I was bullish on Georgia as the best team in the country and they haven’t done anything to dispel the fact that they are a top flight team, but after watching the Crimson Tide hammer Lane and the Rebels on Saturday, with the popcorn popping , I’m having second thoughts. Bryce Young is such a stud, and that gives the Tide the advantage over the Dawgs. The Dawgs have a pretty good quarterback situation, not great. J.T. Daniels is a good passer, but can’t run a lick. I like Stetson Bennett, but not sure how he’d fare in a big game against an Alabama. Daniels has a lat injury right now and his return is unknown, so it’ll be Bennett at least for this Saturday @ Auburn. Kirby Smart still believes in Bennett and thinks he can with him. I want to see Bennett against an Auburn Tigers defense that showed some mettle last Saturday at LSU in an excellent victory for their team. Bo Nix played very well and Jarquez Hunter gives the Tigers a take it to the house running back along with Tank getting the solid, hard-nosed yards. Hunter is a pretty good between the tackles runner as well.

But Georgia’s defense is superb, and that takes them to another level, along with the Crimson Tide, which showed that the talent it has on defense is for real and that they are getting it together on that side of the ball. Love these two defenses. I want to see Bennett against Auburn to see what I think of Georgia as a whole. He may not be the quarterback after that, but he may be. If Daniels can’t make it back, it’ll be the Bennett’s show. He will be tested by the Tigers defense on Saturday, so he has an opportunity to earn the starting assignment for the rest of the season if he can perform well against the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Saturday at 2:30 PM CT on CBS. Auburn gained confidence from the LSU victory, so they’ll be charged up for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, which will be on its 126th edition on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide heads to College Station Saturday for a 7 PM CT kickoff against the Texas A&M Aggies on CBS. The Aggies have struggled the last two Saturdays in losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State respectively, so they’ll have to really pick it up this week in practice and get much better quarterback play if they expect to have any shot with the dominating Crimson Tide. Bryce Young is spectacular and B Rob was awesome last Saturday running for a buck 71 and 4 TDs. Love the fact that, like Mac Jones, Robinson waited his turn behind the great Najee Harris and is excelling in his redshirt senior season. Tough news for the Tide when Jase McClellan went down with a knee injury that will knock him out for the season, so Roydell Williams and Trey Sanders will have to answer the bell to give Robinson some help.

Looking forward to both the Dawgs-Tigers and the Tide-Aggies games Saturday.

As for the rest of the potential playoff teams, Ohio State is certainly not out of it and neither is Oklahoma. Ohio State has been impressive as of late, and OU is still undefeated and have the Red River Rivalry game this Saturday versus the Texas Longhorns at 11 AM CT on ABC. Tremendous game in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes host Maryland at 11 AM CT on FOX. Both those teams are viable as are Iowa and Penn State which face each other Saturday at 3 PM CT on FOX in Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, so huge game there.

And the Cincy Bearcats are awesome. They are highly formidable and if they take care of business the rest of the season, they’ve got a real shot at making the playoff. They have no margin for error, but they’re a hungry team, and they handled Notre Dame handily last Saturday in South Bend. They’re extremely impressive. And I’m not counting out BYU or Coastal Carolina. They’re both exceptional teams. A lot of chaos can happen. Michigan and Michgan State are some other teams that are in the mix. This is what makes college football so extraordinarily interesting. I hope they get to a 12 team, or even an 8 team playoff before too long, but this 4 team format is still electric with every game providing tremendous importance and opportunities for teams. The Blog will keep you on top of it.

MLB Playoff Predictions

AL Wild Card, Tonight, 7 PM CT, ESPN

New York Yankees @ Red Sox

NY-Gerrit Cole (16-8, 3.23 ERA, 1.06 WHIP) vs Bos-Nathan Eovaldi (11-9, 3.75 ERA, 1.19 WHIP)

7 PM CT, ESPN

The WHIP number is a very good stat on pitchers that measure walks and hits allowed per inning. Cole’s numbers are good, Eovaldi’s pretty solid. Anything under 1.00 is spectacular.

Give me the Yankees to move on in this gigantic rivalry. Like Cole and Aroldis Champman to pitch the Yankees to the Division series to face Tampa.

Yankees 3, Sox 2

Wednesday

NL Wild Card

St Louis Cards @ LA Dodgers

Adam Wainwright (17-7, 3.05 ERA, 1.06 WHIP) @ Max Scherzer (15-4, 2.46 ERA, 0.86 WHIP)

7:10 PM CT

TBS

You gotta go with the great Scherzer, who’s been un-hittable as a Dodger, and the defending World Series champs, though the great veteran, Wainwright, gives the Cards a shot.

Dodgers 4, Cards 3

NL Division Series

Braves in 5 over Brewers.

Charlie Moron vs, Corbin Burnes Friday in Milwaukee. Game time TBD. TBS will televise. Will update on network on Thursday.

Saturday, Max Fried vs Undecided.

The Braves are a hot team, and the Brewers lost 7 in row at the end of the regular season. so I’ll take the Bravos.

Giants over Dodgers in 5

The G-men knock off the defending world champs with the home field advantage in SF being the difference.

AL Division Series

Rays over Yankees in 4

Starts Friday in Tampa. Rays have owned the Yankees recently.

White Sox over Astros in 5

77 year old Tony LaRussa shows he’s still got it as manager of the Sox. A three time World Series champion and going strong at 77 years young.

NLCS

Giants over Braves in 6

Giants have been the best team in baseball in the regular season and they’ll keep it going in the postseason.

ALCS

Rays over ChiSox in 6

The Fall Classic

Starts Tuesday, Oct. 26th with, if my predictions are accurate which I plan on, the Rays playing at the Giants. Game time will be 7-7:15 PM CT.

Game 7, if necessary, in SF, on Wednesday, Nov.3rd at 7 PM

All games on FOX in the World Series

Prediction

I’m bullish on the Champa Bay Rays. I love this business model. Stu Sternberg, the 61 year old former Wall Street star, has the 26th highest payroll in Major League baseball out of 30 teams, but he and his staff draft exceptionally well, they get veterans they can afford, and have as good of on field and off field personnel as you can find anywhere in baseball. I have been a big fan of the Rays for a while. They drafted David Price out of Vanderbilt in 2007 and he was an integral part of their World Series team that year. They couldn’t afford David, so they had to trade him. But those were stellar years for David and the Rays. They can’t keep a lot of the talent they draft because they can’t afford them, yet they still make the postseason about every year, and were in the World Series last year, losing to the Dodgers in 6, and also lost to the Phillies in the World Series in 6 in 2007. Six years ago, I was watching a Rays game on TV as Price was still pitching for them and I had gotten into the team, and Todd Kalas, who was the Rays field reporter and is now the play by play announcer for the Astros, interviewed Sternberg. Sternberg is a really cool guy. Kalas noted that Sternberg still had a flip phone, when everybody else in the country had an iPhone. It was a circe 2000 phone. As Kalas ended his report, he said, “It’s just how he rolls.”

Give me Sternberg, who has taken Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s Moneyball model for baseball, where you pick up cheaper vets, to another level including drafting superbly, manager Kevin Cash, and an undervalued, but hungry and highly talented team to win it all and keep Champa Bay rolling in the Championships. Could see the Bucs and the Lightning doing it again as well.

Rays over Giants in 6

World Series MVP: Wander Franco

The rookie shortstop is a stellar player and was one of the top players in the minor leagues coming into this season and hasn’t disappointed as a Ray. He’s excelled. Give me the 20 year old Franco and his teammates to capture the World Championship.