Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Monday, November 4th.

NFL

The Kansas City Chiefs battled both heavy rain and a feisty Buccaneers team last night. Three main takeaways from last night’s 30-24 overtime victory:

• DeAndre Hopkins has been a Chief for two weeks, and he’s already making a huge impact. DHop caught two Patrick Mahomes touchdowns, including this smooth toe-tapper in the second quarter:

• Baker Mayfield did all he could without his top receivers, throwing for 200 yards and two touchdowns without turning the ball over. Baker connected with tight end Cade Otton for 77 yards and one of those scores– Otton is emerging as top talent in the league.

• The Bucs didn’t get to touch the ball in OT, as Kansas City drove down the field and scored on the first possession. After scoring a game-tying touchdown in the final minute of regulation, you couldn’t help but wonder if Tampa should have taken the risk and gone for a two-point conversion. They made their choice, and now the Kansas City Chiefs are 8-0.

NBA

All 30 teams were in action last night, so there were plenty of great highlights in the league (all teams have the day off today):

• Two struggling Eastern Conference teams lost close games last night. The Milwaukee Bucks were outscored 18-8 over the final six minutes, giving up a lead and losing 116-114 to the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. And although Paul George scored 15 points in his season debut, the Philadelphia 76ers lost 118-116 to the Phoenix Suns. Kevin Durant hit the game-winning bucket with 24 seconds remaining.

• The Utah Jazz are finally on the board, registering their first win of the season. John Collins had a 28-point double-double and rookie Keyonte George dropped 33 as the Jazz beat the Bulls 135-126.

• Down 110-109 with seconds remaining, Sacramento Kings big man Domantas Sabonis gathered an offensive rebound and drained one-footed floater to beat the Miami Heat. 

• The Memphis Grizzlies lost 106-104 to the Brooklyn Nets. But for the second day in a row, we saw a top athlete pull off a ridiculous spin move. Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant… well, it’s no good describing it. Take a look at these two insane plays:

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL

Boy does it feel good to have college basketball back! Here are the highlights from opening night:

• In the chaotic world of college hoops, preseason rankings mean nothing! Or at least, they don’t mean much to SEC schools in Texas. The Longhorns (19) lost 80-72 against Ohio State, while (13) Texas A&M lost 64-61 at UCF.

• There’s no doubt (6) Gonzaga was ready for the new season to start… the Zags crushed (8) Baylor 101-63 last night in Vegas. Five Bulldogs scored in double-figures, and Ryan Nembhard dished out 11 assists.

• And to wrap things up, a couple of notable performances by members of yesterday’s 10 players to know list… Braden Smith had 15 assists to lead Purdue to a 90-73 victory over Texas A&M Corpus-Christs… Cooper Flagg dropped 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists (along with this awesome dunk) in a Duke win over Maine… and on a much-less positive note, SLU lost Robbie Avila to a sprained ankle in their game against Santa Clara.

NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Three great games yesterday in women’s hoops. Here’s what happened:

• JuJu Watkins had 27 points and 10 rebounds as USC survived a close game against Ole Miss in Paris. The Trojans have nine new players this season and their lack of familiarity showed, but they were able to close out the win 68-66.

• The other LA team was also victorious in Paris. Lauren Betts led UCLA to a 66-59 win over Louisville.

• Chloe Kitts had 19 points and 14 rebounds as the number one team in the country started the year with a win. South Carolina was at their best on opening night, surviving an incredible 27 point-12 rebound performance by Michigan freshman Syla Swords. 

NHL

And finally, the two games in the NHL last night were mirror-images of each other. The Los Angeles Kings went on the road to Nashville and beat the Predators 3-0, and the New Jersey Devils won by the same score in Edmonton against the Oilers.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

The New Orleans Saints have fired head coach Dennis Allen after the team’s seventh loss in a row. Special teams coach Darren Rizzi has been named the interim head coach. This is now the second time Dennis Allen has been fired from a Derek Carr-led team.

In other coaching news, the San Antonio Spurs will be without legendary head coach Gregg Popovich due to an illness. It’s not known how long Popovich, 75, will be away from the team. Sending our best to Pop while he’s out.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will be out for several weeks after injuring his hamstring in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons. Nothing has gone right this year for the Cowboys. It’s hard to imagine things get better without Dak.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BRACKETOLOGY

Apologies for the mix-up: I said yesterday that the CFP rankings would be released by now. No, instead someone had the bright idea to share the results during primetime tonight.

Anyway, ahead of the new rankings, here’s my 12-team bracket, followed by the 15 teams I believe are still in the running:

GROUP OF FIVE: Army, Louisiana

Undefeated Army could shake everything up with a win this weekend against Notre Dame. And 7-1 Louisiana are still alive for the playoff as the leaders of the Sun Belt. But for now, they each trail Boise State and Heisman front-runner Ashton Jeanty.

25. Washington State | 24. Syracuse | 23. Kansas State | 22. Arizona State | 21. Colorado | 20. Clemson

Wazzu has just one loss, but without a conference to win, they need lots of teams to stumble in order to secure an at-large bid. As for the other five, each has an outside shot of winning either the ACC or the Big 12. I’d keep a close eye on Colorado, who have a favorable schedule to close out the year. We shouldn’t be surprised if a two-loss team sneaks into the playoff.

19. LSU | 18. Ole Miss | 17. Mizzou | 16. Texas A&M | 15. Alabama

An absolutely stacked group of two-loss SEC teams. With no undefeated SEC teams, all five are very much in the running to win the conference.

14. Pittsburgh | 13. Iowa State

A week ago, Iowa State and Pittsburgh were undefeated and inside the top 12. Now, they’ve dropped out of it. There’s still a path for the Cyclones and Panthers to make it to the CFP, but they’ll need some help.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NHL: The top matchups on a Tuesday in the National Hockey League:

• Boston Bruins @ Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 PM

• Los Angeles Kings @ Minnesota Wild, 8 PM

• Utah Hockey Club @ Winnipeg Jets, 8 PM

TENNIS: The WTA Tour Finals are in the round robin stages, as the top eight players in the world compete for the year-end title. And we’ve got a pretty fun one on center court this morning:

• Iga Swiatek vs Coco Gauff, 10 AM on Tennis Channel

“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” –Yogi Berra