ve got a group of guys that we feel like can make a deep run,’ Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who has a league-leading 50 homers, told reporters. And that’s what we want to do.”

The Mets will gladly accept an invitation to the October party, at this point.

Their safety net of at getting into the postseason as the third and final wild-card team now is in dire danger, thanks to a 31-46 record since June 13.

Their collapse has been so stunning that two of the teams that surrendered at the trade deadline, waving the white flag by trading away top players, suddenly are back from the dead.

The San Francisco Giants, who traded two of their best relievers at the deadline, going 9-23 from the All-Star break to Aug. 22, are now just sitting two games back of the Mets after winning 13 of their last 17 games.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, who gave away their best power-hitter, their best starter, their best reliever, their starting first baseman and their DH, are 3 ½ games back, despite having a losing record (73-74).

The St. Louis Cardinals, who also dumped at the deadline by trading away closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets and pitcher Steven Matz to the Red Sox, even are hanging around at 4 games back with their losing record.

And then there are those Cincinnati Reds, whose obituary was written every other week in their hometown, including as late as last weekend, are in the best position of all the teams chasing the Mets.

They are sitting only two games back but considering they have the tiebreaker over the Mets, it’s really a one-game deficit. The Reds also have a favorable schedule with nine games against the Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, with three games apiece against the Cubs and Brewers.

“We’ve been through a really tough stretch,’’ Reds manager Terry Francona says. “We’re still alive. Until they make you go home, they keep playing.’

So here we are, four teams for one spot, a race where mediocrity reigns.

Just look at their records since July 27:

• Diamondbacks: 22-19
• Giants: 20-20.
• Reds: 18-22
• Mets. 14-26

“We put ourselves in this position,’ Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters.

And for everyone hoping for at least a semblance of drama in the final weeks of the National League, the baseball world can only say, “Thank you.’’

The Mets’ starting rotation, outside of David Peterson (9-5, 3.72 ERA) and a trio of rookies they called up the last month, has gone belly-up. Ace Kodai Senga is in the minor leagues trying to figure out what’s gone wrong after yielding a 5.90 ERA in his last nine starts. Sean Manaea is yielding a 7.71 ERA in his past seven starts. Frankie Montas is undergoing Tommy John surgery. Clay Holmes, who has already pitched twice as many innings as a year ago, hasn’t pitched longer than 5 ⅓ innings in 15 of his last 16 starts, lasting just four innings on Wednesday. Their pitching staff that had MLB’s lowest ERA at 2.83 ERA on June 12, has since yielded a 5.09 ERA, fourth-worst in baseball.

Their starters can’t even get into the fifth inning, their staff ERA is 5.31, fourth-worst in the NL, and by the time the offense gets going, it’s far too late.

The Mets have trailed in 62 games entering the ninth inning this season.

They have lost all of them, last winning on Pete Alonso’s dramatic game-winning homer in last year’s wild-card series against the Brewers.

“Nothing,’ Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, “seems to be working for us.’

The Mets will have 15 remaining games entering the weekend, but nine are against contenders with the Texas Rangers, Padres and Cubs.

They need to turn it around in a hurry to avoid this year’s $340 million team becoming a revised version of the “The Worst Team Money Can Buy.’’

NL Central

While the Brewers’ lead over the Cubs melted down to 5 ½ games after being swept by the Texas Rangers, the only real suspense they face is keeping ahead of the Phillies for home-field advantage in not only the National League, but all of baseball.

The Brewers still have a three-game lead over the Phillies since they own the tiebreaker advantage, but it was six games entering the week. Still, the Brewers should have no problem. They play nine of their last 15 games in Milwaukee, including nine against the Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels. They finish the season with a three-game series against the Reds, which could decide the Reds’ fate.

“There’s no world in which we thought this was going to be an easy thing,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold told Milwaukee reporters. “What we’re trying to do is very, very difficult. This time of year, you can feel it. Hopefully, there is more good baseball ahead of us.”

The Cubs, who put All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker and reliever Danny Palencia on the injured list this week, have the luxury of coasting these last 15 games. They realistically can’t catch the Brewers for the division title, but know that they aren’t in any real danger of not winning the top wild-card berth, meaning that the best-of-three wild-card series would be played at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs may not have a dominant No. 4 starter, but with the NL postseason schedule this year, they wouldn’t need a fourth starter until the NLCS. They’ll certainly take their chances with ace Shota Imanaga, rookie Caleb Horton and Matthew Boyd.

NL West

The Dodgers, with a luxury-tax payroll of nearly $400 million, proved to the baseball world this season that they didn’t ruin the sport.

They won’t break the Seattle Mariners’ modern-day record of 116 victories.

They won’t even win 100 games.

Still, they will almost certainly the division, taking a three-game lead into the final 15 games over the Padres, which in essence is a four-game lead since they own the tiebreaker.

Yet, they are getting healthy, and hot, at just the right time, letting everyone know the World Series title still goes through Los Angeles.

Their rotation just struck out 49 batters in the last five games while limiting the opposition to a .091 batting average. It’s the only time in the modern era any team’s starters have recorded that many strikeouts with a sub-.100 batting average over five games in history, according to OptaSTATS.

The Dodgers’ biggest concern is the bullpen. They gave Tanner Scott a four-year, $72 million contract to be their closer, and he has a 4.47 ERA with nine blown saves. Kirby Yates, who received a one-year, $13 million contract, was supposed to be their setup man, and has a 4.71 ERA. Blake Treinen, who has appeared in only 24 games, has a 4.05 ERA. And Brock Stewart, their only bullpen acquisition at the deadline, is on the injured list.

The Dodgers, with six starters and needing only three in the first two rounds, leaving manager Dave Roberts trying to decide who goes into the pen. They have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw and Emmet Sheehan. Yamamoto, Snell and Glasnow have each averaged 4 ⅔ innings in their postseason starts, and Kershaw has not pitched six innings in a postseason start since 2020.

The way Roberts figures it, they’ve still got time to figure it out, just like they did a year ago when they had only three starters, but were the last team standing while spraying champagne at Yankee Stadium.

“You’re talking about winning 11 games in October,” Roberts told reporters. “Getting there, obviously, but guys you can trust in that hotbox of moments. There’s experience that certainly matters. It does. But talent and performance and the recency matters, too.”

Meanwhile, the Padres have to remedy their offensive woes if they’re going to have a chance to play past the first few days of October. They have lost 11 of their last 16 games, and scored just three runs in their last two games against the Reds, going 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

All-Star third baseman Manny Machado is particularly struggling, hitting .193 with a .552 OPS with three homers since Aug. 1.

“It sucks that it’s happening at this moment,” Machado told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “But it’s part of the game. As long as we’re winning games and we’re in a good spot, that’s all that matters. Doesn’t matter what I’m doing. My stats don’t matter. It’s about winning ballgames at the end of the day.’’

The Padres aren’t doing a lot of winning, but thanks to the Mets’ woes, they still have a five-game lead, with a beautiful present coming to town this weekend. The Colorado Rockies are in San Diego for a four-game series, and next week, they get a three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox.

The Padres are in the playoffs, but for the 20^th consecutive year, there will be no division title.

The Padres appear to be heading for a first-round wild card matchup against the Chicago Cubs.

It would be the first time the two teams faced one another in the playoffs.

Now, we’ll see who the other NL wild-card team is that joins them in October.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

Just when you thought you’d seen it all with the college sports money grab, we give you Ohio State University. 

The Roman Empire, everyone, needs more cash. 

Ohio State president Ted Carter told USA TODAY that revenue sharing in the Big Ten – more cash for elite television properties – is ‘going to be a conversation that will be had over time.”

To this I say, the team that spent $41 million in 2024 to buy a national championship, the athletic program that generates more money than any other with the exception of Texas, is apparently bleeding cash.

Pray for them. 

“There’s only a couple of schools that really represent the biggest brands in the Big Ten,” Carter said.

The two schools: Ohio State and Michigan. Who cares about the other 16 in the conference, they’re inconsequential.

Now before we go further with this nonsensical garbage, let’s run over last year’s win at all cost balance sheet at Ohio State, shall we?

Coach Ryan Day: $10 million.

Assistant coaching staff: $11.4 million.

Player NIL salaries: $20 million.

That $41.4 million investment included paying a nucleus of upperclassmen enough money to skip the NFL, and four impact starters from the transfer portal. 

Ohio State doesn’t win the national title last year without signing a conference championship quarterback (Will Howard), the best running back (Quinshon Judkins) and defensive player (Caleb Downs) in the best conference in college football, and an All-SEC offensive lineman (Seth McLaughlin).

That all-in moment set the foundation for the future of player procurement, and by proxy, finding revenue streams. There’s no greater, no more easily accessible revenue stream, than television money.

And now we see just how far Ohio State will go to get it, including joining hands with – hold on to your bucknuts – That School Up North.

But there’s a teeny-weeny problem with this we deserve the cash and they don’t philosophy at Ohio State: there’s no leverage. To take a stand and demand more, there must be leverage. 

What are Ohio State and Michigan going to do? Threaten to leave for the SEC? Go it alone as independents? Please.

Imagine the stones it takes to demand more money from a century-old conference of like minds and philosophies, of strict solidarity, with absolutely zero leverage. 

You want more money because you’re Ohio State (and Michigan), and they’re not.

It’s bad enough that the Big Ten made Maryland and Rutgers wait several years before receiving a full revenue share. Or that Washington and Oregon, who joined the Big Ten last year, won’t receive a full share until 2030. 

It’s worse that Ohio State (and Michigan) believes the rest of the Big Ten should supplement their athletic coffers — at the expense of their own ability to compete.

The value isn’t in specific teams, it’s in the conference. The Big Ten has shown some recognition of the need to help schools with smaller football stadiums through a ticket revenue sharing arrangement.

But you know why the SEC has been so popular, so successful over the last three decades?

Because it’s not every man for himself, it’s every man for all — and we’re going to compete like hell to see who wins. 

That’s why Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee have combined to win 16 national titles since 1995. Ohio State and Michigan – and no other Big Ten schools – have won four.

The Big 12 nearly imploded in the early 2000s when Texas and Oklahoma demanded revenue sharing, and eventually did when the Longhorns and Sooners left for the SEC. Now the Big 12 is a watered-down version of the American Conference.

The Pac-12 imploded after Southern California and UCLA demanded more money. Now the Pac-12 is the Mountain West. 

I’m not saying the Big Ten will eventually destabilize if it adopts revenue sharing that favors Ohio State and Michigan. I’m saying Ohio State and Michigan want the rest of the Big Ten to make sure the two largest television properties will have a guaranteed competitive advantage.

That’s dangerous. 

And then there’s the Roman Empire.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

There are two types of fans in the NFL – those who look ahead to the playoffs and those who look ahead to the draft.

As we flip the page to Week 2 of the regular season, panic is already setting in for some teams across the league. Draft season might be months away from really ramping up, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take stock of where we stand right now.

With that in mind, we asked artificial intelligence (AI), specifically Microsoft’s Copilot, for some help in determining the results for the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

The results were interesting to say the least.

Technology has come a long way, but not long enough yet. Much like your GPS that can’t figure out road closures or detours, AI is far from intelligent when it comes to the workings of the NFL draft.

Ohio State’s Caleb Downs didn’t make the cut in what we can only assume is some foreshadowing for a career change. Somehow, that wasn’t even the craziest thing to come out of this.

It’s funny how we say that things are ‘unbelievable’ to convey a message that it’s actually completely believable. With that in mind, here’s a look at the unbelievable results of what Copilot predicts for the first round of the upcoming NFL draft.

2026 NFL mock draft: First-round AI picks

If you would like to try this at home, here is the prompt we used, with the draft order from Tankathon after Week 1’s results: ‘With the __ pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, who will the [TEAM NAME] select?’

1. New Orleans Saints: Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU

The Saints invest the top pick in the local kid, drafting the son of offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier – no surprises to start.

2. New England Patriots: Arch Manning, QB, Texas

Manning may or may not come out in this year’s draft, but the Patriots surprisingly take a shot on a quarterback after selecting Drake Maye in 2024. The Texas signal caller has seen his stock take a hit over the first couple of weeks, but don’t write him off yet.

3. New York Jets: Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson

New York’s search for a QB continues and they land on Klubnik, who is another one that has struggled in the early going. Apparently, AI isn’t buying into Justin Fields’ big Week 1.

4. Miami Dolphins: Arch Manning, QB, Texas

Copilot is either predicting cloning will exist in 2026 or Manning will be pulling double duty for this pair of division rivals. Already ticketed for New England, he’ll be like many in the northeast and spending some significant time in Florida.

5. Carolina Panthers: Keldric Faulk, EDGE, Auburn

Carolina is in desperate need of defense, and they address it early in this exercise.

6. Baltimore Ravens: Suntarine Perkins, LB, Ole Miss

If Baltimore is picking here in April, something has gone horribly wrong. If they are picking here and opt for a linebacker projected to land in the second round, it’s even worse.

7. Los Angeles Rams (from Atlanta): Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee

The Rams could be in the market for a QB given the age of Matthew Stafford, but they opt for defense here.

8. Cleveland Browns: Rueben Bain Jr., EDGE, Miami

Conventional wisdom suggests the Browns would like some offense in the first round, but the franchise continues to defy all logic and pairs Bain with Myles Garrett. At least they can get after the quarterback though.

9. New York Giants: Peter Woods, DT, Clemson

The strength of the Giants is their defensive front, so in the imaginary eyes of Copilot, it only makes sense that they add to it with Woods.

10. Detroit Lions: Suntarine Perkins, LB, Ole Miss

Dan Campbell’s Lions are off to a tough start, but they shouldn’t be in the top-10 when the dust settles. If they are, Copilot believes they’ll opt for a player that is already heading to Baltimore.

11. Tennessee Titans: Peter Woods, DT, Clemson

Maybe cloning will be real by 2026.

12. Dallas Cowboys: T.J. Parker, EDGE, Clemson

Welcome to Dallas, new Micah Parsons.

13. Chicago Bears: Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame

Ben Johnson had success after getting Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th pick in Detroit. Now he’ll hope to find Love at No. 13 – how romantic.

14. Kansas City Chiefs: DJ McKinney, CB, Colorado

The Chiefs roster needs some help and you can’t fix all of that with just one pick. They’ll try, however, by adding to a secondary that looked brutal in Week 1.

15. Houston Texans: Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami

Mauigoa is a welcome addition to a team that might start posting Craigslist ads for offensive line help in the near future.

16. Seattle Seahawks: Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama

In this exercise, Mike Macdonald is the parent who says they don’t have a favorite child, but they actually do. Another defender sets their home address to Seattle, Washington with this pick.

17. Pittsburgh Steelers: LaNorris Sellers, QB, South Carolina

The quarterback carousel in Pittsburgh has stopped long enough for Aaron Rodgers to get off and LaNorris Sellers to get on.

18. Minnesota Vikings: Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon

J.J. McCarthy gets a weapon in the passing game, which is a big deal after fans declared his career was over following one half of football in Week 1.

19. San Francisco 49ers: Trevor Goosby, OT, Texas

The 49ers invest in the trenches, but likely only because you can’t draft a new medical staff in the NFL. At least not yet, anyway.

20. Washington Commanders: Dani Dennis-Sutton, EDGE, Penn State

Dan Quinn couldn’t get Parsons from the Cowboys, so he does the next best thing and drafts an edge from Penn State.

21. Los Angeles Rams: Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson

Klubnik is going coast-to-coast in his rookie season after already being selected by the Jets, but that’s not even the most surprising thing here. It’s that a Jets’ QB would be in such high demand.

22. Las Vegas Raiders: Peter Woods, DT, Clemson

Already taken by the Giants and Titans, we must ask – how many times are they cloning Peter Woods in 2026?

23. Cleveland Browns (from Jacksonville): Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

After passing on a quarterback earlier, the Browns can now protect their imaginary signal caller with one of the best tackles in the class.

24. Los Angeles Chargers: Chandler Rivers, CB, Duke

The Chargers could do no wrong in Week 1 and don’t have many weaknesses across the roster. They take a chance on Rivers because they can.

25. Buffalo Bills: Nyck Harbor, WR, South Carolina

Harbor looks like the type of player that was made in a factory with a ridiculous combination of physical traits and pure talent. Buffalo will hope he can be their version of DK Metcalf and take this already terrifying offense to another level.

26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Matayo Uiagalelei, EDGE, Oregon

Todd Bowles wants his team to get after the quarterback and this time he’s going through the draft to find someone who can.

27. Cincinnati Bengals: Malik Muhammad, CB, Texas

With Shemar Stewart and Trey Hendrickson signed, there is officially a void for another contract dispute in Cincinnati. Copilot believes Muhammad is next in line.

28. Dallas Cowboys (from Green Bay): CJ Baxter, RB, Texas

Welcome to Dallas, new Ezekiel Elliott.

29. Arizona Cardinals: Spencer Fano, OT, Utah

Kyler Murray gets some help up front and it’s hard to complain about that.

30. Indianapolis Colts: Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee

Another clone! By this point on draft night, McCoy was boarding a flight to Hollywood. He’ll be in for a surprise when he lands.

31. Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Kilgore, S, South Carolina

Caleb Downs must’ve chosen a different career path as Kilgore becomes the first safety off the board.

32. Denver Broncos: L.T. Overton, EDGE, Alabama

The rich get richer as the Broncos add to an already loaded defense.

It’s primetime on Prime with a prime matchup of two NFC championship contenders.

The Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders are set to take stage on ‘Thursday Night Football’ this week, and both teams feature big-time additions that will steal the spotlight in Week 2.

The Packers made the biggest move of the offseason when they acquired pass rusher Micah Parsons from the Cowboys in the week leading up to the 2025 season. Green Bay sent two first-round picks and defensive lineman Kenny Clark to Dallas for Parsons.

It didn’t take long for the superstar to make his presence felt, with a freakish show of his signature athleticism all but closing out the game for Green Bay on Sunday vs. the Detroit Lions.

It also didn’t take long for Jayden Daniels and Deebo Samuel to get acquainted. The wide receiver made his presence felt with seven receptions for 77 yards in Washington’s Week 1 win over division rival New York. He also hit paydirt with a 19-yard rushing touchdown.

Same faces, new places, but both squads are hoping they’ll see each other once again when the weather gets colder. Don’t miss it – USA TODAY Sports has you covered with highlights, updates, news and more from the Week 2 ‘Thursday Night Football’ matchup below. All times are Eastern.

What time does Packers vs. Commanders start?

• Start time: 8:15 p.m.

The Week 2 ‘Thursday Night Football’ matchup between Green Bay and Washington kicks off at 8:15 p.m. ET (7:15 p.m. CT).

What TV channel is Packers vs. Commanders on?

• Green Bay market: WGBA-TV (NBC26)
• Milwaukee market: WITI-TV (Fox 6)
• Washington D.C. market: WTTG-TV (Fox 5)

For those in local markets, the game will air on NBC (Green Bay) and Fox (Milwaukee and Washington).

National viewers will have to stream the matchup on Amazon Prime Video, the home of ‘TNF.’

Watch ‘Thursday Night Football’ with Amazon Prime

Packers vs. Commanders odds, moneyline, O/U

Packers vs. Commanders prediction

Week 2 kicks off at historic Lambeau Field, a difficult place to play for visiting opponents. Both the Packers and Commanders are contenders this season and are coming off Week 1 victories. Green Bay’s defense was terrific against the Lions, holding Detroit to just 13 points. Meanwhile, the Commanders could be a bit undervalued after they made it look easy against the Giants last week. Still, they finished 20th in pass defense DVOA a season ago, and Jordan Love is healthy.

Green Bay is 4-1 against-the-spread (ATS) in its last five home games and is a 3-point favorite on Thursday night. The Packers defense held the Lions to a measly 2.1 yards per carry in Week 1. The Packers will slow down Jayden Daniels with the help of their newest addition, Micah Parsons, and get a statement win in primetime. –Tom Viera

Prediction: Packers 24, Commanders 20