September 4, 2026 • 9 mins
Friday on The Dan Mathews Show, Paramount Sports' Lee Sterling shares his best bets for the weekend, helping you get on the right side of LSU-Clemson, Houston-Oregon State, Auburn-Baylor, and more. Sterling breaks down the matchups and shares the bets he likes most heading into a loaded college football weekend.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us all season long, ParamountSports.com. He is Lee Sterling,
and he joins us here. Lee, it's great to catch
up with you again, man. Fired up for a football season.
I know this is like accountants during tax time. It's
their busy season. So this is your busy season as
almost an auditor of sports.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I was even starting watching. Spring games in late March,
early April. So you got to monitor also social media.
One of the teams that was on my radar was UMass.
I mean, I'd heard about that. this transfer quarterback that
came over from Virginia Tech. And they actually have some
recruits for the next two years, I'm hearing, some four-
(00:43):
and five-star kids. So UMass, they may just not be
a basketball school anymore.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, the Calipari-Marcus Camby years could be forgotten about pretty
quickly by the football team. Yeah, how about that for Rutgers, too,
of not only paying them over a million dollars, but
then a sad sack of a fireworks show after you
just got pasted in that game? Yeah, it's not a
good look, that's for sure. But we've got a handful
of games that we're going to go through here, again,
(01:09):
as we get the college football weekend underway, and a
game you're going to hear here tomorrow on Sports Talk 790,
being your Houston home for Texas Longhorns football. It's the
Horns and the Bobcats, big number for the Longhorns, but
how do you see this playing out?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, and I think that Texas obviously wants to make
sure You know, they get some wrinkles worked out. Their
short passing game was lacking last year. Arch Manning, you know,
his mechanics sometimes just were not great. And Texas State
is the type defense that should be able to have
a lot of success against. But my former alma mater,
(01:42):
Texas State, they've got a quarterback, kid Brad Jackson. I mean,
you talk about a kid that does everything. Last year
threw for almost 3,300 yards and 21 touchdowns. and running
the football ran for almost 750 yards and 17 touchdowns.
So when you have a large spread like this, what
happens is even though a team might give up some points,
(02:04):
if they can move the chains and get first downs
and score high teens, low 20s, Texas is going to
have to.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Score in the 50s just to have a chance to cover.
I think Texas is going to score 50 points. I'm
scoring 51, but.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I also have Texas State scoring 24.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So I think the back door is going to be open.
I like Texas State. They get the bacon here.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Texas might be peeking ahead to Ohio State and getting
some revenge for next week.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And we're going to save the LSU-Clemson game for the
final stretch here. But another game that we're going to
have here on one of our family of stations, of course,
the U of H Cougars hosting Oregon State. Willie Fritz,
year three, 10-win season last year. How do you see
the Cougs playing in this one?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oh, I mean, you talk about a team that wants
to make sure that there is no doubt in this game.
That's the Houston Cougars. I mean, look what happened in
the game last year. They needed a couple touchdown passes.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
They also.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know, they just were sleepwalking at first. And I'm
looking at this Oregon State team that couldn't even really
decide on a quarterback. They just don't have the money
in their NIL collective to be competitive.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So I think that.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Houston was 4-1 because of the result last year. They
want to get to a big lead here and play
a lot of players. As long as the back door
is not open, I think Houston's the right side. 20-and-a-half,
I think, might even be light here. I expect Wegman
to have a big game. They're going to play the
backup quarterback. Not much of a drop-off there.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I want to see what he can do.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I just think that this team is going to possibly
be clicking on all cylinders right out of the gate.
Sometimes you've got to lay it if you want to
play it. Cougs here, I think they win easy here, 48-13.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Taken and giving here in the early going of these
first couple of games. Hey, another one too. That's going
to be one that kind of, I think kind of
flies under the radar this weekend in terms of a
high profile matchups, new head coach there at Auburn, Alex Golish.
And of course thought that Dave Aranda was going to
be on his way out at Baylor, but not the case.
And Auburn taken on Baylor seven and a half is
(04:11):
the line here. How do you see this one shaking?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Well, how big a game is this game for Dave Aranda?
They get off to a poor start. He may not
make it through the midseason. A really good, I think,
defensive mind, but Auburn... They just didn't know what to
expect in the game last year, and Auburn played their
best game in five years. So I think Dave Aranda
is going to put all his marbles here in one basket.
(04:35):
I also like his quarterback, DJ Lagway. I thought he
was only maybe 75, 80% last year. I thought Florida
was protecting him. They couldn't take any chances. They knew
if he went out. But when you do that, you're
playing with at least one or two hands behind your back.
So I think DJ Lagway has something to prove here.
I think he's going to surprise some people. And on
(04:57):
the other hand, I think people might be building up
Byron Brown maybe just a little bit. I think he's
a good quarterback, good runner. But I think his passing
is inconsistent. He reminds me of Lenora Sellers here. So
they only totaled when he was at South Florida, 30
total points in their games last year against Miami and
Florida combined. So I think Auburn might be a little
(05:19):
bit overrated here. I think they'll be good, but it
might take some time. And this game reminds me of
North Carolina. I think Baylor's going to come to play here.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It's on a.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Neutral side here. Wrong team favored. I like Baylor straight
up 31-27.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, that's going to be an interesting one. And of course, too,
it's in the Age of name, image and likeness. That
game moved to Atlanta with this being a cash game
for a lot of these guys for being able to
make some money in this one.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So finally, as I mentioned, I mean, four games that
mean you were going to focus on this week and
the one that I think is going to garner the
most headlines, obviously, for a lot of the stuff off
the field. And that is LSU and Clemson. And obviously
it's the first game Lane Kiffin home. These two teams
played each other last year. It was a knockdown drag
out one LSU was able to win that one. Do
(06:10):
you see Dabo Sweeney and Clemson being able to maybe
pull off a surprise here?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
So I thought his talent was pretty good last year.
I thought that they way underperformed. I mean, seven and
six record. And maybe Dabo has kind of reached an
expiration point.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And guys like John Harbaugh, really good coaches.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
But the message sometimes, these guys tune it out after
a period of time, and that might be the case.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Kate Klubnick, I thought he was.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
A good quarterback, but He just couldn't get him to progress.
He goes to the chess camp. Look how good he looks.
And then their defensive line, great names, guys that were talented,
but didn't get the job done. Four of the five
of those top five defensive linemen moved on.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So maybe it's time here.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I know he'd maybe like to end things on a
positive note, maybe move on to Alabama if things don't
work out there. But They're going to face an LSU
team super talented. They couldn't run the football last year,
just 104 rushing yards per game, which placed them 118th
out of 134 teams. So they're going to have to
improve on that, but they got the best transfer offensive lineman,
(07:21):
in my opinion, out of Colorado.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Kid's going to be a first rounder.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
If he stays healthy, a couple receivers, a couple.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
More linemen, and Sam Levitt.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I believe one of the top five quarterbacks when he's healthy,
and he's healthy, at least he is right now until
he starts getting nicked up. So I think the place
is going to be jumping in Baton Rouge here. I
like the LSU Tigers here, 30-17 over the Clemson Tigers.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'll be in the building for it. It's going to
be a lot of fun, Lee. Again, he's Lee Sterling,
Paramount Sports. Lee, before we get you out the door,
tell folks where they can find you.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, if they want to check out the website, go
to ParamountSports.com. I'm not going to sell anything to football
this week. I want you just to go to the
website and where it says join our mailing list. If
you go to the homepage, just click that on and
just fill that out.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Just takes a minute or two.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And we will email you three selections for tonight for free.
I just feel that if I can win for you,
go 2-1 or 3-0, you're going to want to strongly
consider ParamountSports.com.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I'm a former college quarterback. Played at the time.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
It was Southwest Texas State, now Texas State University. And
we've won 32 out of 33 years. We've won six
of the last seven Super Bowls and national championships in
college football. So you're looking for someone that can put
in the work and get results.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Check it out.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And like I said, fill it out, join our mailing
list at paramount sports.com and hopefully have a nice weekend
for you. Put a little jingle in your pocket and
you consider us for the future paramount sports.com.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
There you go. You can find them on Twitter as
well at paramount sports. He's Lee Sterling. He's going to
join us every single Friday here on the show.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Lee. Hey man, really appreciate the time.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Always great to catch up with you. And next week
when we talk with you, we get fired up for
Texas season in the NFL. So looking forward to it,
my man.
Joining us all season long, ParamountSports.com. He is Lee Sterling,
and he joins us here. Lee, it's great to catch
up with you again, man. Fired up for a football season.
I know this is like accountants during tax time. It's
their busy season. So this is your busy season as
almost an auditor of sports.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I was even starting watching. Spring games in late March,
early April. So you got to monitor also social media.
One of the teams that was on my radar was UMass.
I mean, I'd heard about that. this transfer quarterback that
came over from Virginia Tech. And they actually have some
recruits for the next two years, I'm hearing, some four-
(00:43):
and five-star kids. So UMass, they may just not be
a basketball school anymore.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, the Calipari-Marcus Camby years could be forgotten about pretty
quickly by the football team. Yeah, how about that for Rutgers, too,
of not only paying them over a million dollars, but
then a sad sack of a fireworks show after you
just got pasted in that game? Yeah, it's not a
good look, that's for sure. But we've got a handful
of games that we're going to go through here, again,
(01:09):
as we get the college football weekend underway, and a
game you're going to hear here tomorrow on Sports Talk 790,
being your Houston home for Texas Longhorns football. It's the
Horns and the Bobcats, big number for the Longhorns, but
how do you see this playing out?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, and I think that Texas obviously wants to make
sure You know, they get some wrinkles worked out. Their
short passing game was lacking last year. Arch Manning, you know,
his mechanics sometimes just were not great. And Texas State
is the type defense that should be able to have
a lot of success against. But my former alma mater,
(01:42):
Texas State, they've got a quarterback, kid Brad Jackson. I mean,
you talk about a kid that does everything. Last year
threw for almost 3,300 yards and 21 touchdowns. and running
the football ran for almost 750 yards and 17 touchdowns.
So when you have a large spread like this, what
happens is even though a team might give up some points,
(02:04):
if they can move the chains and get first downs
and score high teens, low 20s, Texas is going to
have to.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Score in the 50s just to have a chance to cover.
I think Texas is going to score 50 points. I'm
scoring 51, but.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I also have Texas State scoring 24.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So I think the back door is going to be open.
I like Texas State. They get the bacon here.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Texas might be peeking ahead to Ohio State and getting
some revenge for next week.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And we're going to save the LSU-Clemson game for the
final stretch here. But another game that we're going to
have here on one of our family of stations, of course,
the U of H Cougars hosting Oregon State. Willie Fritz,
year three, 10-win season last year. How do you see
the Cougs playing in this one?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oh, I mean, you talk about a team that wants
to make sure that there is no doubt in this game.
That's the Houston Cougars. I mean, look what happened in
the game last year. They needed a couple touchdown passes.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
They also.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know, they just were sleepwalking at first. And I'm
looking at this Oregon State team that couldn't even really
decide on a quarterback. They just don't have the money
in their NIL collective to be competitive.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So I think that.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Houston was 4-1 because of the result last year. They
want to get to a big lead here and play
a lot of players. As long as the back door
is not open, I think Houston's the right side. 20-and-a-half,
I think, might even be light here. I expect Wegman
to have a big game. They're going to play the
backup quarterback. Not much of a drop-off there.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I want to see what he can do.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I just think that this team is going to possibly
be clicking on all cylinders right out of the gate.
Sometimes you've got to lay it if you want to
play it. Cougs here, I think they win easy here, 48-13.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Taken and giving here in the early going of these
first couple of games. Hey, another one too. That's going
to be one that kind of, I think kind of
flies under the radar this weekend in terms of a
high profile matchups, new head coach there at Auburn, Alex Golish.
And of course thought that Dave Aranda was going to
be on his way out at Baylor, but not the case.
And Auburn taken on Baylor seven and a half is
(04:11):
the line here. How do you see this one shaking?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Well, how big a game is this game for Dave Aranda?
They get off to a poor start. He may not
make it through the midseason. A really good, I think,
defensive mind, but Auburn... They just didn't know what to
expect in the game last year, and Auburn played their
best game in five years. So I think Dave Aranda
is going to put all his marbles here in one basket.
(04:35):
I also like his quarterback, DJ Lagway. I thought he
was only maybe 75, 80% last year. I thought Florida
was protecting him. They couldn't take any chances. They knew
if he went out. But when you do that, you're
playing with at least one or two hands behind your back.
So I think DJ Lagway has something to prove here.
I think he's going to surprise some people. And on
(04:57):
the other hand, I think people might be building up
Byron Brown maybe just a little bit. I think he's
a good quarterback, good runner. But I think his passing
is inconsistent. He reminds me of Lenora Sellers here. So
they only totaled when he was at South Florida, 30
total points in their games last year against Miami and
Florida combined. So I think Auburn might be a little
(05:19):
bit overrated here. I think they'll be good, but it
might take some time. And this game reminds me of
North Carolina. I think Baylor's going to come to play here.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It's on a.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Neutral side here. Wrong team favored. I like Baylor straight
up 31-27.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, that's going to be an interesting one. And of course, too,
it's in the Age of name, image and likeness. That
game moved to Atlanta with this being a cash game
for a lot of these guys for being able to
make some money in this one.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So finally, as I mentioned, I mean, four games that
mean you were going to focus on this week and
the one that I think is going to garner the
most headlines, obviously, for a lot of the stuff off
the field. And that is LSU and Clemson. And obviously
it's the first game Lane Kiffin home. These two teams
played each other last year. It was a knockdown drag
out one LSU was able to win that one. Do
(06:10):
you see Dabo Sweeney and Clemson being able to maybe
pull off a surprise here?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
So I thought his talent was pretty good last year.
I thought that they way underperformed. I mean, seven and
six record. And maybe Dabo has kind of reached an
expiration point.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And guys like John Harbaugh, really good coaches.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
But the message sometimes, these guys tune it out after
a period of time, and that might be the case.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Kate Klubnick, I thought he was.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
A good quarterback, but He just couldn't get him to progress.
He goes to the chess camp. Look how good he looks.
And then their defensive line, great names, guys that were talented,
but didn't get the job done. Four of the five
of those top five defensive linemen moved on.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So maybe it's time here.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I know he'd maybe like to end things on a
positive note, maybe move on to Alabama if things don't
work out there. But They're going to face an LSU
team super talented. They couldn't run the football last year,
just 104 rushing yards per game, which placed them 118th
out of 134 teams. So they're going to have to
improve on that, but they got the best transfer offensive lineman,
(07:21):
in my opinion, out of Colorado.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Kid's going to be a first rounder.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
If he stays healthy, a couple receivers, a couple.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
More linemen, and Sam Levitt.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I believe one of the top five quarterbacks when he's healthy,
and he's healthy, at least he is right now until
he starts getting nicked up. So I think the place
is going to be jumping in Baton Rouge here. I
like the LSU Tigers here, 30-17 over the Clemson Tigers.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'll be in the building for it. It's going to
be a lot of fun, Lee. Again, he's Lee Sterling,
Paramount Sports. Lee, before we get you out the door,
tell folks where they can find you.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, if they want to check out the website, go
to ParamountSports.com. I'm not going to sell anything to football
this week. I want you just to go to the
website and where it says join our mailing list. If
you go to the homepage, just click that on and
just fill that out.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Just takes a minute or two.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And we will email you three selections for tonight for free.
I just feel that if I can win for you,
go 2-1 or 3-0, you're going to want to strongly
consider ParamountSports.com.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I'm a former college quarterback. Played at the time.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
It was Southwest Texas State, now Texas State University. And
we've won 32 out of 33 years. We've won six
of the last seven Super Bowls and national championships in
college football. So you're looking for someone that can put
in the work and get results.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Check it out.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And like I said, fill it out, join our mailing
list at paramount sports.com and hopefully have a nice weekend
for you. Put a little jingle in your pocket and
you consider us for the future paramount sports.com.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
There you go. You can find them on Twitter as
well at paramount sports. He's Lee Sterling. He's going to
join us every single Friday here on the show.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Lee. Hey man, really appreciate the time.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Always great to catch up with you. And next week
when we talk with you, we get fired up for
Texas season in the NFL. So looking forward to it,
my man.
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