PTI - Sam Leavitt Unavailable Against Ole Miss???

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss: Lions vs Bills, Sam Leavitt doubtful, MLB roundup from last night + more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on surveillance video. It was an assassination style killing, and everybody saw it. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside this captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Lobon tomorrow is National First. day Tony do you remember your first love and Tony Cornheir's of course complaining that's my first love complaining it's one through five I was gonna say my

order one I got that top five I was gonna say the name of my first love from kindergarten hookway elementary school I'm not gonna do it it'll just cause problem I'm not gonna do wait could you just give a first name no that'll give it away give it away get give it away could you give a last name could you text me giveaway. I'll text you later. Yeah. Could you send it to me through Richard Dent and Waddle and those guys? Welcome to PTI, boys and

girls. In today's episode, LSU lists Sam Levitt as doubtful. Sandy Alconstra does something extraordinary and Booger McFarlane joins us for five minutes, but we begin today with tonight's Thursday night game in Buffalo where the Bills will take on the visiting Detroit Lions. Tonight will be the opening

of the Bills New Stadium, Highmark Stadium. The Bills are coming off a big win over the Houston Texans. The Lions are coming off a narrow escape from the New Orleans Saints. Wilbon, do you give the Lions a big chance, a little chance, no chance at all of upsetting the bills in Buffalo? I may wind up regretting this, like everybody who said stupid stuff about the Rams going undefeated, unscored upon, you know, said for weeks.

You know, I may regret it like they should regret that stupidity, but I'm going to go there anyway. I got the Lions having no chance. I got the Buffalo Bills scoring a kill shot tonight. Tony, I haven't spent as much time in Western New York as you have, but I spent enough time there covering the old bills, the Marve Levy, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas Bills. I spent enough time with those.

I know what that's like, that atmosphere, opening that new stadium. I get it. And I have no faith in Detroit. Detroit didn't make the playoffs and wasn't any good last year. Detroit, for a half a game, at home wasn't any good last week against the Saints. So why should I think that Detroit's any good? I get a Detroit can score that you go back 25 games, 40 games.

I ain't going back that far. I'm going back to last week when the Saints had their number. No, I got a kill shot being landed by the Buffalo bills tonight. I'm going to disagree, not just on the margins. I mean, ultimately I'm going to say that Buffalo can win the game. But I'm going to disagree in this regard. I don't think you can give them no shot at all. I mean, they've gone to the playoffs two of the last three years.

Detroit has done that. They play in a harder division than Buffalo plays in. Under their coach, Dan Campbell, since 2021, they have the best record in the NFL in primetime games. It's 14 and 4. A Buffalo is real good, too. I mean, Buffalo's been to the playoffs seven times in a row. And Buffalo's record, I believe, in that same period of time since, 2021 on primetime gays. It's like 18 and 7. And they got Josh Allen. And Josh Allen did something

last week. That's extraordinary. He rushed for two touchdowns. He passed for two touchdowns for the ninth time in his career. Where'd he do it? The next guy on the list. Where did he do that last week? He did it in Buffalo. No, he did it in Houston. No, Houston. He didn't Houston. The next guy on that list is Steve Young with four. That's how good Josh Allen is. You know, I'm so, but Buffalo did not clobber, Houston. They waited to 136 was left in the entire game to take a lead. So what I'm saying to you is that I think I'm not going to be stunned if Detroit wins. I think Buffalo will win, I would go 6040, 65, 35, the bet that I would make, and maybe you would agree with this, the bet that I would make is over, over 54 and a half.

Is it 54 and a half? 54 and a half, I go over. I think there'll be a lot of scoring. Tony, I don't care many points are going to be scored in that new stadium and that, atmosphere. I mean, Detroit couldn't, they could barely hold on against the Saints in their own atmosphere. That's right. Josh Allen went down to Houston,

a tough place to play against those defensive ends, and he got it done. There is, I see no chance for Detroit to win the night. And, you know, I'm hoping, too, as I'm wearing a little blue and orange. Let's move to the latest intrigue surrounding your boy, Lane Kiffin, and his return to Ole Miss Saturday. LSU yesterday listed starting quarterback Sam Levitt as doubtful and top

tackler T.K. Dottery as questionable for Saturday's game. Leavitt has never previously been mentioned as injured. Ole Miss is reportedly skeptical about the injury. Reports sincerity. Tom, what do you make of it?

Okay. Well, when I first heard it, I thought, oh, LSU cannot win this game because Leavitt is a very good quarterback. I'm told he was the number one rated quarterback in the transfer portal. There are reports that he did a walkthrough today, so it may not be that serious. My second reaction, Mike, which followed very quickly, my first reaction was, is Lane Kiffin trying to pull a fast one here? Is this slight of hand? Is this subterfuge? Is this gamesmanship?

I mean, is he trying to mess with Ole Miss's heads, which is apparently what Old Miss thinks at this point. I don't want to be a conspiracist. I hope the kid is all right. I hope he plays. I don't want to insult, you know, the physical quality that he's going through right now. I don't do anything like that. But I don't put it past Lane Kiffin to sort of pipe this. You know, to make this thing up. Lane Kiffin, I was told this morning, some years back, put the number 35 jersey of his punter on a reserve quarterback to deliberately confuse the other team. So, you know, yeah, no, you can't do that. So I, you know, I think such things possible. But I'm going to go to the other side as well, Mike. Don't tell me it's coincidental that a lawsuit that was fired.

by Ole Miss against two LSU players who left Ole Miss to go with Kiffin. A lawsuit that was filed in July, that just this week, those two players were served with papers outside the LSU Football Stadium. That is not coincidental. This is an all's fair and love and war situation. This is bigger, it seems to me, than just football.

There's nothing Lane Kiffin wouldn't stoop to. I don't believe a word of this. I don't believe Sam Levitt is anything other than 100% healthy, because I don't believe that. Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin, it's not like awful criminal behavior he's ever guilty up. He's in the back room shooting spitballs at the front of the room because he's Potsie Weber. He's a clown.

He's been a clown in so many places, including Tuscaloosa, that the greatest coach in the history of college football said, you know what? We'd rather have you somewhere else. Get out. Okay. That's who Lane Kiffin is. So I don't believe anything he says. And if you're at Ole Miss and you know this dude, he walked out on you.

You can't believe anything he says. And if you do, you're a fool. You have to go into this wanting to embarrass Lane Kiffin. That's the only approach. One thing. Sports is a television show. Lane Kiffin is great television. Let's move to baseball and consider all these things that happened last night.

Petro Armstrong had two home runs, 43 and 44, as the Cubs beat the Braves. 20-year-old Padres catcher Ethan Salas had two home runs to become the youngest catcher ever with a multi-homer game and the Padres won to stretch their lead for the last wildcard to 3.5 games over Arizona. Pete Alonzo hit another homer against the Mets to keep the Orioles wild card hopes a lot. Blake Snell left after one inning in his start for the Dodgers with groin tightness. The Rangers beat Boston for their fourth win in a row, tied Houston for first place in the A.L. West. Miami starter, Sandy Alcantra, recorded his first ever saved two days after throwing 101 pitches in a start from Miami. Wilbon, which is the most significant event? Well, significant, probably the Padres, because it's starting to, you know, stretch it a little

bit and they can get in this thing, and the Padres can win it. And Texas, because they looked like they were at four games. I mean, you shouldn't have counted them out, but okay, they're still in it. And so from a team standpoint, it ain't the Dodgers and ain't in it, ain't the Orioles. it's those two teams. And it's Pete Crow Armstrong, because he did something last night, Tony, that so few people have done historically in the history of Major League Baseball. Two dudes have done that four times, home run, home run, triple. Two dudes.

Their names are Ruth and Garrett. And a couple of dudes have done it three times named Mays and DiMaggio. And I think you can throw Ryan Howard in there. Pete Crowe Armstrong's 24 and he's done it twice. So just from the history. historical standpoint of baseball and those things being important. I'm going to go with Pete. But those two teams, San Diego, Texas is all out west. So I want to, I want to say Alonzo hitting another home run, you know, in Shea or whatever

they're calling it these days, you know, against his former team, because that's so juicy, but I'm not going to actually say that. The catcher hitting a couple of home runs is interesting, because I would have bet against that. That's pretty good. I would have picked Yogi or Johnny bench. I would not have known that it would be this kid. the Sandy Alcantra thing is completely wild. He leads the majors in innings pitched. What are you doing putting him in a game when you're seven and a half out of the wild card

with nine games to go? And yet he is a hero to all his teammates as well he should be for doing that. I think the Snell thing is important because since coming back from the IL, Snell is 4 and O with a 104 ERA. If he's gone, that hurts. And Blake Snellers, you know,

when he goes on the IL, he goes for a long time. Yeah. He goes for a long time. So who's your number one? Who's your number one pick? Well, I will, I'm going to get to it. I will agree with you on this. I think it's always going to be a team.

To me, it's Texas. It's Texas catching Houston. Yeah. They're both 76 and 76. And I don't think the loser, I think the winner gets into playoffs. I don't think the loser can catch Cleveland or Chicago. I don't think that's possible.

I don't think so. The American League is God off. It's so awful. It's so awful. 78, 7. 75 is Cleveland and 77. 75. They can catch them. They can catch one. Let's take a break.

Coming up, why do offenses seem so far ahead of defenses in week one? We're going to ask Booger McFarland. We'll also ask him whether Brian Flores is going to blitz the Bears as much as he did the Packers last week, 81 times. We've got football questions, so we brought in the guy with the answers. Our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst, Booger McFarlane, wearing a shirt from Shinnock. We had on Long Island a fabulous course where they played the open. Let's start with this. Wilbon and I thought that defenses would be ahead of offenses early on in the season,

certainly in week one. And in many cases, we were dead wrong. Like Chicago, about 59, Buffalo scored a lot of points. What did you see? Well, you know what? I was dead wrong, too, guys. And I think we're so accustomed to defenses being able to dominate. But here's what's happened.

Football has gotten a little soft. Nobody tackles anymore. Nobody plays in the preseason anymore. So when week one comes around, that's really preseason football. And what you get, you get sloppy defensive football. You get a ton of missed tackles. How about the Denver Broncos on Monday night? 28 missed tackles.

That is sloppy football. So when you talk about the offense, offense is more of a dance two-step. Like they're in rhythm. You can work on offense really without being so physical. Defense, we've got to knock the hell out of people, guys. And we're not able to do that during the preseason. we're not doing it at practice. So many coaches are not putting the pads on.

And football has become a little bit softer. And what's happening is the first month of the season is really the new preseason. And so you're going to see defenses get better and better once we get to October. But right now, the defenses are really just soft. One defense I would love to see remain soft this week, Booger is the Vikings defense.

Although we know Brian Flores, he blitzed, the Packers, 81% of the snaps last week. One, do you see Flores doing that again? And two, if he does against my bears, will it work? Well, that's all Brian Flores knows, Mike, is the blitz. Like, he may not blitz it 80% of the times as far as blitzing your bears, but it's going to be well above 50. He's going to bring it from all different sides, all different shapes, all different forms,

and he's going to do it because that's his style. He is a pressure defensive coordinator. Now, the reason he may not do it as much against Caleb is because I think Caleb is the most exciting player in football. Like, he's the guy, him in my homes that you can't take your eyes off of. And when he gets out of the pocket, especially when he's rolling to the left, I mean, his arm might be the best in football. So I think Brian Flores is going to be a little bit afraid of bringing so much pressure. Jordan Love, not so much. Caleb Williams, he's going to temper it down a little bit.

But at his core, in his DNA, he is a blitzing. guys. So if I'm Caleb Williams and I'm the Chicago Bears, I'm getting ready for the Blitz. That's going to be some matchup Sunday in Chicago. Denver's defense struggled against the chiefs as we know. Will the Jaguars be any easier? Jaguars look pretty potent there. I don't think the Jags are any type of pushovers. As a matter of fact, I think Liam Cohen, who's the head coach and play caller, has Trevor Lawrence playing at an elite level right now. He's playing at an extremely high level. I think we're seeing the best version of what we thought Trevor was going to be when he came out when we heard the term generational quarterback. So I think if you're Denver,

yeah, you face Mahomes and that raucous atmosphere and that environment. And it was almost a no-win situation. Well, now you've got to deal with the team in Trevor Lawrence. It's got three wide receivers that can play. You got a quarterback who thinks he's the best player on the field every time he steps on the field. And you got a young, hungry defense. So if I'm Denver, man, don't think that this is going to be any pushovers. As a matter of fact, let's not forget. We've seen Jacksonville going to Denver Denver Denver, and get a win before. So this is going to be a really, really tough game. I love how the Jaguars are playing. Specifically, I love how Trevor Lawrence is playing. We will get off the pros. We will go to college with the game that everybody cares about and wants to see. You were a star player at LSU. You've got skin in the game. We're going to ask your question as an alum. How important is it to the alums like you? for Lane Kiffin's team to beat All-Miss on Saturday? It's important because we got bigger Frist to Friday in Ole Miss. Like LSU's about national championships.

Three of the last four coaches that have come there have won national championship. So our goals are bigger than going to Oxford and beating Ole Miss. Now, with that being said, we want to go in there and beat the hell out of it. Let's just call it what it is. Let's understand. And if you're really going to look at this, think about this guys. old miss is like the woman's scorn like she got left

and now she's got everybody over her house and everybody's emotional everybody's super excited everybody has a lot of piss and vinegar because the guy who left you is coming back to town that's what old miss is like they're going to be super emotional

the fans are going to be trying to throw everything at Lane Kiffing you got the governor talk about sending C-130s we got extra sheriff we got horses it is going to be an absolute zoo and Oxford but here's the thing about it. Once To Me's leather, Tony, then it's going to become which team can execute and which team can play the best version of football. And I hope when all this is said and done,

that the Ole Miss people can keep three letters out of their mouth. And that's LSU. Like, I get it. Lane left nine months ago. Like, keep our name out of your mouth. Like, we're tired of hearing Baton Rouge in Oxford, Mississippi. They're almost like the little brother. Like, he's always nagging. Like, hey, play with me. Play with me. Come play with me. And at some point, you got to go play with him just to stop him from nagging you. Hopefully when this game is over, we can chill with the LSU and Ole Miss hate because we got bigger fish to fry. We're about rings, baby.

We're not about just beating Ole Miss and Oxford. We're trying to win national championships in Baton Rouge. Can't wait for this. And you just became the second most unpopular guy in Oxford beyond name chip and the way you said that. Booger. Thank you, sir. Anytime, fellas. Glad to be here.

Let's take one last. Last break, still to come, the rift between Winnipeg and its star goalie Connor Hellebuk just got wider. And the investigation into Bill Belichick's football program in North Carolina leads to another significant resignation. I can't wait for this game. I can't. Me too. You know what, they're not that many good games this week. They just aren't.

Happy time, people, happy 81st birthday, Phil Jackson. Jackson has the most NBA championships as a coach. which is two more than Red Hourback's nine strictly as a coach. Jackson has six with Chicago and Michael Jordan and five with the Lakers. Jackson was also on two championship teams as a player with the Knicks, the 1973 title being the last one the Knicks won before this year. Marve Albert called him Action Jackson when he played. Jackson also won a championship coaching the Albany Petrus. In the Continental Basketball Association before he got to the NBA. Jackson's idol and mentor was his own pro coach, Red Holtzman.

On a personal level, Jackson is one of the smartest people I have ever been around in sports, a delight to talk to. We were grateful to have him as a guest multiple times on this show. He is ahead on my personal fave list on of Ditka, Hallis, Madden, Quinville, and Oz again. And you know what all those guys did, but they didn't do it as much as Phil Jackson. Happy anniversary, Hideo Nomo, on this day 30 years ago.

Nomo threw a no-hitter for the Dodgers, amazingly in Colorado. Nobody throws a no-hitter there. To this day, that's the only no-hitter ever in Coors Field. Nomo was rookie of the year with the Dodgers the year before, going 13 and six with a 254 ERA. Nomo was one of the first pitchers to come to Major League Baseball from Japan, and he has the most Major League wins by a Japanese pitcher at 123. Nomo's career record, 123 and 109, with a 4-24-ERA. Spent 12 seasons in the majors, a total of seven in two stints. with the Dodgers and one season were parts thereof with Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, the Mets, Tampa Bay and Kansas City.

Tony, he was so exciting to watch with that delivery. It was sort of irresistible and it seemed at the time that nobody else was doing that. It had gone from like Teatant to this. A melancholy trails to Michael Sweetney. Sweetney has passed away at the far too young age of 43. The power forward started Georgetown averaging 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 3%. blocks per game as a junior. The Knicks took him ninth overall in 2003 draft, but Sweetney never found the same success as he had in college, splitting four NBA seasons between the Knicks and the

Bulls. He then played internationally until 2017. Sweetney battled weight issues and anxiety over his career, but no one doubted his skills. His wife said in the statement, to know Mike Sweetney was to love him. He's been my best friend for 30 years and my husband for almost 20. I am not sure what we or I will do without him. Tony, we of course got to see Michael Swedenian in person here in Washington, D.C. playing that Georgetown uniform. Well, he's one of the all-time great Georgetown players. I think something like seventh in scoring. And it's just, this hits hard. So, so sorry to hear. Yeah. Let's go to the big finish. If we could, the FBS Oversight Committee said on

Wednesday that refs got the replay protocols wrong, the Michigan's win over Western Michigan, but that the result cannot be changed. Your thought? No, they got cheated. They were cheated, Western Michigan, Big Ten. You know what happened. We all do. North Carolina defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick, resigned following Mike Lombard out the door. Your thoughts, Tony.

Mike Lombard. The stuff off the field. The stuff off the field of that program has been very detrimental with the stuff on the team. The U.S. men's soccer team is calling up 16-year-old Kevin Sullivan. Is that significant? Tony, it is. At 14, he was signed by Man. City. And people talk about the next

politic, a lot of pressure, but a lot of talent. College football tonight, Syracuse Pitt, you're going to care about that? No, honestly, no. I'm going to watch the other game tonight. I'm going to watch Buffalo, Detroit. Last one. The Winnipeg Jets suspended goalie Connor Hellebuk for failing to

show at camp. Your thoughts? Well, they could just relegate him. Send him like 1,700 miles further north to Yellowknife. How about that? Yellowknife. Do you want to go there? Yeah. Yeah. I'm Sure they have great FM radio on the yellow night. We're out of time.

Try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheim. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, Knucklehead. I'm going to send a shout out to Sherry Jones. You know, people can figure out what they want. PTI.