Circa Friday Football Invitational | October 16, 2026 | Hour 2

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Twenty-five pro handicappers, $30,000 on the line. This is the Circa Friday Football Invitational, presented by Omaha Steaks on VSiN, the sports betting network. Here's your host, Matt Youmans.

Matt Youmans (2:30)

This show is brought to you by Omaha Steaks, the official sponsor of tailgating. Head to omahasteaks.com, and ask VSiN for some great offers. And in front of us tonight, we have gourmet Franks in a blanket. That's also known as pigs in a blanket. Mac and cheese bites and Filipino egg rolls.

As Omaha Steaks opens up the playbook this year and shows you what else is on the menu. All right, back for our number two here, the Friday Football Invitational. And thanks to Derek Stevens and Randy McKay for their appearances in the first hour. You can always catch the replay up at vsin.com. And Doug Fleming joins us now, courtesy of the Progressive Guest Line.

Assumed from his home in Lansing, Michigan tonight, the reigning champion in the Westgate Super Contest College Football Contest. And Doug, welcome back to the show tonight. And I noticed that you are off to a hot start again this year in the college contest at the Westgate, right?

Doug Fleming (3:24)

Yeah, we're hanging in there. I've got an entry in second place and second entry at eighth place right now. So we're just trying to grind every week. We're in the middle of the season here. It's tough, although, you know, it's gone fast. There's almost six weeks left in that contest because that's a pure college contest that's done before the college championship start.

Matt Youmans (3:44)

Yeah, it's about the midway point in that contest. You're right. Follow him at the underscore Douger22, real estate developer from Lansing, Michigan, and college football handicapping savant here the past couple of years. Doug, you were twenty thirteen and two here in the contest, and that's good for twenty three total points and fourth place. So nice job so far. And I'm going to start with the college football game here on the West Coast. I think it's very interesting from a different handicapping angles here. And I want to let you break those down. You know what the angles are. UCLA is off to an incredible start under Bob Chesney, but this is going to be a tough spot here for the Bruins off that win at Oregon. You're going to play Wisconsin plus two at the Rose Bowl.

Doug Fleming (4:28)

Yeah, I really am.

You know, Wisconsin's defense has given up nine, ten, twenty, and three points the last four weeks, and I don't think we're talking about their defense enough, and I think you combine that with UCLA losing their starting quarterback. They played the second half, they were up, they kind of kept it close to the chest last week, so they didn't really ask their quarterback to do a lot. So I think, you know, their strength has been their running game, really. So I think Wisconsin, knowing that this backup quarterback was only a three-star prospect, they load the box and just shut down the UCLA rushing game and say, hey, you're going to have to beat us with a backup quarterback through the air. They've already got a solid defense to start with. I think when you turn an offense one-dimensional, it makes it a little bit easier. The Badgers are also undefeated in the Big Ten, and I think it's that time of year where coaches are starting to look at, you know, where we're going to end up the year. If you look at their schedule, they really only have UFC and Iowa left of teams that they really shouldn't, you know, at least are going to be competitive with. If they can go 1-1 in those games, I mean, they get a realistic shot of making the Big Ten championship game. So, as you said, I hate betting against Chesney because I think he's really good, but I think this team's overachieved, and maybe it's that time of year where, you know, with the injuries and some other things that they kind of come back down a little bit. Plus, Wisconsin's covered their last three games.