🏈 Y! Sports AM: No more Cinderella?

Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.

🏈 BASKETBALL LOST CINDERELLA. IS FOOTBALL NEXT?

With just three wins in 76 games against Power Four opponents this season, the Group of Six has reached a competitive low point in the modern history of college football. Has the transfer portal, combined with NIL money, killed football’s Cinderella?

Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports:

In 76 games played this season between the Power Four and the Group of Six, teams from the latter have won just three. But the disparity is even more jarring when you dig into the numbers. Of the 73 wins by power conference teams, 27 had a margin of five touchdowns or more. In 10 of those games, the Group of Six team didn’t manage to score a single point.

Ever since NIL, revenue sharing and unlimited transfers came to college sports, we have seen bits and pieces of evidence suggesting that Cinderella might be dying in football and men’s basketball. On the heels of a March Madness tournament with no mid-majors in the Sweet 16 and a fairly large sample size on the gridiron this fall, it’s getting harder to deny the obvious.

Bottom line: The talent gap between the 68 schools playing power conference football and everyone else has widened to the point where Group of Six programs sometimes look more like a feeder system than a competitive entity.

“Something I’m happy about is we got nine starters on defense who are seniors,” New Mexico head coach Eck joked last month after nearly beating Oklahoma. “So all these SEC coaches will be seeing how good our defense is and they’ll look up all those guys they’d like to have play for them and they’re going to see they’re seniors. They have no eligibility left to transfer to the SEC next year.”

“The power conference schools are paying backups what we’re paying starters. That’s a reality,” said UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford. “Any time you’ve got guys that are all-league or putting stuff on tape consistently week in and week out, anyone who’s saying that isn’t in the back of their mind isn’t being truthful.”

Keep reading: Group of 6 struggling to stay competitive as gap with Power 4 widens: ‘It’s only going to get harder’

📸 PICS DU JOUR

⚾️ Chicago, Illinois

The Guardians kept their season alive with a 9-5 victory over the White Sox, tying the series at two games apiece thanks to a six-run outburst in the sixth inning and José Ramírez (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) continuing to rediscover the MVP form that had eluded him in Games 1 and 2.

Flip the script? Cleveland is seeking to become the first team to come back from 2-0 down and win a five-game playoff series since 2017, when the Yankees did that against… the Guardians (Indians).

🏀 Las Vegas, Nevada

A’ja Wilson was named WNBA MVP on Thursday for a record-extending fifth time. The Aces star received 65 of 74 first-place votes to beat out Lynx rookie Olivia Miles, Fever duo Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark, and two-time MVP Breanna Stewart.

A league of her own: Since entering the WNBA in 2018, Wilson has received more first-place MVP votes (274) than all other players combined (233).

🏈 Arlington, Texas

The Buccaneers beat the Cowboys, 24-16, on “Thursday Night Football” to notch their first victory and pull off the biggest point-spread upset (+9.5) of the season so far.

Game notes: Undrafted rookie QB Jalon Daniels (19/25, 189 yds, TD) played well in his second start and Bucky Irving (165 rush yds, 2 total TD) thrashed a Dallas defense that might be even worse than last year’s historically-bad unit.

🏈 THE LANE JOHNSON EFFECT

The following story is written by Neil Paine, the newest addition to our Yahoo Sports newsletter team. They say you should always hire people smarter than you, and I’ve certainly done that here. Welcome to “Numbers with Neil.”

After 14 NFL seasons, six Pro Bowls, two first-team All-Pro nods and two Super Bowl rings earned while anchoring the Eagles’ offensive line, legendary right tackle Lane Johnson announced his retirement Tuesday.

A tale of two teams: For all his personal accolades, the best way to appreciate Johnson’s greatness might be to look at what happened when he wasn’t playing — what’s known as the “With Or Without You” (WOWY) class of statistics. Take, for instance, the Eagles’ record when he played versus when he didn’t:

Digging deeper: Johnson’s excellence becomes even more apparent when we examine the play-by-play data over the same span as above. In plays he participated in, the Eagles gained +0.075 Expected Points Added (EPA) per play. In plays he sat, they lost -0.050 EPA per play, good for an eye-popping gap of +0.125 EPA.

• Since football is insanely complicated, this type of analysis can be adjusted for quality of teammates and opponents, game situations, and so forth — and it can even be tethered to broader measures of quality such as Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value (AV) as a stabilizer at baseline.

• If we do that, Johnson comes out around the 10th-most impactful non-QB from 2016-2025, and probably the most impactful lineman — with better pure in-game impact than David Bakhtiari and a better AV-adjusted rating than Trent Williams and Terron Armstead.

Fancy numbers aside… The WOWY stat that Philadelphia fans appreciate most about Lane Johnson is very simple: Without him on the roster (1933-2012), the Eagles won zero Super Bowls. With him on the roster (2013-2026), they won two.

📸 BEHIND THE LENS

Each week, Yahoo Sports AM goes “Behind the Lens” with Getty Images to share the stories behind the best photographs in sports.

This week’s photo: LeBron James poses for a portrait during Media Day ahead of his 24th NBA season, and first with the Philadelphia 76ers.

• Photographer: Emilee Chinn

• Location: Camden, New Jersey

• Date: Sept. 28

Behind the lens: Take it away, Emilee…

Leading up to this year’s 76ers Media Day, I wanted to create a unique look that was simple to execute, knowing media coverage would be heavier with the addition of LeBron James. For this portrait, I used a continuous light with a spotlight attachment aimed at the blue brick wall of the practice gym, shooting on a Canon R1 with a 50mm lens at f/4.5, ISO 320, and 1/200 shutter speed.

I had just 45 seconds with LeBron across two setups — classic full-length portraits on a red seamless backdrop and this spotlight look. After quickly getting the essentials on the main set and nearly running out of time, LeBron happily agreed to one final shot. I had spent the week envisioning a portrait that captured his emotion but also added a dramatic feel, and with just one pose and one opportunity under the spotlight, I was able to achieve what I wanted.

📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST

🏈 College Football Saturday

All eyes will be on Tuscaloosa this weekend for a high-stakes SEC clash between No. 6 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia (7:30pm ET, ABC). Weather is expected to play a factor as Hurricane Isaias has already forced “College GameDay” to move indoors.

Best of the rest: No. 1 Texas vs. Oklahoma (3:30pm, ABC); No. 21 UCLA at No. 13 Oregon (3:30pm, CBS); No. 7 Indiana at Nebraska (12pm, Fox); Texas A&M at No. 14 Missouri (12pm, ABC); Stanford at No. 3 Notre Dame (3:30pm, NBC); No. 10 LSU at Kentucky (7pm, ESPN).

Friendly reminder: Week 6 of our College Football Challenge is live. Don’t forget to make your picks before kickoff.

⚾️ MLB Postseason

The Guardians host the White Sox in a winner-take-all Game 5 tomorrow night (8pm, TBS) for the final spot in the League Championship Series. Can Cleveland complete the unlikely comeback? Or will Chicago reach its first ALCS since 2005?

The Final Four: The NLCS between the Brewers and Dodgers begins Sunday in Milwaukee (8pm, Fox), while the ALCS begins Monday in St. Petersburg (8pm, TBS) after Game 2 of the NLCS (5pm, Fox).

🏈 NFL Sunday

The top two teams in our power rankings will take the field in Seattle, where the reigning champs host the undefeated 49ers (4:25pm, Fox). Other notable games include: Eagles vs. Jaguars in London (9:30am, NFL); Bears at Packers (1pm, Fox); Raiders at Patriots (1pm, CBS); Ravens at Falcons (8:20pm, NBC).

Looking ahead: Week 5 concludes on Monday night with the Bills visiting the Rams (8:15pm, ABC/ESPN), who will make NFL history as the first team to play four of their first five games in prime time.

🏀 WNBA Semifinals

The finalists could be determined as soon as tonight, with Atlanta and Golden State both in position to sweep on the road. First up is Dream at Liberty (7:30pm, ESPN2), followed by Valkyries at Aces (9:30pm, Peacock/NBCSN). Both Game 4s, if necessary, are on Sunday.

Uphill battle: No WNBA team has ever come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five postseason series (0-19). But the Aces and Liberty, who have no shortage of talent or playoff experience, seem like decent candidates to end the drought.

More to watch:

• 🇺🇸 Friendly: USWNT vs. Spain (Sat. 2:30pm, TBS) … The world’s top two women’s soccer teams take the field in Washington, D.C.

• 🏎️ F1: Singapore (Sun. 8am, Apple) … Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas cycled 217 miles from last week’s race in Malaysia to this one. Why not!

• 🏁 NASCAR: Charlotte (Sun. 3pm, USA) … Kyle Larson leads the way halfway through the 10-race Chase championship.

• ⚽️ Premier League: Arsenal vs. Leeds (Sat. 7:30am, USA); Liverpool vs. Man City (Sun. 11:30am, NBC) … Play resumes post-international break.

• 🏒 NHL: Rangers at Capitals (Fri. 7pm, NHL); Maple Leafs at Avalanche (Sat. 7pm, NHL) … The first-place Rangers (4-1-0) have yet to allow a first-period goal, their longest such season-opening streak since 1939.

• 🚴 Cycling: Il Lombardia (Sat. 4:35am, HBO Max) … The season’s fifth and final Monument takes riders 149 miles from Bergamo to Como, Italy.

Plus: 🎾 WTA China Open and ATP Shanghai Masters (Fri-Sun, Tennis); 🏀 NBA Preseason (Fri-Sun, NBA/ESPN); ⚽️ MLS Week 29 (Sat-Sun, Apple); 🏍️ MotoGP Indonesia (Sun. 3am, FS2)

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

🔍 GUESS THE LOGO

Question: Can you guess this MLB team based on the first logo it used?

Hint: They made the playoffs this year. And it’s probably not the team you think.

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 ANOTHER MANNING IN NEW YORK?

Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice has released his first 2027 NFL Mock Draft, and it features a blockbuster trade at the top that results in Arch Manning going to the Jets.

Mock Draft 1.0: Projecting all 32 first-round picks

Guess the Logo answer: Chicago White Sox. This was their first logo from 1901-02, when they were the Chicago White Stockings… which was also the original name of the Cubs (1876-87). Strange, I know.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.