ON TODAY'S SCORECARD
An Atrocious Post

President Trump is demanding that the league change its new kickoff rule. He believes it’s an “atrocious” rule.

The President of the United States, 79, spent his Sunday watching some football. There was a lot of fun action on Sunday, with the Cowboys beating the Giants in a thriller, the Eagles topping the Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch and the Falcons besting the Vikings on Sunday Night Football. The NFL’s new kickoff rule was very much on display, too, with dozens of big returns across the league.

The NFL’s new Dynamic Kickoff Rule made an adjustment in 2025, moving the touchback from the 30 to the 35-yard line, in an attempt to get more kickoff returns. So far, it’s worked. In Week 1, teams returned 118 of 156 kickoffs for a 75.6% return rate, which was a 50 percent increase over 2024.

But President Trump does not like it.

“The NFL has to get rid of that ridiculous looking new Kickoff Rule. How can they make such a big and sweeping change so easily and quickly. It’s at least as dangerous as the “normal” kickoff, and looks like hell. The ball is moving, and the players are not, the exact opposite of what football is all about. ‘Sissy’ football is bad for America, and bad for the NFL! Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas? It’s like wanting to “roll back” the golf ball so it doesn’t go (nearly!) as far. Fortunately, college football will remain the same, hopefully forever!!” he wrote.

The NFL has been wanting to make kickoff returns safer and more proficient in recent years. In 2023, a record-low 21.8 percent of kickoffs were returned. The league went to the “Dynamic Kickoff” model, placing the kickoff return and kickoff players much closer together, and it worked.

The league saw 32.8 percent of kickoffs returned in 2024 and, after changing the touchback spot for 2025, it’s even higher this year.

Trump can complain all he wants, but the rule is not going away.

From The Logical Report Football Newsletter:

This from Andy Iskoe’s The Logical Report football newsletter: “The number ‘3' is the most common margin of victory. But do you know to what extent and how often it occurs? The answer is that 14.80 % of all NFL regular season games since 2002 (the season in which the present 8 Divisions of 4 teams each structure was adopted) have been decided by exactly 3 points. That’s over 1 game in 7. Put another way, at least two games each week on average can be expected to be decided by exactly 3 points. That is by far clearly the most common margin in the NFL - considerably more than the next most frequent margin, 7 (9.06 % of all games since 2002).” Thanks, Andy.

TRENDING TODAY
In and Out, Up and Down

As we called out yesterday, No. 24 Notre Dame dropped 16 spots after their last-second loss to Texas A&M but stayed in the poll, making them the first ranked 0-2 team since 1988. The Fighting Irish's two losses have come by a combined four points against two current top-10 teams.

No. 18 Georgia Tech has its highest ranking since 2015 after beating Clemson with a walk-off field goal. The Tigers, meanwhile, fell out of the poll entirely as the preseason No. 4 team is now 1-2 and clearly not the top-tier operation it used to be.

No. 20 Vanderbilt has its highest ranking since 2008 after blowing out South Carolina on the road, 31-7. The Gamecocks, like their Palmetto State neighbors Clemson, also tumbled out of the poll after the loss.

Elsewhere: Georgia moved into the top five after outlasting Tennessee, 44-41 (OT), for their ninth straight win over the Vols … Texas fell one spot to No. 8 after an easy win over UTEP (but another ugly outing from Arch Manning) … Miami moved up one spot to No. 4 after drubbing USF.

Notre Dame nearly fell out of the Top 25 this week after losing 41-40 to Texas A&M. Both of Notre Dame's losses this season were by a field goal or less and came down to the final moments of the game. They became the first ranked 0-2 team since 1988.

Ben W from Ontario, Canada dropped us this note - Good day Marc. Long time supporter of Playbook sports here. I'm wondering how you would make use of your bankroll based on your 3*, 4*, 5* system? Let's use $100 base for 3*, so how much more would you wager for 4* and then 5*. I want to be sure I am using my bankroll to my best advantage and your expertise would be very much appreciated.

Marc Says: Good question, Ben. I usually think of each star as worth $100. So, a 3* would be worth $300, a 4* for $400, and a 5* for $500. If you decide to scale down your play – which is perfectly fine – making a 3* play worth $100 means the next level, a 4*, should be worth $133, and a 5* would be $167. Those are the proper amounts to invest. I recommend that if you follow this scaled approach, you treat each play like a stock option and stay committed to your plan. The key is to set an investment plan and then stick to it without changing your strategy. Hope this helps.