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Afternoon Edition

October 14, 2025

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As Bill Belichick and North Carolina fight one-and-done season chatter, the Tar Heels’ struggles appear to be costing them prime TV slots as ACC partners cool on Chapel Bill.

Plus, the creator of the popular NFL Scorigami bot that tracks scores exclusively tells Front Office Sports why the viral account has been glitching.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]], Margaret Fleming [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Belichick’s Tar Heels Are Losing Momentum on the Field—and on TV [[link removed]]

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

As North Carolina and football coach Bill Belichick aim to squash rumors of the NFL legend not making it through his debut college season, the on-field struggles for the Tar Heels are bleeding into the media landscape.

The ACC’s broadcast partners entered the season with high prospects for UNC, hoping that Belichick would bring a Deion Sanders–like effect to Chapel Hill. ESPN was primed to air the majority [[link removed]] of Tar Heels games this fall, but that was before a 2–3 start and seemingly no momentum of turning things around.

On Friday, UNC-Cal will air on ESPN at 10:30 p.m. ET, which was locked in before the season. But for the six-game ACC slate on Oct. 25, which was revealed Monday, ESPN passed on picking the Virginia at North Carolina matchup, which will air at noon ET on the ACC Network. ESPN or ESPN2 will air Syracuse–No. 12 Georgia Tech (noon) and Stanford–No. 2 Miami (7 p.m.).

The ACC Network is owned by ESPN, but its telecasts are not rated by Nielsen, so game viewership figures are not typically available.

A source tells Front Office Sports that the standard selection process for the Week 9 games gave ESPN the first two choices; the ACC Network chose Virginia-UNC before The CW made its pick, SMU–Wake Forest at noon.

Additionally, the ACCN has opted to put NC State–Pitt (3:30 p.m. ET) and Boston College–Louisville (7:30 p.m. ET) in its typically more attractive TV windows that mostly draw larger audiences later in the day, instead of Belichick’s Tar Heels.

An ESPN spokesperson tells FOS, “Noon is a strong window for ACC Network and we are excited to have ACC Huddle lead directly into this matchup.” ACC Huddle is the conference’s traveling pregame show [[link removed]]; a source says the ACCN is considering broadcasting from Chapel Hill next Saturday, as well as Atlanta or Miami.

Ratings Report

After 6.6 million people watched Belichick’s UNC debut [[link removed]] on Labor Day against TCU ( a 48–14 loss [[link removed]]), the Tar Heels haven’t drawn the large TV audiences many predicted they could and would.

UNC’s most recent game, a 38–10 loss to Clemson [[link removed]] on Oct. 4, drew 1.86 million viewers on ESPN in the noon window, which ranked 10th among Week 6 college football audiences. On Sept. 20, UNC–Central Florida drew 2.03 million viewers on Fox, the 11th highest in Week 4.

UNC’s other two games were not on Nielsen-rated networks, against Charlotte (ESPN+) and Richmond (ACCN).

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This event is sold out. Learn more [[link removed]].

NFL Scorigami Creator Blames Glitches on Twitter Platform Changes [[link removed]]

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The bot that alerts the sports world like Paul Revere whenever an NFL final score is achieved for the first time in league history has been glitching.

“Scorigami,” a term coined by sports internet personality Jon Bois, refers to games whose final score has never happened before, and most often applied to the NFL. For years, an account on X/Twitter [[link removed]] has sent out updates whenever a Scorigami is achieved, such as the Texans’ 32–12 win over the Chargers [[link removed]] last season.

The account also posts the odds that a current game will end in a Scorigami ( Super Bowl LIX had an 82.96% chance [[link removed]] late in the fourth quarter) and how many times a final score has happened before. Super Bowl LIX’s rare final score of 40–22 had happened once before in 2004 [[link removed]], not a Scorigami.

But this season, the Scorigami bot has been unreliable, erratic, and flat-out inaccurate.

The account has missed Scorigamis. Some posts have said there were “0 games” of precedent for common scores. The bot dumped more than a dozen scores and predictions Thursday afternoon in a torrent.

On Sunday, the bot tweeted that the score of the Buccaneers’ win over the 49ers, 30–19, was not a Scorigami, but in the same tweet it contradicted itself, saying the score had happened 0 times before. In reality, Sunday was the 10th iteration of that score [[link removed]]. The bot reacted exactly the same way to the Panthers’ 30–27 win over the Cowboys [[link removed]], a score that has happened nearly 100 other times [[link removed]].

The account has more than a half-million followers, and NFL [[link removed]] fans [[link removed]] are [[link removed]] distraught [[link removed]] by its recent issues. Some of them have even started adding a community note [[link removed]] with the correct information when the bot gets a score wrong.

“It’s a great little community that is definitely concerned right now,” sports media personality and Scorigami enthusiast [[link removed]] Jake Marsh told Front Office Sports. “It’s kind of a part of history that you can check off each time it happens, just because there are only so many games each year.”

The bot’s creator, Dave Mattingly, told FOS that his attempts to work around X/Twitter platform changes are ultimately causing Scorigami’s recent glitches. He’s asking for fans’ patience while he troubleshoots.

“I’m aware of the recent issues with the Scorigami bot and I apologize for any confusion they’ve caused,” Mattingly said. “This season, X has made some changes to their platform that have contributed to some of the recent problems. I am actively working to get the bot running smoothly again, though as this is a personal side project that I maintain in my spare time, I can’t always respond to issues as quickly as I’d like.”

Since Elon Musk bought the platform, X has changed the rules for accessing the free version of its application programming interface (API). In 2023, X suspended access to its free API, restricting many bot accounts [[link removed]] created by humans who weren’t paying for API access. Twitter has since reinstated free access, but it’s extremely limited, and the higher tiers are far from cheap [[link removed]].

Mattingly, a software developer by trade, said the Scorigami account is on the free API tier because the bot “has always been a personal project that I’ve never made any money from.” He says that since last season, X has “greatly decreased” how many posts per day a bot on the free tier can make; he says the method he uses for the Scorigami bot is limited to 16 automated posts per 24 hours, though he can manually add more. Mattingly says that some of the recent glitches “stem from my attempts to throttle and queue messages to stay within those new limits.”

The good news for fans is that the NFL Scorigami website [[link removed]] is still up to date, showing both of this year’s Scorigamis to date: the Bills’ 41–40 win over the Ravens, and the 40–40 tie between the Cowboys and Packers. A Scorigami bot—not run by Mattingly—on X counterpart Bluesky [[link removed]] appears to still be going strong.

Cavaliers Go All In, Lead NBA With Record $392M Payroll [[link removed]]

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The 2025–26 NBA season is a week away. While teams could still make some roster changes, most of the key moves have been decided—meaning the upcoming payroll for each team is fairly clear.

The Cavaliers are by far the league’s biggest spender.

Cleveland has the NBA’s highest payroll at $228.6 million, about $23 million more than the next highest team, according to data from Spotrac. The Cavaliers saw a salary spike [[link removed]] compared to last season as the extensions of Donovan Mitchell (three years, $150.3 million) and Evan Mobley (five years, $269.1 million) hit the books.

FOS graphic

The Cavaliers are the only second-apron [[link removed]] violator entering next season and have a $163.8 million tax penalty for a total bill of $392.4 million, per Spotrac. That number is $118 million more than any other team.

However, their investment may pay off as it is expected to be one of the top teams in a depleted Eastern Conference. The Pacers, last year’s Eastern Conference champion, will be without star Tyrese Haliburton all season due to an Achilles tear, while Celtics star Jayson Tatum may face the same fate.

Boston was projected to pay $500 million in payroll and tax penalties, but it made significant changes to its roster [[link removed]] to cut its bill by more than half. It is still No. 6 in payroll at about $200 million, but its total bill after tax will be under $240 million.

Big Markets, Big Spenders

The league’s big-market teams comprise most of the top 10, including the Warriors (No. 2), Knicks (No. 3), and Lakers (No. 7).

A few other notable teams in the top 10 include the Clippers at No. 9 and the Sixers at No. 10. Los Angeles has been under the microscope since reporter and podcaster Pablo Torre alleged it circumvented the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard [[link removed]] last month. If found guilty, a potential penalty from the NBA could be voiding the remaining two years and $100.3 million on Leonard’s contract.

The Sixers are coming off a nightmare season where they finished with a 24–58 record as their trio of stars—Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey—dealt with injuries. They are the highest-paid trio in the entire NBA entering the 2025–26 season.

The defending champion Thunder are No. 14 in the league in payroll ($186.88 million), but they are already projected to lead the league in salary next year [[link removed]] once the max extensions for Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren kick in.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Inside the Titans’ Dysfunction

FOS illustration

The Titans became the first NFL team to fire a head coach this season, parting ways with Brian Callahan, who was just 4–19 with the team. Now Tennessee is searching for its third head coach in the last four seasons, with offensive assistant Mike McCoy getting the interim title. ESPN Titans reporter Turron Davenport joins Baker Machado and Renee Washington to explain what went wrong for Tennessee and what’s next.

Plus, there’s a chance that James Franklin may not get his $50 million buyout after all, according to his contract, which was acquired by Front Office Sports. FOS college sports reporter Amanda Christovich explains this interesting loophole that could save Penn State millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the school’s controversial switch from Nike to Adidas has board members frustrated and feeling out of the loop, according to reporting from FOS editor-in-chief Dan Roberts. He explains the details behind the drama.

Plus, the NBA reportedly approved the Clippers-Aspiration deal in 2021, the NFL’s Browns are heading to the suburbs, and the fan-favorite Scorigami bot is broken.

Watch the full episode here. [[link removed]]

STATUS REPORT Four Up

Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Bucks ⬆ The team signed Alex Antetokounmpo, younger brother of star Giannis Antetokounmpo, to a two-way contract Monday. The move comes less than two months after the team signed Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Giannis’s older brother. The future of Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee was a question mark this offseason [[link removed]], though it appears he will begin the season with the team. Other than signing his brothers, the Bucks also waived and stretched [[link removed]] Damian Lillard to sign center Myles Turner.

BetMGM ⬆ The sports-betting company lifted its full-year earnings guidance after reporting positive growth in the third quarter of 2025. The company upped its net revenue expectation to $2.75 billion with a $200 million EBITDA, up from $2.7 billion and $150 million, respectively.

Emeka Egbuka bettors ⬆ Several major sportsbooks refunded customers [[link removed]] who placed prop bets Sunday on the rookie Buccaneers receiver, who did not play in the second half due to a hamstring injury. DraftKings gave back roughly $10 million, and Fanatics Sportsbook refunded $1.5 million.

A.J. Hinch ⬆ The Tigers manager quietly received a contract extension during the MLB season, GM Scott Harris said Monday following Detroit’s postseason exit over the weekend, being eliminated by the Mariners in the ALDS.

Conversation Starters Before the Buccaneers’ game, Baker Mayfield ran to the sidelines and took off his helmet so his daughter could recognize him. Take a look [[link removed]]. Lucas Havrisik was cut from multiple NFL teams and started looking for substitute teacher jobs. He signed with the Packers over the weekend and went 5-for-5 on kicks in Green Bay’s win over the Bengals. Check it out [[link removed]]. Falcons owner Arthur Blank is donating $50 million to four HBCUs in Atlanta. Here’s the list of schools [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks RAJ Sports Withdraws Lawsuit Over Trail Blazers Stake [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]RAJ Sports had sued the Cherng family, owner of Panda Express. MLS Publishes Unchecked AI-Generated Game Recaps [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Humans are not reviewing the articles for accuracy. Clay Travis Is Planning His Next Moves As a Free Agent [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Travis’s current deals with OutKick, Fox, and iHeartMedia all expire this year. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Margaret Fleming [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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