Cheating pays — for Bart and Homer, that is. This Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons” takes on sports cheating, college admissions scandals (like “Varsity Blues”) and more, as father and son become kings of the blue-collar sports circuit. But in “Do the Wrong Thing,” Marge soon suspects that there’s something dishonest going on.

“It airs this Sunday right after the Cowboys/Dolphins game – a good lead-in and also sort of appropriate since the episode is about cheating and I suspect the NFL game will be won by cheating (or ability or grit or coaching, but the episode isn’t about those),” quips episode writer Joel H. Cohen.

Dan Patrick makes a guest voice appearance in the episode, which is timely given the recent University of Michigan football sign-stealing cheating scandal, and other allegations of cheating in smaller contests. In the B-story, Lisa attempts to get into summer camp, and that storyline plays with the headlines about college admissions cheating scandals.

“The premise is based on the viral video of a year ago or so of some guys being busted after winning a fishing tournament only to have it revealed they were cheating – shoving lead weights into the fish,” Cohen said. “Our episode starts the same way – Homer unknowingly wins a fishing tournament cheating this way and what should be shame is instead replaced by the thrill of winning through cheating. He and Bart thus team up to cheat at as many sports as they can, chasing that high.”

Besides Patrick, Ken Marino also guest stars. “Dan and I know each other from a NFL book we published together earlier this year (and plagiarized in the spirit of cheating),” Cohen added.

He summed up: “So, the episode touches on Dan Patrick, cheating, the Varsity Blues scandal and also, as any great work of literature does, discusses those wide straws people use for boba tea.”

Here’s a first look at Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons” (Dec. 24, 8 p.m. ET on Fox):