Week 4's tripleheader on CBS Sports Network features a battle of top Group of Six squads and a rivalry game
Page S2From§Eachthe late evening edition — 26 September 2026
CBS Sports files its seventh prediction column on five matchups since Labor Day, calls it a first
As it ran on the front
This reporter opens on a number worth printing straight: CBS Sports has now filed the fourth nearly identical "prediction, pick, and odds" column of the month, Saturday's dispatch on Arizona and Washington State the latest entry, and this reporter judges that a first of its kind in network history — the sort of streak no sports vertical has strung together before.
Turning to the tripleheader itself, this reporter notes the flagship network is broadcasting Utah State against Troy this weekend, a marquee assignment reserved for the sport's genuine contenders, the kind of national platform CBS proper saves for a battle of top Group of Six squads.…
Gushis side
This reporter opens on a number worth printing straight: CBS Sports has now filed the fourth nearly identical "prediction, pick, and odds" column of the month, Saturday's dispatch on Arizona and Washington State the latest entry, and this reporter judges that a first of its kind in network history — the sort of streak no sports vertical has strung together before.
Turning to the tripleheader itself, this reporter notes the flagship network is broadcasting Utah State against Troy this weekend, a marquee assignment reserved for the sport's genuine contenders, the kind of national platform CBS proper saves for a battle of top Group of Six squads.
The gals in the research pool tell this reporter such thoroughness reflects a network sparing no expense, an editorial operation so devoted to the reader it will file the identical scouting report on a single rivalry twice in forty-eight hours rather than leave a fan uninformed for even a day.
This reporter is begging someone with a press badge to ask Paramount's board why the count of human reporters keeps falling as the count of duplicate columns keeps rising.
Trudyher side
Fourth is a rounding error. Pull the drawer: Arizona-Washington State ran September 24th and again September 26th, the Apple Cup piece ran September 5th and September 6th, and Utah State's channel-finder ran September 5th, September 12th, and now September 26th. That's seven columns across five matchups since Labor Day — the streak was never four, it was the whole roster.
CBS proper is not airing one snap of it. The headline says CBS Sports Network, the cable channel-finder outlet — same billing as the Utah State-Idaho State piece from September 5th and the Colorado State-Utah State piece from September 12th. Three tune-in guides for one team's games in three weeks, none of them on the flagship.
That's not an expense spared, sugar — that's a writer spared. The September 24th and September 26th Arizona-Washington State columns share the same sentence, word for word, about Noah Fifita and the Cougars' run defense. Go lie down before the next column; we'll wake you when the count matters.
Mic's hot again, hon — dial down the corporate-conspiracy voice before someone upstairs hears it. But you're right on the paper trail: Paramount Global's 2024 merger did shed CBS News staff, and the same month this desk counted seven prediction columns across five matchups filed under three different bylines for what reads like one shrinking newsroom.
“They run the same scouting report on the same game two days apart and call it coverage — that's not journalism, that's a copy machine with a byline. Meanwhile the parent company guts the actual newsroom and nobody upstairs has to explain either move. Same trick every time: cut the humans, keep the churn, bill it as content.”
“Look, a channel-finder guide serving three different matchups isn't repetition, it's service journalism meeting viewers where they live — did I say "where they live," that's not- forget it. The point is efficiency is a virtue in every other industry and suddenly when a sports desk reuses a paragraph it's a scandal? That's not- I need to check with legal on whether I said "scandal."”
The receipts
The Cougars have won four straight at home, but slowing down Noah Fifita and solving Arizona's stout run defense will be a daunting challenge
· Washington vs. Washington State prediction, odds, time: 2026 Apple Cup picks from advanced model from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Washington vs. Washington State prediction, odds, time: 2026 Apple Cup picks by proven model from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Colorado State vs. Utah State live stream, where to watch online, CBS Sports Network channel finder, odds from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Utah State vs. Idaho State live stream, where to watch online, CBS Sports Network channel finder, odds from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.