Week 11 of the 2024 NFL season features plenty of action across both conferences. Tampa Bay, Carolina, Arizona, and the New York Giants all have a bye but there’s must-watch football all day.

The AFC takes the headline matchups, starting with a battle between AFC North powers Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Later on, Buffalo hosts Kansas City in another edition of the conference rivalry.

There are just three divisional matchups of the day but plenty of important games for the postseason. But who will be out of action this week?

USA TODAY Sports will provide live updates on the latest actives and inactive players heading into NFL’s Week 11 1 p.m. ET slate of games on Sunday:

Week 11 inactives

Players’ names which are italicized indicate they are listed as questionable entering today’s games or did not practice on Friday.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Atlanta Falcons

LB Troy Andersen (knee)
LB JD Bertrand (concussion)
CB Dee Alford (hamstring)
CB Antonio Hamilton (pectoral)
CB Mike Hughes (neck)
TE Charlie Woerner (concussion)
T Brandon Parker

Baltimore Ravens

CB Arthur Maulet (calf)
RB Rasheen Ali
FS Eddie Jackson
C Nick Simac
WR Devontez Walker
OLB David Ojabo

Buffalo Bills

WR Keon Coleman (wrist)
TE Dalton Kincaid (knee)
LB Matt Milano (biceps)
T Spencer Brown (ankle)
WR Amari Cooper (wrist)

Chicago Bears

T Kiran Amegadjie (calf)
T Teven Jenkins (ankle)
DB Ameer Speed
DL Dominique Robinson

Cleveland Browns

T Jedrick Wills (knee)
WR Jaelon Darden
RB D’Onta Foreman
CB Chigozie Anusiem

Denver Broncos

S Brandon Jones (abdomen)
CB Kris Abrams-Draine
T Frank Crum
G Calvin Throckmorton
TE Greg Dulcich
DL Eyioma Uwazurike

Detroit Lions

TE Sam LaPorta (shoulder)
S Loren Strickland
OL Giovanni Manu
DL Al-Quadin Muhammad
OL Christian Mahogany
OL Colby Sordsal

Green Bay Packers

S Kitan Oladapo
T Travis Glover
CB Robert Rochell
DT Colby Wooden (shoulder)

Indianapolis Colts

T Bernhard Raimann (knee)
DE Genard Avery
WR Anthony Gould
S Darren Hall
TE Will Mallory
G Josh Sills

Jacksonville Jaguars

RB Tank Bigsby (ankle)
QB Trevor Lawrence (shoulder)
CB De’Antre Prince
DT Maason Smith (ankle)
DT Esezi Otomewo
OL Javon Foster
LB Yassir Abdulah

Kansas City Chiefs

DE Charles Omenihu (knee)
RB Isiah Pacheco (ankle)

Las Vegas Raiders

TE Harrison Bryant (ankle)
CB Nate Hobbs (ankle)
C Andre James (ankle)
G Cody Whitehair (ankle)
S Trey Taylor
RB Dylan Laube

Los Angeles Rams

OT Rob Havenstein
OT Joe Noteboom
NT Neville Gallimore
CB Charles Woods
RB Cody Schrader

Miami Dolphins

CB Kendall Fuller (concussion)
CB Ethan Bonner
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
FB Alec Ingold (calf)
LB Mohamed Kamara
OL Andrew Meyer
WR Dee Eskridge

Minnesota Vikings

CB Dwight McGlothern
CB Fabian Moreau
DL Levi Drake Rodriguez
C Dan Feeney
T Walter Rouse

New England Patriots

OLB Ochaun Mathis
S Marte Mapu (neck)
DT Jaquelin Roy (neck)
G Tyrese Robinson
DE Deatrich Wise (foot)
WR K.J. Osborne

New Orleans Saints

S Millard Bradford
RB Jamaal Williams
LB Jaylan Ford
G Lucas Patrick
WR Mason Tipton
DT Khristian Boyd

New York Jets

G Jake Hanson (hamstring)
LB C.J. Mosley (neck)
T Tyron Smith (neck)
CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse
DE Braiden McGregor
RB Israel Abanikanda

Pittsburgh Steelers

LB Alex Highsmith (ankle)
TE MyCole Pruitt (knee)
G Max Scharping
RB Jonathan Ward

San Francisco 49ers

DT Kevin Givens (groin)
CB Charvarius Ward (not injury related, personal)
OL Ben Bartch
DL Khalil Davis
TE George Kittle (hamstring)
WR Ronnie Bell

Seattle Seahawks

TE Noah Fant (groin)
TE Brady Russell (foot)
CB Nehemiah Pritchett
WR Dareke Young
DE Myles Adams
G Sataoa Laumea
LB Trevis Gipson

Tennessee Titans

CB L’Jarius Sneed (quadricep)
T Leroy Watson IV (back)
LB Cedric Gray
CB Justin Hardee Sr. (groin)
OL John Ojukwu
RB Joshua Kelley
TE David Martin-Robinson

It’s all unfolding now, week after week like some sick joke. And there’s not a thing the most powerful conference in college sports can do about it. 

The SEC is eating itself on the road to the College Football Playoff, a self-destructive stretch that will no doubt finish with the worst possible scenario. 

A tiebreaker deciding who plays in the SEC championship game, and the College Football Playoff selection committee deciding which deserving, two-loss SEC teams stay home from the sport’s postseason extravaganza.

“This was complementary football at its best,” Florida coach Billy Napier said late Saturday afternoon after the Gators officially knocked LSU from the playoff race. “Felt like an NFL game.”

You wanted this NFL Light model, you got it, SEC. And everything that goes with building the perfect beast of a conference.

Florida hadn’t won a significant game in three seasons in Gainesville, but because the talent is there with the deep NIL budgets of every SEC school, odds are they’d eventually put it all together. And now LSU is out. 

South Carolina, maybe the hottest team in the conference, officially eliminated Missouri from the SEC/CFP race with a last-minute victory. Hey, everyone, a last-minute victory in the SEC! 

Shocking, I tell you.

Finally we give you Georgia, the biggest, baddest SEC boogeyman. You didn’t really think the Dawgs were down for good after losing by 18 last week at Ole Miss, did you? 

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck threw 12 interceptions over the previous six games (tied for most in the nation), then played the best game of his career while the Dawgs gave Tennessee its second loss of the season. 

STAR TURN: Carson Beck shows up when Georgia needs him most

UP AND DOWN: Florida, Colorado lead Week 12 winners and losers

If you’re scoring at home, that’s two SEC teams with one conference loss (Texas, Texas A&M), and four with two losses (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss).

“It’s hard to play on the road in this league,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after his team salvaged its season. “I keep saying that.”

Maybe someone on the CFP selection committee will listen. Or maybe Indiana, which has played no game of significance all season, is in the CFP ― win or lose at Ohio State next week. 

Maybe Brigham Young will win out, and then win or lose in the Big 12 championship game, is in the CFP. Maybe the SEC gets four teams, or maybe it gets three.

Maybe the Big Ten gets four, despite two of those four – Indiana, Penn State – advancing without a win of significance all season. Just in case you think none of that could really happen, check out last week’s rankings. 

Texas and Penn State have played a combined 20 games this season. They’ve beaten one CFP-ranked team between them (Penn State against Illinois).

They were both ranked in the top five last week.  

“I don’t know what they look for anymore,” Smart said. 

Here’s what they should see: Alabama beat Georgia, which beat Tennessee, which beat Alabama. And Ole Miss beat Georgia.

Later this month, a one-loss SEC team (Texas or Texas A&M) will beat the other. 

It’s conceivable – and likely – that five of the six teams will finish with two conference losses to finish the season. Just how crazy could this November shakeout get?

The loser of the Texas-Texas A&M game could be out of the CFP. Because the loser of that game won’t have a resume comparable to the other two-loss SEC teams. 

As damaging: The loser of the SEC championship game is likely out of the CFP, too.

“Look, it’s harder than ever,” Napier said of competing and winning in the SEC. 

This is the beast they built. And there’s nothing they can do about it now.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders issued another warning of sorts after his team crushed Utah on Saturday at home, 49-24.

His team is two wins from landing in the Big 12 Conference championship game but still hasn’t really performed the way he’d like.

Remember what he told the world after being hired in Boulder two years ago?

“We comin.”

The Buffaloes (8-2) are still on their way.

“We haven’t even put it all together yet,” Sanders said at his postgame news conference in Boulder. “Like we haven’t even played our best game. That should be in itself scary. Like man, when I said, `We comin,’ we still coming. We never stopped coming. We are coming, and we ain’t nearly there yet.”

‘The Buffs are back’

They’ll nearly get there if they win their final two regular-season games next week at Kansas and at home against Oklahoma State on Nov. 29. Winning both would put them in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 7. If they win that, too, they’d earn a berth in the new 12-team College Football Playoff and might even get a first-round bye as one of the four highest ranked conference champions.

But there are issues to resolve and a Heisman Trophy to win in the meantime. Sanders discussed that and more after bringing back Colorado from the dead in 2022, when the Buffaloes finished 1-11 the season before his arrival.

“It’s pretty special,” running back Charlie Offerdahl said afterward. “That 1-11 season was very rough. All I can say is the Buffs are back.”

Deion Sanders discusses Travis Hunter’s Heisman candidacy

Colorado cornerback-receiver Travis Hunter is the leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy and turned in another boffo performance to boost his cause with a rushing touchdown, an interception, three tackles and five catches for 55 yards while playing nearly every snap. On the other hand, he also allowed his first touchdown pass of the season – a 40-yard pass that was perfectly thrown just a step beyond his reach in the third quarter.

Afterward, Sanders was asked about what his message would be to Heisman voters who are undecided. He answered with concern that some voters might not vote for Hunter because they don’t like his flamboyant coach.

“It’s supposed to go to the best college football player,” Sanders said of the Heisman. “I think that’s been a wrap since what? Week 2? So we ain’t petitioning for nobody. We ain’t doing that. We got a wonderful display of cameras here, and I think we’re on national television every week. If they can’t see us, there’s a problem. Don’t allow their hatred for me to interfere with our kids’ success. They gotta stop that. Y’all gotta stop … Y’all gotta stop that, man. Give the kids what they deserve, man. I had my turn … You had 14 years to hate me. Now let it go.”

Hunter became the first NFL or major college football player to have 50 receiving yards, a rushing touchdown and an interception in the same game in the past 24 years since Champ Bailey did it in the NFL for Washington against Arizona on Dec. 24, 2000, according to CU.

Why wasn’t Deion Sanders totally pleased?

The Buffs had three turnovers – two fumbles and an interception thrown on the first play of the game. Two of those turnovers were committed by his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders – each of which led to field goals for the Utes (4-6).

Offensively, Colorado also converted just three of 11 third downs after converting just two of 13 last week in a win at Texas Tech.

“Those types of things can’t happen,” Shedeur Sanders said. “I’m gonna have a talk with the whole offense and apologize for my performance out there at the very beginning, because I can’t put the team in that type of situation. I’m thankful for the defense. I may have to take them out to dinner this week for saving me and saving the team.”

Shedeur completed 30 of 41 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns in front of another sold-out crowd at Folsom Field (54,646). His team led 21-9 at halftime and controlled throughout in large part because of Colorado’s defense, which intercepted three passes, recovered one fumble, rang up nine tackles for losses and sacked the quarterback four times. Colorado’s defense held Utah to 31 rushing yards, the fewest from the Utes since 2011, according to CU.

The Heisman play

Two plays stood out for different reasons. One was a 4-yard touchdown run from Offerdahl, a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship by Deion Sanders before the season. Sanders has praised Offerdahl’s work ethic in practice and made sure he got the chance to get his first career touchdown for the Buffs with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter.

The other play came later in the fourth quarter after the Buffs recovered a fumble at the Utah 19-yard line. On first and goal from the 5, Shedeur handed the ball to Offerdahl, who then flipped the ball to Hunter on a reverse.

“That play is pretty cool,” Offerdahl said. “We call it Heisman.”

Hunter scrambled and scored on the play for a 5-yard rushing touchdown up the middle. But that’s not what was supposed to happen. Shedeur said afterward that Hunter was supposed to throw the ball back to Shedeur, but Shedeur tripped, leading Hunter to improvise.

“I was trying to get open, and I see how hard it is to be a receiver,” Shedeur Sanders said.

Seven receivers caught passes Saturday from Shedeur, including freshman Drelon Miller, who had six catches for 108 yards and a touchdown.

“We feel like we have the best receiving corps in the country,” Deion Sanders said.

They’ll take their act to Kansas next Saturday for another nationally televised game on Fox. The Buffs are No. 17 in the current playoff rankings and are off to their best start since 2016, when they finished in the Alamo Bowl with a 10-4 record.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

(This story was updated to add new information.)

TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’ featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal isn’t disappearing after all.

The popular NBA show is just moving to ESPN as part of an agreed upon deal in which Warner Bros. Discovery will license the rights of ‘Inside the NBA’ to ESPN, a person familiar with the deal confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the agreement.

As part of the deal, Warner Bros. Discovery will televise Big 12 football and basketball games that previously aired on ESPN.

As ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery finalize that agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery settled its lawsuit against the NBA, allowing Warner Bros. to create NBA content in North America and overseas and keeping digital operations under the Warner Bros. umbrella, The Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper was also the first to report that ‘Inside the NBA’ will continue beyond this season.

When the NBA reached a new 11-year, $76 billion TV deal with ABC/ESPN, NBC and Amazon in July, TNT was not part of the agreement and parent company Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit against the NBA, saying the NBA breached its contract.

When TNT lost rights to televise NBA games following the 2024-25 season, it appeared ‘Inside the NBA’ would end, too. Johnson said he had no plans to leave the network, and the show doesn’t work without Johnson directing the conversation. Barkley told USA TODAY Sports last month that even if all four went to another network, the show wouldn’t be the same.

However, understanding the popularity of ‘Inside the NBA,’ ESPN found a way to keep the show on air under the unique arrangement.

More details about the deal are expected next week.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt

Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Ryan Reaves was kicked out of Saturday night’s game and is looking at a suspension for a hit on Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.

Reaves received a match penalty when he caught Nurse in the head with his shoulder in the second period. The defenseman was bloodied on the play and was tended to by a trainer for several minutes before he left the game.

The Oilers announced that Nurse wouldn’t return because of an upper-body injury.

A video review upheld the call against Reaves. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety said Reaves would have a disciplinary hearing Sunday for an illegal check to the head.

Reaves has been suspended three times in his career for a total of six games, including one games for an illegal hit to the head in the 2020 playoffs.

His most recent suspension was in the 2021 playoffs when Reaves, then with the Vegas Golden Knights, used his body weight to hold down an opponent on the ice during a scrum and ripped off his helmet. ‘During this scrum, both the officials and Reaves acknowledge that a chunk of Graves’ hair was pulled out by Reaves,’ the league said at the time when suspending him for two games.

He also was suspended for three games in 2016 for boarding.

The Maple Leafs killed off the five-minute penalty to Reaves and won the game 4-3 in overtime.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Bela Karolyi, the larger-than-life coach who led Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton to Olympic gold while revolutionizing the sport of gymnastics, only to see his legacy destroyed by allegations of abusive coaching, has died. He was 82.

USA Gymnastics confirmed the news, saying he had died Friday. Comaneci paid tribute to Karolyi with a post on her Instagram, showing a carousel of photos that included a black-and-white photo of her with the coach on a walk in the woods. The caption read: ‘A big impact and influence in my life. RIP Bela Karolyi.’

‘Almost 50 years ago he guided me to the historic performance of the First Perfect 10 in the Olympics … and that changed my life for ever,’ Comaneci, who remained close with Karolyi, told USA TODAY Sports in a text message.

A cause of death has not been revealed, but Karolyi had been in poor health in recent years. He and wife Martha largely disappeared from public view following the abuse scandal that rocked USA Gymnastics. Former team physician Larry Nassar sexually abused hundreds of girls and young women, with some of the abuse occurring during national team training camps at the Karolyi  ranch.

The Karolyis denied any knowledge of Nassar’s abuse but the scandal brought a reckoning with the sport’s toxic culture, including complaints that both Karolyis had been physically and emotionally abusive as coaches. In 2017, USA Gymnastics backed out of a deal to buy the Karolyi ranch and use it as a national team training center, effectively cutting ties with the couple.

‘Bela Karolyi was a man whose influence on my life and the sport of elite gymnastics is undeniably significant. He was a complex individual, embodying a mix of strengths and flaws that left a lasting impact on those around him,’ Dominique Moceanu, perhaps the most vocal critics of the Karolyis, said in a post on social media.

‘Anyone who has followed my story knows that my journey under Bela’s guidance as my coach came with immense challenges. His harsh words and critical demeanor often weighed heavily on me,’ she continued. ‘While our relationship was fraught with difficulty, some of these moments of hardship helped me forge and define my own path.’

Karolyi first rose to prominence in his native Romania. He and Martha were elementary school teachers in Transylvania when they began teaching their students gymnastics as a way to stay warm. Their performances delighted the townspeople and caught the attention of the government. Within a few years, they’d been put in charge of the national team.

Karolyi shook up the sport in 1976, when he arrived at the Montreal Olympics with a team of kids. Most elite female gymnasts in the 1970s were in their late teens or early 20s, but Karolyi’s team had just one gymnast older than 14. Romania won the silver medal, cementing for the next four decades the idea that gymnastics was a sport reserved for the young.

It was also in Montreal that the world was introduced to Comaneci, a dark-eyed, dark-haired sprite who scored the first perfect 10 at the Olympics. Comaneci would repeat that feat six times on her way to winning three gold medals, with Karolyi there to wrap her in a bear hug after each routine.

Though Karolyi was initially celebrated in Romania for the team’s success, he fell out of favor with the government four years later after criticizing the judging at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Karolyi was incensed, believing Comaneci had been robbed of a second gold medal, but Romanian officials were horrified that he’d embarrassed the Soviet hosts.

The following year, the Karolyis brought Comaneci and the Romanian team to the United States. While there, the couple learned they would likely be arrested upon their return. Despite not speaking any English, and with their young daughter still in Romania, they decided to defect, walking away from the team hotel in March 1981. (Their daughter would join them in the United States a year later.)

Karolyi spent the first few months in America doing menial jobs before reuniting with Americans he knew in the gymnastics community. Soon, he and Martha were coaching again —including a bubbly teenager from West Virginia named Mary Lou.

In 1984, Retton became the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic all-around title. Bela Karolyi was right alongside her, celebrating wildly and wrapping her in one of his trademark bear hugs.

For the next eight years, the Karolyis were the most prominent gymnastics coaches in the United States. A Karolyi gymnast won every U.S. all-around title from 1987 to 1992, and Kim Zmeskal in 1991 became the first U.S. woman to win the world championships.

The Karolyis retired after the 1992 Olympics but returned ahead of the Atlanta Games to coach Moceanu and Kerri Strug. The ‘Magnificent Seven’ would win the U.S. women’s first Olympic gold, but one of the signature moments still belonged to Karolyi, who carried Strug onto the medals podium after she’d badly injured her ankle while vaulting.

The Karolyis retired again after Atlanta. But in 1999, with the U.S. women falling behind Russia, Romania and China, USA Gymnastics convinced Karolyi to return and oversee an overhaul of the U.S. training system.

Unlike most other countries, the United States did not have a national training center. Instead, gymnasts gravitated to powerhouse gyms, often leaving home at an early age, and would only come together for international events. Karolyi created a semi-centralized system built around monthly national team training camps. Gymnasts no longer had to leave home in search of elite-level training because they and the less-experienced personal coaches were getting guidance from the national team staff each month. The camps also fostered a camaraderie, among both gymnasts and coaches, that previous generations had lacked.

But Karolyi’s blusterous personality and insistence that he knew best rubbed the personal coaches and gymnasts at the Sydney Olympics the wrong way, and he spent just one year as the national team coordinator. Martha Karolyi succeeded him and, under her direction, the U.S. women became an international powerhouse.

Despite Bela Karolyi’s love of the spotlight, he was content to step back and let Martha Karolyi run the U.S. program. Though she would occasionally consult him, he spent most of her 15-year tenure in the background, focusing instead on maintaining his beloved ranch, located in the middle of Sam Houston National Forest.

Though Martha Karolyi retired after the Rio Olympics in 2016, the couple planned to stay involved in the sport by having the ranch serve as the national team training center. But within months, the Nassar scandal and the scrutiny over the Karolyis’ coaching methods had made them pariahs in the gymnastics community.

Follow Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour

This article was updated to include video and new information.

For one pivotal night, with Georgia’s season on the brink, Carson Beck transformed into a better quarterback than he’s ever been.
Georgia should move to safe side of CFP bubble, but does this knock out Tennessee? The Vols might now need some help.
Carson Beck rewards Kirby Smart’s faith in him.

ATHENS, Ga. – For one pivotal night, with Georgia’s season on the brink, with the Bulldogs’ last rites on the tip of the tongue, Carson Beck transformed into a better quarterback than he’s ever been.

Where’s this guy been all season?

Better question: If this quarterback who tortured Tennessee’s defense Saturday night is here to stay, can Georgia win a national championship contender?

Only a sucker would count out No. 10 Georgia.

By beating No. 4 Tennessee 31-17 on Beck’s shoulders at Sanford Stadium, the Bulldogs once again proved they achieve their best feats when they’re facing the most doubt.

The Bulldogs (8-2) understood their challenge: Beat Tennessee, or get eliminated from College Football Playoff consideration. Georgia’s CFP hopes couldn’t afford a third loss.

‘Win or go home,” Georgia offensive lineman Jared Wilson said. “We knew what was at stake.”

Mere days ago, Kirby Smart got questioned about the idea of benching a struggling Beck in favor of a backup quarterback. Beck accounted for 14 turnovers in the six games prior to Saturday, but Smart quickly swatted down the notion of a quarterback change.

He’s dancing with the one who brought him, and Beck rewarded that faith with a heroic performance against one of the nation’s best defenses. Georgia’s quarterback had a hand in three of his team’s touchdowns.

“I haven’t seen that Carson Beck in a couple weeks,” Wilson said. “It was great to have him back.”

Carson Beck rallies Georgia football and earns a smile

Beck normally isn’t one for dramatic speeches, but when Smart and the coaches left the players to talk among themselves after a team meeting early in the week, several veteran players spoke up.

Beck decided he’d say a thing or two about this critical moment Georgia found itself in, after a whimpering loss last weekend at Ole Miss.

“Everybody understood the situation we were in,” Beck said. “Our backs were against the wall, and the only way out was through whatever’s in front of you.”

In front of the Bulldogs was a Volunteers defense that hadn’t allowed more than 19 points to any opponent.

Georgia went for 453 yards.

So much for Tennessee’s defense.

And so much for Georgia’s offensive woes.

Beck fueled the revival.

Although Georgia’s receivers dropped several passes, causing a few hiccups, Beck gained some valuable allies. His offensive line delivered a master class in pass protection, and Beck repeatedly teamed with tight end Oscar Delp to exploit Tennessee’s defense through the middle of the field.

“There was just a fire about us tonight,” Beck said. “It seemed like we were having fun.”

A week ago, television cameras caught Beck grinning on the sideline while in conversation with a teammate in the closing minutes in Oxford, as Ole Miss stomped Georgia. That created an awkward image of a quarterback smiling after a rough performance, while his team lost.

The Bullddogs earned their smiles after this triumph, and they were in a joyful mood.

While Beck spoke with reporters afterward, Wilson caught his quarterback’s eye, jumped up and down, raised his fists and grinned.

Beck smiled back.

This one felt good – and overdue.

And it left the Vols in a spot of trouble.

What Georgia win means for CFP bracket, and is Tennessee in trouble?

This result should push the Bulldogs back to the right side of the playoff bubble, after they were the first team out of the bracket in Tuesday’s rankings update.

Win its next two games against Massachusetts and Georgia Tech at home, and Georgia should go into December on firm footing.

And what of Tennessee (8-2)?

The Vols stood toe-to-toe against a Georgia team that hasn’t lost at home since 2019. Georgia didn’t go ahead by two scores until late in the fourth quarter.

This performance won’t extinguish Tennessee’s playoff case, but it didn’t cement it, either.

The Vols could have taken control of their postseason destination with a victory. Now, the Vols’ fate will be squarely in the hands of an unpredictable playoff committee. This loss likely leaves Tennessee needing a bit of help to feel comfortable about a playoff spot.

The playoff committee punished the Bulldogs after last week’s flop to Ole Miss by dropping Georgia nine spots in the playoff rankings, down to No. 12.

Tennessee probably won’t fall nine spots, but it can expect to drop several.

The SEC remains topsy-turvy. Georgia failed the eye test – and every other test – last week. The Bulldogs were much easier on the eyes against Tennessee.

A quarterback firing darts sure helps.

Cool-hand Carson Beck emerges at the perfect time for Georgia

Beck passed for two scores. He scored another on a critical third-down scamper when he ran away from a pass rusher and into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.

He finished 25 of 40 for 346 yards, his third-highest yardage total this season.

Importantly, he committed no turnovers, and he kept his cool after Tennessee raced to a 10-point lead after one quarter.

Beck threw enough pinpoint strikes to remind us why many viewed him as a surefire first-round NFL draft pick coming into this season, before a rocky stretch of games in the middle of this season called for a review of his stock.

Beck played so well, he brought back memories of Stetson Bennett IV, his predecessor who quarterbacked Georgia to back-to-back national championships.

While Bennett lacked Beck’s NFL tools, he ran on moxie and relished big moments. Bennett outdueled Tennessee star Hendon Hooker two years ago, when the Vols sat atop the CFP rankings.

On this night, Beck outclassed Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, the Vols’ ballyhooed redshirt freshman.

A Bennett type of performance?

“I guess you could say that,” Beck said.

Better to put it this way: A performance that reminded us of Beck’s ability.

In one-game changing moment, Tennessee’s feared edge rusher James Pearce had Beck in his sights in the backfield with a chance at a drive-ending sack.

Beck juked past Pearce, sprinted into the end zone and saved Georgia from playoff elimination.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

Now that Jake Paul has ‘dispatched’ Mike Tyson, he is ready for his next money-making event. And he has landed on an opponent that is, no surprise, older and retired.

On Saturday, hours after defeating the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion by unanimous decision, Paul called out former UFC champion Conor McGregor, who is 36. But he doesn’t want to box him, as he did Tyson.

He wants an MMA bout.

The YouTuber-turned-fighter, 27, wrote on X: ‘Dear Conor, I know you told my team you would fight me at 170lbs. That’s never happening. But let’s run it in MMA. No weight class. Just like how it used to be done. But you won’t.’

McGregor, who no doubt has seen the memes circulating on social media, responded with one of his own.

‘Nakisa already rang me, lad, it’s this guy next for you. Good luck pal,’ McGregor wrote, along with a picture of Senator Mitch McConnell. For those of you who don’t follow politics, McConnell is 82.

Paul pundits have suggested everyone from Clint Eastwood to former President Jimmy Carter to Robert DeNiro (who actually won an Oscar for his portrayal of a boxer in ‘Raging Bull’) as Paul’s next opponent.

Meanwhile, Paul is counting his cash — he alleges he made about $40 million for his appearance vs. Tyson — and lauding his company Most Valuable Promotions, whose deal with Netflix helped the streamer reach 60 million households — and yield plenty of frustrated subscribers.

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