September 11, 2026 • 9 mins
Paramount Sports’ Lee Sterling joined The Dan Mathews Show to share his top plays for the weekend, breaking down the betting angles he likes most across a loaded slate. Sterling offered his best bets for Texans-Bills, Texas-Ohio State, and several other matchups, giving listeners plenty to consider before placing their wagers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports, joins us every single week at
this time.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Lee, great to talk with you again.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Nice weekend last weekend, too.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
You got us on the Baylor. That one hit.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
LSU absolutely crushed it, too. But the weekend as a whole,
really good for you.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Can't complain at all.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
If you spend like three, 400 hours during the summer
studying and the first week doesn't turn out so good,
all of a sudden you're saying, am I seeing these
things right?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
But it turned out well.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
And let me tell you something, there's a couple of
conferences like the SEC, they are loaded with quarterbacks. So
I will say this, if teams were looking ahead, like
the Texans, like the Cowboys, this coming draft. And I
look at players.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I think this might be the greatest draft.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Of all time. Speaker 0 5,0 Interesting. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I mean, you got a lot of them that showed
up and showed out last week, especially arch Manning, Sam Leavitt,
some of those guys. And of course, I mean, Dante
Moore is still up there at Oregon. So definitely a
good quarterback class. There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We got a lot of games to get to.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And as me and you talked about yesterday, we'll do
a Texas Ohio state and also the bills Texans last.
But let's start it off with one up in Ann
Arbor tomorrow. It is going to be a return Oklahoma
going up there five and a half.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Especially after Michigan needing to, and a miracle walk off
Western Michigan.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well, here's what's interesting. Before the Michigan game kicked off,
you could have gotten one and a half points in Oklahoma.
So what that means, the line has moved seven points.
You rarely see that in a college football game from
week one to week two, but that's the case.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
And I still think it's light also.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I was watching, I don't normally watch press conferences, but
in the background, I saw Bryce Underwood talking and I'm like,
you know what, let me watch this. He doesn't look good.
Just the way he talks in his body language, you
need a leader. I think the kid is broken. If
they don't score a touchdown or a field goal in
the first two possessions, I would not be shocked if
(02:13):
they go with Tommy Carr, Lloyd Carr's grandson, head quarterback.
Problem here is either way, Oklahoma defense, last year they
were top five in almost every every major statistical category.
And I think they're just as good this year. John Mateer,
you know, he was trying to play after a fractured
finger surgery. That's almost impossible. He looks like he is
(02:35):
in mid-season form.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And then they brought a kid, Lloyd Evans.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I didn't know a whole lot about this kid, but
comes over from Colorado State.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
He packs a punch here. I like Oklahoma.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Unless they turn the ball over three or four times,
I think they're a clear right side winner of 27-13.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And let's get into a little bit of NFL here
before we get back to the college side. And of course,
the other two games of local note here. So you
get a pretty good one on Monday night, the return
of Patrick Mahomes and also the Broncos trying to be
able to get back to the AFC championship, get even
further this year.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
How do you see that one shaking out?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
So when you look at quarterbacks coming off of injuries,
Achilles injury is by far the worst. They're afraid to
plant off and to run hard. Also, throwing the football
a lot of times, it affects them also. But Petzer
performs as an ACL injury, and this cat is just
different than everyone else. So I talked to a couple
(03:32):
people that watched a few days of their training camp
and thought that he looked different. You wouldn't even notice
that he had knee injury and tore his ACL. So
he's ready to go. Maybe the biggest addition is Kenneth Walker.
I watched last year through the playoffs. I thought he
was a difference maker on offense, making the first guy miss.
Second guy usually would put his helmet in their stomach
(03:55):
and run over him or at least four, three or
four other guys gang tackle him. So I think Seattle
misses him here.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
And I think he's going to be big in the
red zone. You know, Denver.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Last year, it seemed like they want every close game here.
I think they've got a bonafide number one running back,
but it might take them until mid season to start
using Jonah Coleman from Washington. So I liked the chiefs here,
catching them early chiefs, 27, 20.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
And then a game that we'll be paying a little
bit of attention to here. That's the Ravens and the Colts,
especially with the Colts being in the AFC south is
the return of Lamar Jackson going to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I mean, he's working with the new offensive coordinator. He
looks like he's got full grasp from what I'm hearing
of this new offense here.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And he's a hundred percent. He was banged up all year.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
And, you know, we talked about an Achilles injury, that's
Daniel Jones here.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So I think they're going.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
To try to throw the ball short, try to keep
harm's way and defenders off of them. They lost one
of the top receivers. uh in in in free agency
and that could hurt them here so also jesse mentor
comes over uh new head coach for the ravens did
a great job in his work with the chargers as
long as he had players who were healthy so i
(05:13):
i like them throwing some different looks here at indy
here sometimes you got to lay it even on the
road give me the ravens here minus three 30 to 21.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And on the college side before, like I said, we
close it out with Texas, Ohio State. And then, of course,
the game that we're going to be paying most attention to,
that's the Bills and the Texans here. Your game of
the week is the Aggies taking on the Sun Devils
of Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How do you see that one shaking out?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Anyone wants to get that game for free? I think
there's a clear right side. This could be a trap game.
If you want to get that game free, just call 800-400-9741.
Give you the Aggies and.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
The Sun Devils on me. And how about this?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
We'd never done this before. On Wednesday night, we sold
the Super Bowl rematch Seattle-New England for a dollar.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Won that.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Gave out last night's game for a dollar in the
Rams in San Francisco had the under easy winner there to,
you know, you want to get tonight's border war, Missouri
and Kansas, just a dollar paramount sports.com.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
No, that's where you can find the man in the
Aggies favored by a, 14 in this one is that
won't kick off tomorrow over there in college station.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Get you out the door on these last two. Let's
start first with the college side, Texas, Ohio state. How
do you see this one going?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So I went back and studied the film from last year.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Texas was moving up and down between the 20s, outstatted
Ohio State 336 to 203. Problem was in the red zone,
most specifically inside the 10-yard line, play calling from Steve
Sarkeesian was horrendous.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
The execution, I mean, horrible. Terrific. And what did they do?
They were smart.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
In the offseason, they said, we need players that can
make plays against top-level teams. They brought in Cam Coleman,
maybe the third-best receiver in the country, behind Jeremiah Smith
and Tony from Miami. And also Hollywood's mother from North
Carolina State, very underrated running back.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They've been rotating between five.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Six guys the last three years. I think he's a
next level running back. And now it's gonna help out
Ryan Wingo. Ryan Wingo was the number one last year
for Texas, wasn't able to shake the number one defenders
for Ohio State. But now when he's matched up in
the slot against the number two cover corner, the number
three cornerback, He looks good this year.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He'll have some success. And I actually think Texas has
an advantage in the trenches here.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I think that Indiana and Miami exposed this Ohio State
offensive and defensive line. They lost some guys, key guys
to the NFL there.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Give me Texas.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
They finally win the big one here.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
28 to 20.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And the one to get you out the door on,
of course, is the Sunday between the Texans and the bills.
I'm really kind of surprised that it is stuck right
there at that one, one and a half with Buffalo.
Are you kind of, or is the sharp money not
come in yet? And could you see that start to
come in on the Texans?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Well, there is a lot of bets coming in on Buffalo,
but I think more of the sharp money from what
I'm hearing, I talked to a lot of sportsbook directors offshore,
the bets that they really respect are coming in on
the Texans.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Talked to a couple people when.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
You guys held joint practices with the Raiders, and they
were shocked. They said- Uh, Houston's defense was just off
the charts.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Good.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
And, uh, of the four units, I think Houston's defense
is the best. I know Buffalo's offense is good, but
it might take them a little bit of time to
gel their defense, especially, uh, big games was, wasn't great
for Buffalo here. So, uh, yeah, you got some things
going on with them too. Joe Brady moving from the
booth to the field, Pete Carmichael, their offensive coordinator, uh,
(08:58):
will be in the booth here. So I just think
that Houston's defense will get a couple of takeaways. I
also think that CJ Stroud was playing with a concussion
still in the playoffs. He just was not right and
should be ready to go here. And I think you'll
see a different effort from him and a little bit
better offensive line. I love David Montgomery. His blitz pickup
(09:21):
is second to none.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
He's that good.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
And they were missing that also. So let's go with
a wrong team favored Houston Texans straight up 24, 21.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It's going to be a fun one. No question about it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And we always look forward to being able to talk
the action with Lee Sterling paramount sports, find them online
at paramount sports.com. You can also find them on Twitter
at paramount sports. Lee, it's always great to catch up
with you. We'll do so again at this very time
next week. And as always good luck this weekend.
Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports, joins us every single week at
this time.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Lee, great to talk with you again.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Nice weekend last weekend, too.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
You got us on the Baylor. That one hit.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
LSU absolutely crushed it, too. But the weekend as a whole,
really good for you.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Can't complain at all.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
If you spend like three, 400 hours during the summer
studying and the first week doesn't turn out so good,
all of a sudden you're saying, am I seeing these
things right?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
But it turned out well.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
And let me tell you something, there's a couple of
conferences like the SEC, they are loaded with quarterbacks. So
I will say this, if teams were looking ahead, like
the Texans, like the Cowboys, this coming draft. And I
look at players.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I think this might be the greatest draft.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Of all time. Speaker 0 5,0 Interesting. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I mean, you got a lot of them that showed
up and showed out last week, especially arch Manning, Sam Leavitt,
some of those guys. And of course, I mean, Dante
Moore is still up there at Oregon. So definitely a
good quarterback class. There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We got a lot of games to get to.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And as me and you talked about yesterday, we'll do
a Texas Ohio state and also the bills Texans last.
But let's start it off with one up in Ann
Arbor tomorrow. It is going to be a return Oklahoma
going up there five and a half.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Especially after Michigan needing to, and a miracle walk off
Western Michigan.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well, here's what's interesting. Before the Michigan game kicked off,
you could have gotten one and a half points in Oklahoma.
So what that means, the line has moved seven points.
You rarely see that in a college football game from
week one to week two, but that's the case.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
And I still think it's light also.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I was watching, I don't normally watch press conferences, but
in the background, I saw Bryce Underwood talking and I'm like,
you know what, let me watch this. He doesn't look good.
Just the way he talks in his body language, you
need a leader. I think the kid is broken. If
they don't score a touchdown or a field goal in
the first two possessions, I would not be shocked if
(02:13):
they go with Tommy Carr, Lloyd Carr's grandson, head quarterback.
Problem here is either way, Oklahoma defense, last year they
were top five in almost every every major statistical category.
And I think they're just as good this year. John Mateer,
you know, he was trying to play after a fractured
finger surgery. That's almost impossible. He looks like he is
(02:35):
in mid-season form.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And then they brought a kid, Lloyd Evans.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I didn't know a whole lot about this kid, but
comes over from Colorado State.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
He packs a punch here. I like Oklahoma.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Unless they turn the ball over three or four times,
I think they're a clear right side winner of 27-13.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
All right.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And let's get into a little bit of NFL here
before we get back to the college side. And of course,
the other two games of local note here. So you
get a pretty good one on Monday night, the return
of Patrick Mahomes and also the Broncos trying to be
able to get back to the AFC championship, get even
further this year.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
How do you see that one shaking out?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
So when you look at quarterbacks coming off of injuries,
Achilles injury is by far the worst. They're afraid to
plant off and to run hard. Also, throwing the football
a lot of times, it affects them also. But Petzer
performs as an ACL injury, and this cat is just
different than everyone else. So I talked to a couple
(03:32):
people that watched a few days of their training camp
and thought that he looked different. You wouldn't even notice
that he had knee injury and tore his ACL. So
he's ready to go. Maybe the biggest addition is Kenneth Walker.
I watched last year through the playoffs. I thought he
was a difference maker on offense, making the first guy miss.
Second guy usually would put his helmet in their stomach
(03:55):
and run over him or at least four, three or
four other guys gang tackle him. So I think Seattle
misses him here.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
And I think he's going to be big in the
red zone. You know, Denver.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Last year, it seemed like they want every close game here.
I think they've got a bonafide number one running back,
but it might take them until mid season to start
using Jonah Coleman from Washington. So I liked the chiefs here,
catching them early chiefs, 27, 20.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
And then a game that we'll be paying a little
bit of attention to here. That's the Ravens and the Colts,
especially with the Colts being in the AFC south is
the return of Lamar Jackson going to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I mean, he's working with the new offensive coordinator. He
looks like he's got full grasp from what I'm hearing
of this new offense here.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And he's a hundred percent. He was banged up all year.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
And, you know, we talked about an Achilles injury, that's
Daniel Jones here.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So I think they're going.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
To try to throw the ball short, try to keep
harm's way and defenders off of them. They lost one
of the top receivers. uh in in in free agency
and that could hurt them here so also jesse mentor
comes over uh new head coach for the ravens did
a great job in his work with the chargers as
long as he had players who were healthy so i
(05:13):
i like them throwing some different looks here at indy
here sometimes you got to lay it even on the
road give me the ravens here minus three 30 to 21.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And on the college side before, like I said, we
close it out with Texas, Ohio State. And then, of course,
the game that we're going to be paying most attention to,
that's the Bills and the Texans here. Your game of
the week is the Aggies taking on the Sun Devils
of Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How do you see that one shaking out?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Anyone wants to get that game for free? I think
there's a clear right side. This could be a trap game.
If you want to get that game free, just call 800-400-9741.
Give you the Aggies and.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
The Sun Devils on me. And how about this?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
We'd never done this before. On Wednesday night, we sold
the Super Bowl rematch Seattle-New England for a dollar.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Won that.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Gave out last night's game for a dollar in the
Rams in San Francisco had the under easy winner there to,
you know, you want to get tonight's border war, Missouri
and Kansas, just a dollar paramount sports.com.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
No, that's where you can find the man in the
Aggies favored by a, 14 in this one is that
won't kick off tomorrow over there in college station.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Get you out the door on these last two. Let's
start first with the college side, Texas, Ohio state. How
do you see this one going?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So I went back and studied the film from last year.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Texas was moving up and down between the 20s, outstatted
Ohio State 336 to 203. Problem was in the red zone,
most specifically inside the 10-yard line, play calling from Steve
Sarkeesian was horrendous.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
The execution, I mean, horrible. Terrific. And what did they do?
They were smart.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
In the offseason, they said, we need players that can
make plays against top-level teams. They brought in Cam Coleman,
maybe the third-best receiver in the country, behind Jeremiah Smith
and Tony from Miami. And also Hollywood's mother from North
Carolina State, very underrated running back.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They've been rotating between five.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Six guys the last three years. I think he's a
next level running back. And now it's gonna help out
Ryan Wingo. Ryan Wingo was the number one last year
for Texas, wasn't able to shake the number one defenders
for Ohio State. But now when he's matched up in
the slot against the number two cover corner, the number
three cornerback, He looks good this year.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He'll have some success. And I actually think Texas has
an advantage in the trenches here.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I think that Indiana and Miami exposed this Ohio State
offensive and defensive line. They lost some guys, key guys
to the NFL there.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Give me Texas.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
They finally win the big one here.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
28 to 20.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And the one to get you out the door on,
of course, is the Sunday between the Texans and the bills.
I'm really kind of surprised that it is stuck right
there at that one, one and a half with Buffalo.
Are you kind of, or is the sharp money not
come in yet? And could you see that start to
come in on the Texans?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Well, there is a lot of bets coming in on Buffalo,
but I think more of the sharp money from what
I'm hearing, I talked to a lot of sportsbook directors offshore,
the bets that they really respect are coming in on
the Texans.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Talked to a couple people when.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
You guys held joint practices with the Raiders, and they
were shocked. They said- Uh, Houston's defense was just off
the charts.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Good.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
And, uh, of the four units, I think Houston's defense
is the best. I know Buffalo's offense is good, but
it might take them a little bit of time to
gel their defense, especially, uh, big games was, wasn't great
for Buffalo here. So, uh, yeah, you got some things
going on with them too. Joe Brady moving from the
booth to the field, Pete Carmichael, their offensive coordinator, uh,
(08:58):
will be in the booth here. So I just think
that Houston's defense will get a couple of takeaways. I
also think that CJ Stroud was playing with a concussion
still in the playoffs. He just was not right and
should be ready to go here. And I think you'll
see a different effort from him and a little bit
better offensive line. I love David Montgomery. His blitz pickup
(09:21):
is second to none.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
He's that good.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
And they were missing that also. So let's go with
a wrong team favored Houston Texans straight up 24, 21.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It's going to be a fun one. No question about it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And we always look forward to being able to talk
the action with Lee Sterling paramount sports, find them online
at paramount sports.com. You can also find them on Twitter
at paramount sports. Lee, it's always great to catch up
with you. We'll do so again at this very time
next week. And as always good luck this weekend.
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