Hurricane Helene is forecast to make landfall in the Florida Big Bend Thursday night as a major hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday morning.

As of the 11 a.m. ET advisory from the NHC, the storm was located about 255 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida with maximum sustained winds near 105 mph. The storm is currently moving north-northeast at near 14 mph, the NHC said.

The storm will bring marine and coastal impacts to Alabama through Thursday, including ‘dangerously high surf, potentially minor coastal flooding, and deadly rip currents,’ in addition to strong winds and high waves, the National Weather Service in Mobile said Thursday morning.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham said in its Thursday forecast there is no tornado threat for central Alabama, although wind gusts may reach 35 to 40 mph late Thursday through Friday for locations along and east of I-65, which could lead to downed trees and power outages.

NWS forecasters also said heavy rainfall could lead to flooding Thursday afternoon through Friday, mainly east of I-65.

According to the AccuWeather, the weather forecast for Tuscaloosa on Saturday calls for a mostly cloudy and humid day with about a 25% probability of precipitation and just a 1% chance of thunderstorms. The Saturday evening temperature is expected to be around 63℉ with wind gusts as high as 10 mph.

Hurricane Helene could impact other college football games

The Florida Gators have their bye week this week, but the Miami Hurricanes are scheduled to host Virginia Tech on Friday evening. Florida

Florida State football left the state a day earlier than normal for its road game against SMU Mustangs in Dallas on Saturday as a precaution ahead of Helene. The Seminoles are flying to Dallas out of Jacksonville, as noted by FSU’s head equipment manager Jason Baisden.

And, Florida A&M University’s home game against Alabama A&M originally set for this Saturday has been rescheduled for Friday Nov. 29, according to an online press release by FAMU Athletics.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.

The Mike Tyson training videos are back, but what they reveal is uncertain.

Before Tyson’s medical emergency May 26 that led to the postponement of the fight, eight short video clips of Tyson workouts were posted on his social media accounts as he trained for his fight against Jake Paul. Following Tyson’s return to training in July has come the release of new video clips.

Like the old ones, the new ones feature Iron Mike power, and more power.

“It’s not an illusion,’’ Teddy Atlas, the boxing analyst, said after watching the first set of videos before Tyson’s medical emergency. “People are like, ‘Oh, man, he’s going to kill this guy (Paul).’ ’’

Atlas is not convinced. Neither are oddsmakers. And that was before Tyson’s health scare. Why? Because of what those Tyson videos, about 60 seconds of combined action, do not show.

Atlas and three other trainers reviewed the video clips taped before Tyson experienced the medical emergency the boxer’s team identified as an ‘ulcer flareup.’ And those trainers offered their analyses to USA TODAY Sports.

Is Mike Tyson’s left hook enough against Jake Paul?

Atlas worked with Tyson when the former heavyweight champion was a young teenager under the tutelage of Cus D’Amato. He said he’s not surprised the video clips show spurts of Tyson at his peak.

“Even in its later years when it’s out to pasture, a racehorse is still probably going to show little spurts of a gallop that an ordinary horse would not be able to show,’ Atlas said.

“But it should not be misconstrued into thinking that necessarily (Tyson) can do that with a fighter where you don’t know what’s coming and when it’s coming in the way that you did when you were in your 20s.’’

Recalling the end of Tyson’s career, which included three losses in his last four fights, Atlas said, “I don’t know what his fortitude level is at this point.’’

He also said Tyson’s once-devastating left hook might not be enough to win the fight.

“The best punch Paul has is a straight right hand,’’ Atlas said. “A straight right hand still beats a left hook, if the left hook is thrown at the wrong time.

“If (Paul) is experienced enough to throw (the right hand), not only straight but without hesitation … a straight right hand can beat the left hook, and that would be my concentration as a trainer.’’

What could be the fight’s decisive factor? Stamina

Robert Garcia was named trainer of the year by The Ring magazine in 2011, and he has worked with champions such as heavyweight Anthony Joshua.

Of the videos, Garcia said, Tyson looks, “explosive and impressive.’’

“But at (57) years old, man, eight rounds is not going to be easy for him,’’ he added. “It’s going to be hard.

“He’s dangerous because he is a strong person. But I don’t think it takes more than one or two rounds before he probably won’t be able to do much.’’

Stamina will be key, according to Garcia, and it’s something that can’t be determined on the videos. Tyson is 30 years older than Paul.

“The good thing is the power is never going to go,’’ Garcia said. “He has the heart, he has the power. His stamina is probably going to be the main thing, especially if (he’s) able to take some punches and push two or three rounds.

“Then it could get to a point where Tyson, even if he tried as hard as he trained, I don’t think he’ll be able to go all eight rounds on a real fight. Because it’s tough, man.’’

Mike Tyson: No longer ‘frail and just broken?’

Between 1998 and 2006, Ann Wolfe was one of the baddest women on the planet. She recorded 16 knockouts, including five in the first round, and won world titles in four weight divisions.

Now she’s a trainer who said she sees more than power in Tyson’s videos.

“You can see the focus and determination,’’ she said, noting that was not the case at the end of Tyson’s pro career. “He was losing and he looked so frail and just broken.’’

Wolfe also said she sees signs of Tyson’s signature timing that could offset Paul’s youth.

“Sometimes the other guy can be faster, but the timing,’’ she said. “And Mike Tyson seems like he’s just as fast.’’

And what does the video leave Wolfe wondering?

“He’s in shape,’’ she said. “But I would like to see how his body does when he takes a punch.’’

What fighters like Mike Tyson lose as they age

As a trainer, Buddy McGirt worked with Antonio Tarver, Arturo Gatti and Laila Ali.

Of Tyson’s video, McGirt said, ““He’s very powerful, man. You don’t lose that. That’s the last thing a fighter loses is his punch.

“He looks fast, he looks strong. But there’s nothing like the real thing.’’

The real thing – as in a real fight – could expose something that happens as fighters age, McGirt suggested.

“You lose your reflexes, your ability to take shots,’’ he said. “You haven’t taken shots in over 20 years.

“I mean, he’s been living a beautiful life for the last 20 years. So all that adds up. Here’s a young man (Paul) who’s been busy, who’s been active.’’

Follow Josh Peter on social media @joshlpeter11

With conference play now in full swing as we reach Week 5 on the college football calendar, we’re beginning to get more ranked-on-ranked matchups among the US LBM Coaches Poll Top 25. That means more opportunities to challenge the acumen of our staff prognosticators.

There are four such contests on the docket, including the much-anticipated SEC showdown between No. 1 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. There’s another perhaps less expected battle of unbeatens in the Big Ten as No. 21 Illinois visits No. 8 Penn State.

In Big 12 action, No. 20 Oklahoma State heads to No. 25 Kansas State in what could be an early eliminator with one team guaranteed to pick up a second consecutive league loss.

Finally, a couple of teams in need of a resume booster square off as No. 14 Notre Dame hosts No. 17 Louisville that is especially critical for the Fighting Irish, who cannot afford another home loss.

Here’s how our pickers think those games and the rest of the contests involving the top 25 squads will go down.

How will College Football Playoff committee wade through what’s likely to be a crowded playoff bubble? Brian Kelly offered an idea: Strength of schedule rules.
Like Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin says he’s not too concerned about style points, but Ole Miss is blowing out inferior opponents nonetheless.
A 10-2 record would get a team into the conversation for an at-large playoff bid, but it’s no assurance.

If you gaze far enough into the fall horizon, you’ll spot a chaotic College Football Playoff selection scenario taking shape. Anyone who’s worked up a playoff projection sees it coming.

Every coach or fan of a Power Four team wants to believe finishing with at least 10 wins will be enough to earn one of the seven at-large bids to the 12-team playoff.

“Two (losses), you’ve got a fighting chance,” LSU’s Brian Kelly told me before the season.

A chance, yes.

A guarantee? No.

Twenty Power Four teams remain undefeated, and, come December, we’ll likely have an overcrowded field of one- and two-loss teams extending their hand and expecting an at-large bid.

How committee members will make these hair-splitting decisions remains remarkably unclear. In the four-team playoff era, most playoff decisions were pretty cut and dry with few difficult decisions. Last year’s great debate between Alabama and Florida State was more the exception than the rule.

In the 12-team format, the bubble will become much more crowded, while the playoff selection guidance remains as murky.

Sure, a few guidelines exist. The committee is supposed to consider schedule strength, head-to-head competition and outcomes against common opponents, without stressing over margin of victory.

But, as we saw last year, rules get squishy when Alabama’s playoff fate hangs in the balance.

One committee member told ESPN last December that the committee attempted to forecast whether Florida State was good enough to win the national championship without injured quarterback Jordan Travis. The committee peeked into a crystal ball and decided the Seminoles couldn’t win it all, and it chose Alabama. Never mind that nowhere in the College Football Playoff’s guidelines will you find a reference to predictive analysis, stargazing or divination.

Playoff selection is a beauty contest determined by subjective humans who deploy shape-shifting rules.

The first CFP rankings won’t come out until Nov. 5. Until then, we’re left without much insight as to how the committee will act in this 12-team playoff era.

Of course, coaches harbor opinions on how teams should be selected, and those opinions are, naturally, influenced by whatever factors would work to their team’s advantage.

Brian Kelly suggests this: Let strength of schedule rule

Kelly told me Wednesday he thinks the committee will value strength of schedule above so-called style points.

In other words, he expects that navigating a tough schedule and finishing, say, 10-2 would matter more than compiling a comparative record, with more blowout wins, against an inferior schedule.

His theory would work nicely for No. 13 LSU, currently 3-1.

It already played – and lost – to No. 16 Southern California and has future games against No. 4 Alabama, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 24 Texas A&M.

“I really believe” Kelly said, “we’ve entered into kind of a new way of thinking, relative to strength of schedule, the depth of the SEC, the depth of the conferences now, that really takes precedent.

“I think you can look at the strength of your schedules now and really hold them up against the other teams that are vying for playoff opportunities and really come to the right conclusions, so I don’t know that putting 70 points on somebody does much anymore to the voters.”

That all sounds neatly cut, but how confident would Kelly feel if LSU finishes 10-2, Miami rests at 12-1 as the ACC’s runner-up and Missouri sits at 11-1, and they’re vying for the final two spots?

No. 11 Missouri’s schedule profiles as the SEC’s easiest. That could leave the Tigers vulnerable if they finish 10-2. What if they go 11-1? Would the committee really reject them and elevate another team from the same conference with an inferior record?

We just don’t know, so the safest course would be to pile up style points and lopsided victories, on top of a strength of schedule.

LSU plays South Alabama on Saturday, and while Kelly doesn’t think running up 70 points should be a playoff requirement, the committee tends to like offense, so maybe go ahead and hang 70.

 Lane Kiffin, like Kelly, told me he’s not coaching with style points in mind.

“Maybe we should,” Kiffin said. “I just haven’t.”

Nevertheless, Ole Miss stylishly sits at 4-0, with an average margin of victory of nearly 50 points.

Run it up, Lane, because those style points can’t hurt your case if the committee must evaluate six SEC teams that finish with at least 10 victories.

Which SEC playoff contender looks most vulnerable?

Would the committee take six playoff teams from one conference? No rule prevents this, but probably not. Limit the SEC to five, and reject the SEC team with the weakest schedule? Deny the team that wins ugly? When in doubt, give the bid to Nick Saban?

At least we can scratch that last argument.

Missouri (4-0) looks most vulnerable in this conversation.

To this point, the Tigers have neither style nor schedule strength working for them. Nothing stylish about the Tigers’ 30-27 double-overtime victory against Vanderbilt.

To play it safe, Missouri had better win at Alabama in November.

Ten wins gets a team in the playoff conversation, but a marquee victory combined with a little dose of style would relieve the angst for a team sitting on a crowded bubble.

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.

The Mike Tyson training videos are back, but what they reveal is uncertain.

Before Tyson’s medical emergency May 26 that led to the postponement of the fight, eight short video clips of Tyson workouts were posted on his social media accounts as he trained for his fight against Jake Paul. Following Tyson’s return to training in July has come the release of new video clips.

Like the old ones, the new ones feature Iron Mike power, and more power.

“It’s not an illusion,’’ Teddy Atlas, the boxing analyst, said after watching the first set of videos before Tyson’s medical emergency. “People are like, ‘Oh, man, he’s going to kill this guy (Paul).’ ’’

Atlas is not convinced. Neither are oddsmakers. And that was before Tyson’s health scare. Why? Because of what those Tyson videos, about 60 seconds of combined action, do not show.

Atlas and three other trainers reviewed the video clips taped before Tyson experienced the medical emergency the boxer’s team identified as an ‘ulcer flareup.’ And those trainers offered their analyses to USA TODAY Sports.

Is Mike Tyson’s left hook enough against Jake Paul?

Atlas worked with Tyson when the former heavyweight champion was a young teenager under the tutelage of Cus D’Amato. He said he’s not surprised the video clips show spurts of Tyson at his peak.

“Even in its later years when it’s out to pasture, a racehorse is still probably going to show little spurts of a gallop that an ordinary horse would not be able to show,’ Atlas said.

“But it should not be misconstrued into thinking that necessarily (Tyson) can do that with a fighter where you don’t know what’s coming and when it’s coming in the way that you did when you were in your 20s.’’

Recalling the end of Tyson’s career, which included three losses in his last four fights, Atlas said, “I don’t know what his fortitude level is at this point.’’

He also said Tyson’s once-devastating left hook might not be enough to win the fight.

“The best punch Paul has is a straight right hand,’’ Atlas said. “A straight right hand still beats a left hook, if the left hook is thrown at the wrong time.

“If (Paul) is experienced enough to throw (the right hand), not only straight but without hesitation … a straight right hand can beat the left hook, and that would be my concentration as a trainer.’’

What could be the fight’s decisive factor? Stamina

Robert Garcia was named trainer of the year by The Ring magazine in 2011, and he has worked with champions such as heavyweight Anthony Joshua.

Of the videos, Garcia said, Tyson looks, “explosive and impressive.’’

“But at (57) years old, man, eight rounds is not going to be easy for him,’’ he added. “It’s going to be hard.

“He’s dangerous because he is a strong person. But I don’t think it takes more than one or two rounds before he probably won’t be able to do much.’’

Stamina will be key, according to Garcia, and it’s something that can’t be determined on the videos. Tyson is 30 years older than Paul.

“The good thing is the power is never going to go,’’ Garcia said. “He has the heart, he has the power. His stamina is probably going to be the main thing, especially if (he’s) able to take some punches and push two or three rounds.

“Then it could get to a point where Tyson, even if he tried as hard as he trained, I don’t think he’ll be able to go all eight rounds on a real fight. Because it’s tough, man.’’

Mike Tyson: No longer ‘frail and just broken?’

Between 1998 and 2006, Ann Wolfe was one of the baddest women on the planet. She recorded 16 knockouts, including five in the first round, and won world titles in four weight divisions.

Now she’s a trainer who said she sees more than power in Tyson’s videos.

“You can see the focus and determination,’’ she said, noting that was not the case at the end of Tyson’s pro career. “He was losing and he looked so frail and just broken.’’

Wolfe also said she sees signs of Tyson’s signature timing that could offset Paul’s youth.

“Sometimes the other guy can be faster, but the timing,’’ she said. “And Mike Tyson seems like he’s just as fast.’’

And what does the video leave Wolfe wondering?

“He’s in shape,’’ she said. “But I would like to see how his body does when he takes a punch.’’

What fighters like Mike Tyson lose as they age

As a trainer, Buddy McGirt worked with Antonio Tarver, Arturo Gatti and Laila Ali.

Of Tyson’s video, McGirt said, ““He’s very powerful, man. You don’t lose that. That’s the last thing a fighter loses is his punch.

“He looks fast, he looks strong. But there’s nothing like the real thing.’’

The real thing – as in a real fight – could expose something that happens as fighters age, McGirt suggested.

“You lose your reflexes, your ability to take shots,’’ he said. “You haven’t taken shots in over 20 years.

“I mean, he’s been living a beautiful life for the last 20 years. So all that adds up. Here’s a young man (Paul) who’s been busy, who’s been active.’’

Follow Josh Peter on social media @joshlpeter11

Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback and College Football Hall of Famer Tommy Kramer announced he was diagnosed with dementia.

Kramer revealed his diagnosis in a social media post on Wednesday. He said it was best to inform the public after Brett Favre announced on Tuesday he has Parkinson’s disease, and Kramer was diagnosed just over a year ago.

‘Dr’s say I could have anywhere from 2 to 10 years, just had my year check up and it hasn’t advanced and I’ve been sober for almost a year now which will definitely help,’ he said. ‘Please, no sympathy, I’ve lived a great life and wouldn’t change a thing. Nobody wanted to win more than me and I never gave up, and that’s exactly how I’m going to battle this. Football is the life we chose to live and sometimes stuff like this can happen. I’m grateful to the NFL for the opportunity and am glad they are trying to do things to protect today’s players.’

Kramer said he is fine financially, but the NFL will only try to help with any medical bills and therapy his insurance won’t cover, so we wants to bring awareness ‘so the NFL will be able to help others and future players who are battling illnesses like myself.’

A standout at Rice University who set several records for the Owls, Kramer was drafted in the first round of the 1977 NFL draft by the Vikings, set to be the heir to Fran Tarkenton. He took over the starting role in 1979 and was the franchise’s signal-caller through the 1989 season. His best season came in 1986 when he threw for 3,000 yards and 24 touchdowns. He led the league in passer rating with 92.6 and was named a Pro Bowler, second-team All-Pro and NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

All things Vikings: Latest Minnesota Vikings news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Kramer played one game for the New Orleans Saints in 1990 before retiring. He finished his career with 24,777 passing yards with 159 touchdowns and 158 interceptions in 14 NFL seasons. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

‘It’s still all about the fans for me, as long as I’m able, I’m going to continue to be out there and travel to the small towns which I love most and meet the fans. Thank you for all the support and always remember, “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time,’ he added.