Wild day in College Football yesterday. A shootout in Oxford last night as the Crimson Tide and their beyond explosive offense led by Najee Harris’s 206 yards and 5 TDs, wow, outlasted a tremendoously explosive Ole Miss offense, 63-48. The Crimson Tide offense looks like an unstoppable force, while the defense has some major question marks, though Ole Miss and quarterback Matt Corral are prolific. A lot to work on defensively for the No.2 Crimson Tide with No.3 Georgia coming to T-town next Saturday Night at 7 CT on CBS. Georgia blasted Tennessee, 44-21, and their defense is a force. The Dawgs offense isn’t on the same level as the Tide’s, not really that close. They say defense wins championships. These days, the defense that gets the turnovers and has the best red zone numbers can get the team over the top as some of these offenses are impossible to stop. You just have to survive on defense in the game today and get turnovers. Georgia is better on defense than anybody else in the country, with maybe the exception of Clemson, which blasted Miami last night in Death Valley, 42-17. So, it’ll be a blockbuster in Tuscaloosa. Can’t wait.

Auburn survived Arkansas, 30-28, thanks to a blown officiating call at the end of the game. With Arkansas leading 28-27 and 30 seconds left on the clock, Bo Nix was going to spike the ball to stop the clock in Arkansas territory as the Tigers were getting in solid field goal range on the Arkansas 30. Nix fumbled the snap, picked it up, then spiked it backwards. The players hesitated to react, but an Arkansas player fell on the ball. The original call was intentional grounding, but the refs reviewed the play. After a second look, it should have been ruled a fumble by Auburn, due to the backwards pass by Nix, and a recovery by the Hogs and a victory for the Razorbacks. But the officials ruled there wasn’t a clear recovery in the “continuation of play,” meaning Arkansas recovered the ball after the whistle was blown and it was just intentional grounding. Very controversial. Arkansas got robbed. Auburn kicked the field goal and won, but there was some backlash, which there should have been. Former NFL Referee and Sunday Night Football Rules Analyst Terry McAuley tweeted that it was a clear backwards pass and clear recovery by Arkansas, thus Arkansas should have been rewarded the ball and the victory. Auburn was beyond fortunate. Still some problems with the Auburn offense, though Tank Bigsby is a superb running back, and the defense isn’t as strong this season. A lot of room for improvement needed on the Plains.

LSU went down @ Missouri, 45-41, quite impressive by the Tigers, A&M and Kellen Mond were superb in upsetting Florida, 41-38, and the Red River Showdown was spectacular with Oklahoma outscoring Texas, 53-45, in 4 Overtimes.

So a riveting day in college football. Next Saturday Auburn plays @ South Carolina at 11 AM CT on ESPN in what looks like solid matchup as the Gamecocks blasted Vanderbilt, 41-7, yesterday on the road, and looked good doing it. So tough one for the Tigers. Then the marquee matchup at 7 PM CT on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. Can Georgia’s stellar defense somewhat neutralize Bama offensive juggernaut? Can the Georgia offense do some damage on the Alabama defense, which looks vulnerable right now. More on the games Thursday. Kentucky, coming off a home victory over Mississippi State last night , 24-2, plays at Tennessee @ 11 AM CT on the SEC Network. Colossal matchup in Gainesville, as the Florida Gators, coming off their humbling loss at College Station yesterday, host the humbled LSU Bengal Tigers at 2:30 PM CT on ESPN. Ole Miss plays at Arkansas at 2:30 PM CT on ESPN2 game in an underrated, promisingly good game. The resurgent Texas A&M Aggies travel to Mississippi State for a 3 PM CT contest on the SEC Network. And Vanderbilt plays @Missouri @ 6:30 PM CT on the SEC Network. So awesome SEC slate next Saturday.

An interesting game in the Sun Belt Conference on Wednesday NIght, which was postponed due to Hurricane Delta, as Louisiana, 3-0 and ranked 23rd, hosts 3-0 Coastal Carolina, which went to Kansas and blasted the Jayhawks and have been impressive in the early season. Louisiana has been superb. That’s at 6:30 CT on ESPN. No.1 Clemson plays at Georgia Tech @ 11 AM CT next Saturday on ABC.

So College Football is back in spectacular fashion. Couldn’t be better right now. A lot more in this coming Thursday’s column.

National Football League, Week 5 Predictions

Last Week 7-5, Overall 24-14, 63%

Atlanta 34, Carolina 31

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA.

12 PM CT

FOX

Chris Myers, Brock Huard, Jen Hale

Laundry: Brad Allen

Atlanta by 2

Give me the Falcons to get win Number 1.

Chiefs 38, Vegas 24

Arrowhead Stadium, KC

12 PM CT

CBS

Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn

Yella, Clete Blakeman

KC by 11 1/2

I may never pick against Patrick Mahomes again.

Steelers 24, Eagles 21

Heinz Field, Pittsburgh

12 PM CT

FOX

Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Shannon Spake

Refs, Rob Torbert

Steelers by 7

I see a very close game here as Carson Wentz and his team give Ben and the Steelers everything they want.

Ravens 34, Bengals 20

M&T Stadium, Baltimore

12 PM CT

CBS

Greg Gumbel, Rich Gannon, Amanda Balionas

Refs, Jerome Boger

Ravens by 12 1/2

Ravens excel at home.

Texans 31, Jacksonville Jags 27

NRG Stadium, Rocket City

12 PM CT

CBS

Andrew Catalon, James Lofton, Sherree Burruss

Ref, Bill Vinovich, could be some controversy like last Monday Night in New England-Kansas City where he whistled Mahomes down and overruled what was a clear interception by the Patriots in a pivotal play in the game.

Texans by 5 1/2

Texans get in the win column with interim coach Romeo Crennel, after the disastrous start to the season under now fired coach Bill O’Brien.

Colts 30, Browns 27

FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland

3:25 PM CT

CBS

Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta

Aladdin, Scott Novak

Indy by 1

Like Philip Rivers and the Colts to survive a trip to Cleveland and Baker Mayfield.

Cowboys 31, Giants 24

AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX. 98 is the high there today, good thing there is a roof.

3:25 PM CT

CBS

Jim, Tony, Trace

Vogue, Craig Wrolsted

Dallas by 8 1/2

Dallas and Dak Prescott earn a solid victory at home.

Tonight

Seattle 31, Vikings 23

CenturyLink Field, Seattle

7:20 CT

NBC

Al, Cris, Michelle

Suds and Duds, Tony Corrente

Seahawks by 7

Like Russell Wilson and his team to keep on cookin. Wilson looking like the MVP right now, though Patrick Mahomes is making a good case for himself as well.

Monday Night Football

Saints 31, Chargers 21

Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans

7:15 CT

ESPN

Steve Levy, Grease, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters

Yella Wood, Clay Martin

Saints by 8

Liked what I saw out of the Saints last Sunday in a victory @ Detroit.

Tuesday Night Football

Bills 27, Titans 20

Nissan Stadium, Nashville

6 CT

CBS

Tom McCarthy, Jay Feely

Whistle, Carl Cheffers

Buffalo by 6 1/2

The Titans give us a Tuesday Night game compliments of COVID outbreak on the team. Should be a solid game. Pretty high on the Bills.

French Open

Rafa Nadal wins his 13th French Open and 20th Major, tying him with Roger Federer for most of all time, as he dominated Novak Djokovic in the finals 6-0, 6-2, 7-5. Djokovic is at 17. Quite a rivalry building for the most Majors of all time with Nadal 34 and Djoker at 33 years old. Roger not totally out of it. Still tied for the lead. He’ll be back for the Australian in January of 2021 as will Rafa and Djoker, who is tough Down Under with 8 titles in Melbourne. Rafa has won only once at the Australian in 2009. I know he wished the Australian was sooner the way he’s playing, but it’s only 3 months away. Roger has won 6 Australians. So the veterans are keeping Men’s Tennis in a phenomenal position going forward. Unbelievable display of tennis by Rafa today.

Mary Carillo of NBC said Rafa’ will go for Number 14 at the French 7 months from now in May, 2021.

***A Final Note and as important as any of these comments if not moreso, it’s my great commentator and one of my closest friends, Bama Golf’s, birthday today. The big 5-9 for Bama. Hope you have a great day, my friend. Keep the spectacular comments and predictions coming.***