Chennai Super Kings have played their first two matches in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Having won one game, the opener against Mumbai Indians, they head into their third fixture against Delhi Capitals with some questions over their team composition. Stephen Fleming, the head coach, spoke to the Super Kings website about the challenges his side faces ahead of the Friday's clash in Dubai.

Excerpts:

On their bowl-first approach in the first two matches
"In our case, it has been that we are not sure. We look at it as almost safety-first so we get an understanding of what the wickets are going to be like. Both games that we've played so far have been the first games of the tournament, in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, and to get a feel of the conditions we thought bowling first was the best way to go. It does seem to be a trend, but bowling first is a bit of an advantage with the dew [setting in later]."

On finding the ideal balance given many players have been out of the game for over a year
"One of the biggest challenges is to find the right combinations. Also to give the guys some match play, keeping in mind we've got a number of players who haven't played for 12 months. We are working hard on a number of fronts, one is to get the right team for the conditions that we've been unsure about, and also to get the guys up to speed with their playing form. You can do as much practice and training as you like, but it doesn't completely replicate what happens in the middle. So it was always going to be an interesting start for us. I think we'll take one from one with a lot of areas to improve."

On Dhoni's batting position

In both their games so far, he's batted at No. 7. In the first game, he faced just three balls. In the second, he struggled for timing, and only managed to bring out the big hits after the match was beyond their reach.

"MS is one of the players that hasn't played much cricket in the last year-and-a-half. Everyone expects MS to come out and do what he has done in the past. It doesn't just happen, it takes a bit of work and a part of his process of getting up to speed is his game time and that (match against Rajasthan Royals) was really the first time that he'd batted in the middle apart from a couple of balls against Mumbai Indians. As the tournament goes on, he'll just get better and better. To come in and expect him to get a 30-ball 70 would be a tough ask. We've other players also who are in good form and can do a job. So, it's valuing what each player can do and also respecting Dhoni is one of a kind when he's in form and has been playing."

On boosting Lungi Ngidi's confidence after a poor final over against the Royals

The South Africa fast bowler started the tournament with a three-wicket haul, but conceded 56 in his four overs against Royals. The last over, in particular, went for 30, with Jofra Archer hitting him for four sixes.

"It will certainly hit Lungi's confidence hard. The key thing for us is just for him to get better and analyse what he didn't quite get right and make sure that the next time he's in that opportunity he is better than what he was the last time. It doesn't matter whether he goes for 30 or five or 10. Trying to get better all the time is what's important. We've got one of the best death bowlers in the game in our squad and already Dwayne Bravo has been alongside him. We'll use the experience in the team to make sure he is okay and looks forward to the next opportunity he gets."

On when Ambati Rayudu and Bravo are likely to be back from niggles.
"Rayudu is our in-form player and to lose him at that time (against Royals) was disappointing. Hopefully, it's only a couple of games. We've got a six-day break after this (Friday's match against Capitals), and we are hoping that he'll be back for the game on October 2 (against Sunrisers Hyderabad).

"Bravo is progressing very well, and if he has a couple of good days of training, he could come into selection consideration for the next game. That would be a good headache for us to have as we're looking to introduce players and also get our best combination for the rest of the tournament. You don't necessarily pick your final-winning side in the first two or three games, but as soon as you can settle and get some cohesion into the team you are better off for, and that's what we are working towards now, giving new players opportunity and then settle."

West Indies are taking a cautious approach to Deandra Dottin's bowling return as she continues her comeback from a serious shoulder injury.

Andre Coley, West Indies women's interim head coach, has revealed that Dottin, who is yet to bowl in the T20I series against England and sent down just two overs in the tourists' two intra-squad warm-up matches, only began a "back-to-bowling" training programme after arriving in England on August 31.

"She's recovered from injury," Coley said. "It's no secret that our players haven't been able to do much for a very long time and Deandra is on a back-to-bowling programme, she started that while she was here so she's still on that. We need to make sure that she's 100 percent to be able to go on competitively.

"She has been doing bowling work behind the scenes, during training, and we are comfortable in terms of where she's at, but we want to make sure that long-term she's okay and she can actually bowl at the intensity that she wants consistently and not just for a game or two games.

"We are we are happy that healing is there, it is really now just getting her back into bowling, making sure that her lines are good and she's actually 100 percent to bowl."

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West Indies' hastily arranged tour of England came after India and South Africa cancelled their planned series in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time West Indies' players had undergone limited preparation compared to England, who returned to individual training in June in the expectation of hosting some international cricket during their summer.

Dottin missed a year of international cricket from February 2019 and underwent surgery on her right, bowling, shoulder in June of that year. She made her top-level return at the T20 World Cup earlier this year, where she did not bowl.

She could be seen with her shoulder wrapped in ice packs in the dugout after batting in West Indies' 47-run loss to England on Wednesday evening, the second time in their five-match series that the tourists have been defeated by that margin. But Coley said icing the shoulder was about preventing any further injury.

"She's fine as far as I'm aware," he said. "She's returning from an injury which had her off from competitive cricket for a while so anything that you would have seen around shoulder stuff would have been just pre-habbing, making sure that we're managing. There's no injuries around the shoulder at the moment."

It could be argued that West Indies have missed Dottin's bowling so far this series when they struggled to contain England opener Tammy Beaumont in the first match and failed to clean up the England tail in the second.

But Dottin has done her part with the bat - her 69 in the first match was the best by any batter from either side, albeit in a losing cause, and she was the pick of the West Indies line-up again with her 38 in the second.

Dottin's performances with the bat have highlighted a key problem for West Indies though, an over-reliance on Dottin and captain Stafanie Taylor at the top of the order. It means that if neither them nor Hayley Matthews, who has had a lean series so far with twin scores of just 3, are able to bat deep, their chances fall away rapidly.

"Contributions, we have discussed it, since we have been here we have done work around it," Coley said. "We have to be realistic about our resources. Our main batters basically are at the top. We have young players who have potential but obviously still need to continue to grow and improve. It's really about how they can actually support the top-order batters. It's got to be key in our side.

"If a couple of players from the top five actually bat very deep, and in the event that we need the lower-order batting then they'll have to support, but because of the lack of depth in the lower order, unfortunately our reality is that the bulk of the scoring is really left with about three or four players."

England can clinch an unassailable 3-0 series lead with victory in the next match on Saturday.

Welcome to ESPNcricinfo's Rolling Report of the sixth IPL 2020 match, between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Tonight, it's the likes of KL Rahul, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Shami on the one side, and Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal on the other. Who will come out on top?

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Teams in the Hundred will be able to retain as many men's players as they wish for the 2021 competition, as details for next season's draft were revealed on Thursday.

The Hundred, the ECB's new flagship 100-ball competition, was due to be staged for the first time this summer before the Covid-19 pandemic caused its postponement to 2021. The competition's regulations had initially allowed teams to retain up to 10 players at a mutually agreed salary band for the second season, but that has been extended to the full squad on account of the delay.

In practice, teams are unlikely to retain their entire squads due to a number of factors, including the end of Kolpak status, a lack of clarity over the international calendar, and form over the last 12 months.

The ECB are due to release a list of centrally-contracted players for 2020-21 - likely to be within the next two weeks - at which point teams will be able to negotiate to retain a player at a mutually-agreed salary. That could be higher or lower than their salary last year, meaning that Dawid Malan (a £40,000 pick by Trent Rockets) could negotiate up after an impressive 12 months, while a player who had struggled for form could agree a deal worth less. As revealed by ESPNcricinfo, all salary bands have been cut by 20% from last year.

Teams will have from October through to January in which to negotiate with players and agents, with a mini-draft to follow at some point in early 2021. In that draft, each team will then have a 'right to match' option, allowing them to retain players with whom they failed to negotiate a deal, if they have a spot remaining in the draft at the salary band at which another team picks him.

Each team will still be able to pick one 'wildcard' player, who will be chosen after the T20 Blast season in 2021 and will sign a £24,000 contract for the competition.

The early stages of retention will depend on England's red-ball central contract list, with the competition again set to overlap with a Test series, this time against India, and their Hundred deals falling outside of the main draft system. It is unlikely that many of the 10 players currently with deals will fall off the list, with Jonny Bairstow the main exception, but a handful of players - Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Dom Bess - will come under consideration for red-ball contracts.

Players with red-ball central contracts both years will be able to be retained. Ultimately, each team will have at least one, and at most two players with a red-ball central contract, which will be confirmed in October.

There will be several sub-plots regarding retentions, not least questions over the availability of certain players on Kolpak deals. Dane Vilas, for example, was signed by Manchester Originals as a top-price pick in last year's draft. He hopes to continue playing as a local via a UK ancestral visa next year, but would be less likely to command a top salary if competing for one of three overseas spots. Cameron Delport, signed by Birmingham Phoenix, is in the same position.

Some players may also negotiate with teams closer to home. The Originals, for example, may try to sign Liam Livingstone - a first-round pick by Birmingham Phoenix - who lives in Manchester, but could lose Joe Clarke - based in Nottingham - to the Trent Rockets.

The process for women's retentions has already been confirmed, with players given more control in that they are able to choose to roll their contracts over at the same salary if they choose to do so.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Florida prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor charge against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Thursday, saying they couldn't go forward after courts blocked their use of video that allegedly shows him paying for massage parlor sex.

Palm Beach County court records show that the charge was dropped Thursday. Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg will explain the decision during an online news conference later Thursday.

The Florida 4th District Court of Appeal found last month that Jupiter police violated the rights of Kraft and others when they secretly installed video cameras inside massage rooms at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in early 2019. The court then blocked use of the video footage at trial.

The recordings, which have not been made public, are the only known evidence the men paid for sex.

Prosecutors decided this week not to appeal that decision to the Florida Supreme Court, saying a loss there could have ``broader, negative implications'' on future law enforcement investigations beyond the Kraft case.

Kraft's attorneys have already filed a motion asking that the recordings be destroyed so they could never be released to the public. They said Kraft might be willing to pay the state's costs if anyone challenges a destruction order.

Kraft, 79, could still face suspension or other punishment from the National Football League.

He and the others were charged in February 2019 in a multicounty investigation of massage parlors that included the secret installation of video cameras in the spas' lobbies and rooms. Police say the recordings show Kraft and other men engaging in sex acts with women and paying them.

Police say they recorded Kraft paying for sex acts at the Orchids of Asia spa on consecutive days in January 2019. Kraft, a widower, pleaded not guilty but issued a public apology for his actions.

A county court judge originally threw out the recordings, saying the warrant allowing the cameras' installation didn't sufficiently protect the privacy of innocent customers who received legal massages. The 4th District agreed, ruling that planting video cameras in private spaces is an "extreme'' measure that should only be used when absolutely necessary.

"To permit otherwise would yield unbridled discretion to agents of law enforcement and the government, the antithesis of the constitutional liberty of people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures,'' the court ruled.

Prosecutors argued that they needed the recordings to convict the Orchids of Asia owners of felonies, including possible human trafficking -- though no one was charged with that crime. The owners must be shown receiving payments from the prostitutes and the only way to get that is to install cameras, prosecutors said.

If convicted, Kraft would have likely received a fine, community service and other sanctions that did not include jail time.

According to Forbes, Kraft is worth almost $7 billion. He employed several high-priced attorneys to defend him in the case.

UFC president Dana White said his promotion will not "muzzle anybody" when he was asked early Thursday morning about the reaction to recent Colby Covington comments, which several UFC fighters labeled as racist.

During a news conference in Abu Dhabi to promote Saturday's UFC 253 card on "Fight Island," White was asked about the fallout from Covington's comments after his win Saturday over Tyron Woodley.

Covington, who is an outspoken supporter of President Trump and received a call from the president after his win, engaged in a heated postfight exchange with welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, who was born in Nigeria. Covington asked Usman if he got a call from his "little tribe" using "smoke signals." He also described Woodley, who is Black and has been advocating for Black Lives Matter, as "a communist, a Marxist, [someone] standing up for lifelong criminals."

It's uncertain how much of what Covington said was relayed to White.

"These guys all have their own causes, things, their own beliefs. We don't muzzle anybody here," White said. "We let everybody speak their mind. I don't know what he said that was racist. I don't know if I heard anything racist that he said."

White then was asked if he would agree it's wrong if something his fighters say is racist. "Of course, c'mon," he said. "I'm not going to play these games with you guys."

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who was sitting next to White and is headlining Saturday's card, was one of three Black fighters who spoke out against Covington during a virtual media day on Wednesday.

"It just shows you the landscape of the media, what it is right now," Adesanya said Wednesday. "I made a joke about dropping [Yoel] Romero like the Twin Towers and everyone lost their mind, even if I said it was a joke and it was pretty funny, but people took it as I was being offensive and like, digging -- but I was making a joke.

"This guy [Covington] has directly insulted my culture, my brother and many other cultures, and no one says anything, but it just shows you a mirror. Shows you a mirror to you guys. So, yeah. I don't really care. Kamaru Usman broke his jaw [when they fought in 2019], so I don't really care."

Bantamweight Sijara Eubanks said, "Let's be real, first and foremost. It wasn't 'unfortunate.' It was flat-out racist. It was racist. It was disgusting. It was quite frankly disappointing, but at the same time, the one thing I appreciate is the UFC lets whoever say whatever. They have never muzzled us as fighters. If you want to talk, if you don't want to talk, if you want to be political, if you don't want to be political, I have to appreciate the company lets us say what we want.

"But to be fair, I think guys that talk like Mike Perry [a UFC fighter who has used the N-word publicly] and Colby Covington, I think a lot of the things they say are racist and disgusting and should be reported as such, instead of 'unfortunate' or 'controversial.' It's racist."

Featherweight Hakeem Dawodu, said, "It's crazy that comments like that are causing more and more divide amongst the people. That's how he gets down, but I'm not really with that and I took offense to that for sure. ... [The UFC] was almost worried about my walkout song, and he's gonna be saying stuff like that? That's crazy."

Covington has a history of using racially charged language around his fights. In 2017, Covington referred to Brazil as "a dump," and called Brazilians "filthy animals" prior to a fight against Demian Maia in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Representatives from the NFL, NFLPA, MetLife Stadium, the Giants and Jets, Field Turf and the independent field inspector conducted an additional review of the field surface at MetLife Stadium on Wednesday, a league source tells ESPN's Jordan Raanan.

It was again verified that the field meets all applicable standards and protocols for NFL field surfaces, the source told Raanan.

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and his players had expressed concern about the turf after his team's 31-13 victory over the Jets in Week 2 as defensive end Nick Bosa, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, running backs Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman and defensive tackle Solomon Thomas all suffered game-ending lower body injuries.

Bosa and Thomas each suffered season-ending torn ACLs, Mostert has a sprained MCL, Coleman has a knee injury that is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks and Garoppolo has a high ankle sprain.

The 49ers are playing this Sunday at MetLife for the second consecutive week, this time against the Giants. New FieldTurf was installed in the stadium this summer, and it had only been played on previously in Jets and Giants scrimmages, as well as the Giants' season opener on Monday night in Week 1.

Multiple 49ers complained of how "sticky" the playing surface was and took to Twitter and their Zoom media sessions to vent their frustration after the game. While Shanahan acknowledged it was hard to draw a direct correlation between the injuries and the playing surface, he did say it was something his team talked about throughout the game.

"I know that's as many knee injuries and ankle stuff and people getting caught on the turf as I have ever been a part of," Shanahan said. "From what I saw, the other team did, too. I know our players talked about it the entire game, just how sticky the turf was. ... It was something our guys were concerned about right away and the results definitely made that a lot stronger."

On Wednesday, Shanahan acknowledged the NFL and NFLPA were looking at the MetLife turf and said he was waiting to hear the findings.

"The NFL and NFLPA is having people look at it right now," Shanahan said. "So we'll go with that. If they don't find anything, you go out there and play. Other people tore their ACL in this league last week and they weren't all on turf. So you know how we felt about it. We'll see what the professionals say, and hopefully we'll learn something."

ESPN's Nick Wagoner contributed to this report.

At long last, the SEC returns Saturday -- and not a moment too soon.

Here we are, a sense of normalcy rendered through the majesty of college football's greatest conference. But lest we take for granted the return of SEC football, we thought it best to take a moment to reflect on all the wonderful things we'll be getting this weekend when Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida and the rest of the league -- all great by proximity, if not by record -- return to our television sets.

Nick Saban getting mad: Alabama named its starting quarterback, and it's Mac Jones. Oh, but you didn't think the debate would end there, did you? Jones is fine, but fans have already seen him play. We're going to need some real excitement in our lives, so best to start the Bryce Young watch now. And to officially kick off that unnecessary bit of controversy, we'll need some poor, unsuspecting reporter to ask Saban about rotating in the young QB.

The SEC battle of attrition: There are no easy games in the SEC, so this year's conference-only slate is perfect. We won't have to witness the league dominate teams such as Georgia State, BYU, UNLV, San Jose State, Purdue, Wyoming, Appalachian State, Western Kentucky, Memphis, Cal or Kansas State. Opponents like that would have no shot against the SEC, so we're lucky the league will cut to the chase and just give us the good stuff in 2020.

Coaches on the hot seat: It's the SEC, and unless you're Saban, no one lasts too long before his seat starts getting hot, and we will soon find out who it will be in 2020. Will Muschamp needs a big year at South Carolina. Derek Mason is walking on eggshells at Vanderbilt. And when it comes to Gus Malzahn, Auburn is gonna make a move eventually, right?

Is that $75 million for Jimbo Fisher starting to look a little pricey? And Tennessee hasn't had a coaching-search debacle in a while. Maybe it's time for another one. Lane Kiffin has yet to coach a game at Ole Miss, and you'd have to drive him all the way out to Memphis to leave him at a major airport, but this is the SEC and anything is possible.

Double-secret depth charts: Kirby Smart won't say who is starting at QB for Georgia this week against Arkansas because that is how it's done in the SEC, where we're lucky they even bother to tell us when and where the games are being played. In the Zoom era, when the world is wearing a nice shirt with sweatpants, we love this type of chicanery. Frankly, we're disappointed that Smart has even admitted he plans to play a quarterback at all. A wiser SEC coach might have at least left the door open to running the Wildcat for the whole game. Got to keep Arkansas guessing.

Coach O saying "Geaux Tig-aaahs": There won't be much of LSU's championship team still taking the field on Saturday against Mississippi State, but that's not important. Joe Burrow is gone, Myles Brennan is in, and odds are the offense will keep chugging along. The important part is the pregame interview anyway. The sideline reporter will ask Ed Orgeron about the game, he'll say a bunch of stuff that sounds awesome, and then he'll give us that familiar refrain ... "Geaux Tig-aaahs." It will be the official sign that the 2020 football season has begun in earnest.

Saban's mesmerizing camera presence: Have you ever noticed that Saban is the only coach who routinely breaks typical on-field interview practices and looks directly into the camera? We've had a few weeks of college football now, and we've yet to have Saban stare into the eyes of America while he tells us what his team could do better in the second half of a game or how he feels after a victory. Either pregame or halftime TV time for Saban is going to really hit the sense of normalcy vibes.

Finding our yearly coordinator crush: Last season, it was LSU's Joe Brady, the passing game coordinator who helped produce one of the best offenses we've seen in college football history. He is off to the pro ranks now with the Carolina Panthers as their offensive coordinator. Now, it's time to find a new coordinator for us to gush over -- and proclaim as the next big coaching hire for a lucky school or NFL team.

Game-day Q&A with Pitt's Rashad Weaver

No. 21 Pitt hosts No. 24 Louisville in one of three top-25 matchups this weekend, and it'll be another shot for the Panthers' ferocious defensive front to feast. A big part of that attack is defensive end Rashad Weaver, who was among the country's top pass-rushers in 2018 but missed all of 2019 with a knee injury and was forced out of Pitt's opener due to a positive test for COVID-19 -- one that caused him to vent on social media.

We talked to Weaver about his return and Pitt's chances of being a contender in 2020.

ESPN: You went 629 days between playing football games, but you got back on the field Saturday against Syracuse and had two sacks and won the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week Award. Did you know you'd come back this strong?

Weaver: I felt like I knew what I'd be like when I got out there, but I feel like I could've done better after watching the film. Even leaving the field at times, there was stuff I felt like I missed and was upset with myself about, but I feel like I'll just get better each week. Before my injury, I had stepped my game up a lot. I went into camp healthy and picked up where I left off, and it's all fallen into place.

ESPN: You missed all of 2019 with the injury. Then COVID-19 hits and the season is up in the air. Then you test positive leading into the opener. Was there a point you wondered if you'd ever get back on the field?

Weaver: Starting back when COVID really got big, it was just the unknown all summer, and that was frustrating. But it was just staying the course and staying positive. Me and my roommate, Keyshon Camp, we said every day we were going to have a season and we were going to do what we can. We talked about it every day. And the first game, that was just another bump in the road -- another week on however many days we sat out. But we knew we'd get out there and take full opportunity of it.

ESPN: So let me test your level of sympathy. You sacked Syracuse QB Tommy DeVito twice last week. He's already been sacked 14 times this year and 58 times since the start of last season. As a defensive player, do you ever feel bad for guys like that?

Weaver: They get what's coming to them. The guy plays how he plays, and he said we had an all right defensive line. If that's how he felt, he should've done a little better.

ESPN: Is Pitt's D-line the best in the country, and if so, can the Panthers challenge for the ACC title?

Weaver: We're a legitimate ACC challenger, and we've known that since camp. The defense, from the back to the front, is as solid as can be. Our defensive front is the best in the country, and it'll be proved throughout the season as the competition gets stiffer. We've worked for this, and we think it'll pay off.

What to watch for, key questions

How will Oklahoma State look?

Despite beating Tulsa 16-7 this past Saturday, we still don't know what the Cowboys are going to look like this Saturday. QB Spencer Sanders' status is uncertain (lower extremity injury), though freshman Shane Illingworth did bring the offense to life after coming in as Sanders' replacement. Plus, the Cowboys still have one of the best skill duos in RB Chuba Hubbard and WR Tylan Wallace.

Luckily for Oklahoma State, they open Big 12 play against West Virginia. Neal Brown is in his second year as the team's head coach, and the Mountaineers still have a lot more questions than answers. They opened up their season with a 56-10 win over Eastern Kentucky, but the Cowboys represent a different kind of challenge.

Will SEC teams look more prepared?

We're all excited for SEC play to open up this weekend, and you should be keeping an eye out for any rust ... or maybe a lack thereof.

A handful of teams started slow in the opening weeks of the season because the COVID-19 pandemic created a disrupted and delayed practice schedule.

But the SEC had a few extra weeks to prepare. So we'll have to see if it shows on the field. Though it's probably safe to say some teams would struggle regardless (sorry, Arkansas).

Who is next in the line of Georgia quarterbacks?

If you have followed the quarterback carousel at UGA these past few years, it has been quite a ride. (There was Jacob Eason for a bit, then Jake Fromm, along with a year of Justin Fields as a backup.) And this year is no different. Expected starter and Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman opted out, leaving JT Daniels and D'Wan Mathis.

Daniels started the 2018 season for Southern California but suffered a knee injury in the 2019 opener against Fresno State and was replaced by Kedon Slovis -- leading to Daniels' transfer to Georgia in late May. Daniels hasn't yet been medically cleared to play, but Kirby Smart hopes he will be able to compete on Saturday against Arkansas.

If Daniels isn't able to go, Mathis will start. The redshirt freshman missed his first season after needing emergency brain surgery to remove a cyst. Now, he is in a position where he could be the Bulldogs' season-opening starter.

The best team in Florida is ...

After UCF beat Georgia Tech 49-21 in its season opener -- in the same city where it claimed its 2017 national championship* -- sophomore standout quarterback Dillon Gabriel proclaimed his Knights "the best team in Florida."

Asked about that comment again Monday during a media availability with reporters in Orlando, Gabriel held firm. "I said what I said. I still think we're the best team in Florida."

Now, we all know how UCF quite enjoys rattling the cages of its Power 5 in-state brethren. UCF AD Danny White and Florida AD Scott Stricklin have gotten into several he-said/he-said skirmishes over an inability to schedule each other. UCF fans also accused Florida of refusing to play UCF in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl after the 2018 season at the height of their grudge fest.

The point is that nobody in the state much cares for one another, and that is especially true for the new program on the block trying to get everyone to take it seriously. But what Dillon said begs a very important question. Is UCF the best team in Florida? On its face the question seems like a pretty straightforward "no." After all, Florida and Miami are both ranked higher than UCF in the AP Top 25.

The Knights are a healthy 27-point favorite against ECU this Saturday, but how would they stack up against the Power 5 competition Gabriel so confidently boasts superiority over? ESPN Stats & Information proves nothing is ever truly straightforward in college football. Especially when it comes to UCF.

The Knights have the highest Football Power Index ranking of any Florida school, sitting at No. 8. On a neutral field and with equal rest, the Knights would be favored by:

• 1.3 points over Florida

• 12.8 points over Miami

• 14.2 points over Florida State

In addition to that, the FPI gives UCF the highest percentage of all the Florida schools to make the College Football Playoff (32.2% for the Knights, compared to 9.6% for Florida, and 0.1% for both Miami and Florida State).

So should we get a 2020 national championship banner ready? Wait, that is a different conversation. -- Andrea Adelson

It's 2020, so we have our first coach-by-Zoom

Earlier this week, first-year Florida State coach Mike Norvell tested positive for COVID-19, and though he has shown no symptoms, he is required to quarantine for 10 days, meaning he'll miss his first rivalry game with Miami this Saturday.

"I get emotional thinking about not being out there because everything I do is to help impact these guys and build them up and prepare them," Norvell said.

It's 2020, though, so there is a workaround. Norvell spent this week coaching from quarantine, sitting in on meetings via Zoom and watching practice on his computer with multiple cameras set up around the practice fields so he can keep an eye on all that's happening.

"We've got a Plan B, C, D, E, I think we've got them all covered," Norvell said. "Once again, unprecedented times. It's something that you always go into a season with a Plan B just in case something was to occur, but there are a lot of moving pieces [this year]."

How wild is Florida State's situation this weekend? Well, the Seminoles last played Miami on Nov. 2, 2019, a dismal 27-10 loss that ultimately cost Willie Taggart his job. Odell Haggins then coached the team's final four games of the season before Norvell took over.

With Norvell out this week, Chris Thomsen will serve as head coach, which leads to this truly astonishing stat, courtesy of former Clemson sports information director Tim Bourret.

After having one head coach (Bobby Bowden) for 417 consecutive games between 1976-2009, Florida State will be guided on Saturday by its fourth head coach in its last seven games. #packer&durham
.

— Tim Bourret (@TimBourret) September 22, 2020

The Hokies will play ... probably

Ten teams whose conferences have already started play have yet to take the field, but eight are scheduled to do so this weekend, including Virginia Tech. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

That was Hokies coach Justin Fuente's message this week when asked about how many players he'll have available for Saturday's game against NC State. The game was originally slated for Sept. 12 but was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the Wolfpack. Then Virginia Tech had to nix last week's game against Virginia because of its own COVID-19 issues.

"We're living in a test-by-test world," Fuente said Monday. "We will not have a full roster. I hope we're able to play."

Fuente isn't the only one keeping his fingers crossed.

"Everybody's ready to let out their anger on somebody else," Hokies receiver Tre Turner said. "It's been frustrating because I'm just ready to play. I've been aggravated wanting to get out on the field."

Turner let out a little of that aggression on social media last week when rival Virginia took to Twitter to call out the Hokies for postponing their game. UVA has yet to have a single positive COVID-19 test, which led several Virginia players, including linebacker Charles Snowden, to suggest the Hokies hadn't handled their business, and Turner quickly shot back.

I'm ready whenever, wherever bro?

— Tré Turner (@tre11turner) September 12, 2020

So, is there some pent-up hostility there?

"It was funny to me because when our game got postponed [vs. NC State], you didn't see us going at NC State bashing players," Turner said. "There's a pandemic going on. But I don't take anything personal on Twitter at all."

Players to watch

Lyles: Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler

You could put Rattler here every week and it would be accurate, right? He has played only one game (and it was against Missouri State), but Rattler completed 14 of 17 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns. He's a clear Heisman contender, and this week the Sooners face a Kansas State team coming off an upset loss to Arkansas State. I'm excited to see just how much damage Rattler and coach Lincoln Riley can do.

Hale: Auburn QB Bo Nix

There's arguably no bigger wild card in 2020 than Nix, who started as a true freshman last year, beat both Oregon and Alabama, and endured his share of struggles against a relentless schedule that also included Texas A&M, Florida, LSU and Georgia.

"That schedule would've been tough on anybody," coach Gus Malzahn said. "I'd like to see a lot of these other teams play that schedule and see how their quarterback does."

That was last year, though. This is a new season with a new offensive coordinator in Chad Morris, and Malzahn believes Nix will take a big step forward.

"He's got a lot of confidence, and Coach Morris is trying to build this offense to his strengths," Malzahn said.

Auburn's opener should be a good test. Kentucky has nine starters on defense who are seniors or redshirt juniors, led by corner Brandin Echols, who's among the best DBs in the country.

Under-the-radar game of the week

Lyles: Mississippi State vs. LSU. If you're a fan of SEC football (I would hope we all are) this might not be so "under the radar." Plus, LSU is comfortably favored. But there are still a lot of unknowns for both teams.

For Mississippi State, it's the debut of the Mike Leach show. There is no reason for Mississippi State to win this game, but hey, if Leach's offense really takes just three days to install, maybe it'll be entertaining. At quarterback, he'll be working with Stanford transfer K.J. Costello. At running back, Kylin Hill -- the SEC's third leading rusher in 2019 -- returns.

The defending national champs, meanwhile, return without many of their key players from last year (most notably 15 NFL draft picks). Plus, 2019 Biletnikoff winner Ja'Marr Chase opted out in late August.

But LSU is still LSU. So of course there was more talent behind the departing talent, including new starting QB Myles Brennan.

Hale: There are three matchups between ranked teams this week, with Auburn-Kentucky and Louisville-Pitt doing the heavy lifting and Army vs. Cincinnati flying under the radar. Still, the Black Nights and Bearcats offer perhaps the most intriguing matchup. Army has been dominant in its first two games of the year, beating MTSU and Louisiana-Monroe by a combined score of 79-7. Running on the Bearcats won't be easy, though. Cincinnati hasn't allowed 200 yards on the ground since its Week 2 loss to Ohio State last year. The winner of this one will be in a good position to make a run at a New Year's Six bowl.

Upset picks

Our upset picks are a combined 4-0 so far. Let's keep the mojo flowing ...

Lyles: Kentucky over No. 8 Auburn

I'm apologizing to David in advance for ruining our perfect record on upset picks if this one doesn't hold up. But in a season that has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in so many ways, and with Kentucky having one of its most talented teams to open up a season in years, I'm going to roll the dice on an upset at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Bo Nix had a typical freshman season of ups and downs for Auburn last year, and I'm going to bank on him starting the season slow -- while hoping Kentucky inches closer toward being a football school (kidding about the football school part).

Hale: Syracuse over Georgia Tech

The Orange offense looked brutal in its first two games, with QB Tommy DeVito sacked 14 times in two losses. Georgia Tech, on the other hand, has looked awfully good, moving the ball well last week against UCF and beating Florida State in the opener. But the Yellow Jackets are still a work in progress on offense, and Syracuse has its back against the wall. If the Orange can't win this one at home, they may not win a conference game all year.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Jeff Allen glances down nervously at his smartwatch after seeing that a new message has just popped in.

It's 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 17, still more than a week away from Alabama's season opener, and the Crimson Tide's veteran head athletic trainer looks up after reading the message and slowly exhales.

"Just got the word that all [COVID-19] tests were negative. Thank God!" Allen says from underneath his mask. "I know it's coming, this time every day. That anxiety is daily because you know if you've got a couple of positives where that leads."

Nothing has been normal in the college football world for Alabama -- or anyone else -- these past six months. To get a sense of how the Crimson Tide are adjusting, head coach Nick Saban allowed ESPN behind the scenes, from the practice field to the meeting rooms to the cafeteria, as the No. 2-ranked Tide prepared to open their season Saturday night at Missouri (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App).

"It's one of the greatest challenges any of us has faced, all that goes into getting a team ready to play football in the middle of a pandemic and doing everything we can to keep people safe," Saban told ESPN. "But that doesn't mean we were going to throw up our hands and not try."

A major part of Alabama's plan has been daily coronavirus testing, even though SEC guidelines mandate only three tests per week. Alabama will spend approximately $5 million this year on testing for all sports, according to athletic director Greg Byrne.

"It's worth it and the right thing to do," said Byrne, whose athletic department will see a $75 million revenue shortfall in part due to only 20,000 fans being allowed into Bryant-Denny Stadium this season for home games.

When Alabama's players first returned to campus in June, Allen said the football team had a surge of positive tests. (The Tide have declined to provide specific numbers for the football team.) But since July 4, the positivity rate on tests has been running just under 2%. And going back to June, Alabama has been doing a full cardiovascular work-up on every player who tested positive for the virus, and the player then has a follow-up appointment with a physician every two weeks for two months.

"All the concerns about myocarditis, the stuff that came up with the Big Ten discussions, that's something we've been monitoring since April," Allen said. "That's why we're renting an echocardiogram machine to have on site here and bringing in a technician to run it. So if a player gets COVID, he's going to get lab work, an EKG and an echocardiogram, and it's all done right here."

Allen is the only remaining football staff member who came to Alabama with Saban in 2007, and there's incredible trust between the two. Saban has joked in the past that Allen is the last man standing.

"Most of the days, anyway, I'm standing," Allen quipped.

Allen's day has been known to start as early as 4:30 in the morning, as the Alabama players start wandering in for testing just before 7 o'clock.

"You have to track anybody down this morning?" Allen asks one of his assistants and later scolds one player to "get that mask up."

Allen's training staff includes six full-time assistants, two interns and 20 student assistants.

"It's taken everybody we've got," he said.

At least three different times throughout the day, Allen's student assistants comb through the meeting rooms, weight room, locker room, dining area and any other high-touch areas with paint-gun sprayers, disinfecting the entire building. Every meeting room has a sanitation system that is supposed to filter the air through UV lighting.

"And you can't turn around without somebody squirting some more sanitizer on your hands," redshirt senior center Landon Dickerson said.

Saban's morning staff meetings, typically held in the boardroom just outside his office, are now conducted in one of the auditorium team meeting rooms with coaches spread out all the way to the top and wearing masks.

On the field, Alabama's practices look much the same as they always have under Saban -- fast, physical and never lacking for contact.

"A lot of off-the-field stuff has changed, but we feel like we've created an atmosphere where what we do on the field hasn't changed," Saban said.

The coaches and support staff on the practice field don masks, and a few of the coaches also wear face shields. Even though his mask might muffle his unmistakable voice, nobody has any problem hearing Saban bark, "Run it again," when he doesn't like what he sees.

"The virus is always on your mind, and you've got to respect it," Alabama senior quarterback Mac Jones said. "But when we're on that field, we're thinking football and football only."

Saban and Allen have emphasized the importance of creating both a team bubble and personal bubble, and even had the U.S. Surgeon General speak with the team via Zoom. Alabama's veteran players have made it clear that there will be hell to pay if they hear about anybody on the team living it up downtown at the bars or attending any parties.

"Everything that we've done to make this season happen, we can walk it all back with one person getting the virus," Jones said. "That was my message to the team, along with [Dylan Moses] and some of the older guys. We're going to wear our masks, eliminate being around large groups and do what they ask us to do.

"I went out a lot when I was younger, so I've been there. It's really hard. But let's grind it out for five more months, and after we win the national championship, then everyone can celebrate."

Jones' girlfriend, Sophie Scott, even took a leave of absence from her job at the university orthopedic clinic to make sure she wasn't around anybody who might expose her and potentially spread the virus to Jones.

"That was so awesome of her," Jones said. "She just didn't want to take any chances of being around somebody who had it and then me getting it."

The day before Alabama began practice on Aug. 17, Allen coordinated a presentation for the entire team, an intricate slideshow complete with data from the CDC and other medical studies, and he also included a scene from the downtown bar area in Tuscaloosa after the Crimson Tide won the national championship a few years ago.

"So don't tell me that you're scared of playing football, but that you're going to go to something like this," Allen told the players.

While a college campus can never create a true bubble like some professional leagues, Alabama has tried to create its own, aided by the fact that the large majority of the players are taking online classes this semester.

"One thing we talked about is that the team bubble doesn't work if your personal bubble doesn't work," Allen said.

Alabama also had the players take part in an anonymous survey. Among the questions: Do you have concerns about playing football this year?

One of the players responded, "No, I've been waiting my whole life to play and everything going on really doesn't matter to me. If we get tested, let us play."

Another player, on whether he had concerns, answered, "Yes, a f---ton," while another said simply, "We should cancel."

And yet another answered that Alabama's efforts in making the players feel safe and comfortable were "perfect."

To this point, Alabama, a team with as many elite NFL draft prospects as anyone else, has had just one player opt out of the season. (Saban said he promised the player he wouldn't reveal his name publicly.)

"I think that says that we have a team that knows what it wants to accomplish and a team that knows we're willing and trying to do things the right way so that they have that opportunity," Saban said. "To our team's credit, the players have really stuck together through all of this."

While the medical staff, coaches and players have been the focal point of Alabama's changes, everybody within the football complex has seen their responsibilities grow and routine disrupted.

Ellis Ponder, Alabama's chief operating officer for football, looks over the seating chart for the plane trip to Missouri. The goal is to keep at least one open seat between every player. Then there's the list of everybody on the trip who still needs to be tested.

"The bus driver needs to be tested?" Ponder asks.

Meal time is markedly different. The days of players going through the buffet line are over, as all meals are now prepackaged. Amy Bragg, Alabama's director of performance nutrition, sends the players twice-daily text messages that includes that day's menu.

That's considerable progress from earlier this year, when they were doing curbside service and taking meals to the players in their cars.

Even the media interview room just outside the office of director of football communications Josh Maxson now doubles as an offensive meeting room for offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and some of the coaches and players.

"All of us in athletics are creatures of habit and used to routine, including the players, and there ain't nothing routine about any of this," Allen said. "We've flipped and flopped, based on numbers, to effectively spread them out on planes, in meeting rooms, in the dining hall and are doing everything we can to keep guys in the same position groups away from each other when they're not on the field."

Allen isn't ready to claim victory, not when he knows everything could come crashing down the next morning with an influx of positive tests and resulting quarantines.

"It's not like we've got this thing figured out," Allen said. "There's always a next hurdle to cross."

A player testing positive is isolated for 10 days. After that, the player falls into a 90-day window from his test date that he doesn't have to be tested and isn't going to be counted as an exposure. But anyone who is deemed to have come in close contact with a player who tested positive also needs to quarantine for 14 days.

"Playing football, you're in somebody's face on every play. That's where the testing comes in," Dickerson said. "It's when you're away from the field that you're always looking around and making sure you're keeping your distance. Our guys take that as seriously as doing things right on the field. We want this season to happen."

As the anticipation in Alabama's camp builds for the opener against Missouri, there's also some restlessness after Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said before game week that the Tigers would have 12 players out for the game for COVID-19 reasons. (On Tuesday, Drinkwitz revised that number to seven players, after inconclusive tests for five players were redone and came back negative.)

"Our guys are just ready to play, in any game and against any team," Jones said. "Now that it's almost here, I can't even imagine not playing."

Neither can Allen, especially given everything it has taken to get to this point.

"You keep hearing people saying that we've just got to get this off the ground," Allen said. "That's literally how I feel. Once that plane gets off the ground and those wheels leave the runway in Tuscaloosa, I will know we have done what we've been trying to do since March, which is give our guys a chance to play."

And only then will Allen be able to fully breathe. At least until that next batch of test results pops in on his smartwatch.

THE NIGHT BEFORE the Denver Nuggets faced the LA Clippers in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, backup guard Monte Morris had another Los Angeles team on his mind. He was on a FaceTime call with childhood friend Kyle Kuzma, whose Los Angeles Lakers had already punched their ticket to the Western Conference finals.

"He was like, 'Is it gonna be the Nuggets-Lakers matchup?' and I was like, 'Yeah, I feel like we're going to win,'" Morris, who grew up near Kuzma in Flint, Michigan, told ESPN last week. "And then once it happened, I was like, 'Yo, this is lit for the city. With the stage we're going to be on, to put our platform out there and let them know it's something good that's happening in the city to give light on Flint.'"

The Nuggets-Lakers series has turned into a moment for Flint, which claims not only Morris and Kuzma, but also Lakers center JaVale McGee and NBA referee Courtney Kirkland, who, in his 20th NBA season, worked his first-ever conference finals game in Game 1.

For the three players, a trip to the NBA Finals is on the line, but so are hometown bragging rights. The winner will play on for a chance to return to Flint this offseason as an NBA champion, but they'll also get an opportunity to continue to raise awareness about the city's ongoing water crisis and what it means to be Flint Strong.

MICHIGAN STATE HADN'T been to the Final Four since Magic Johnson led the team to a title in 1979. So when Michigan State All-American Mateen Cleaves returned home to Flint after the Spartans lost to Duke in the Final Four in 1999, he was expecting a celebratory reception.

He was wrong.

"A guy came up to me, and I'm thinking it would be congratulations because [Michigan State] hadn't been that far since Magic Johnson, and the dude told me, 'You choked,'" Cleaves said. "Flint wasn't satisfied with just getting to the Final Four."

Cleaves used that as motivation to lead the Spartans to a title a year later, teaming up with fellow Flint natives Charlie Bell and Morris Peterson -- who were given the nickname "the Flintstones" -- to make their city proud.

"In Flint, it takes a lot to gain the respect of the people here," said Cleaves, who played six seasons in the NBA after being drafted 14th overall in 2000. "Even though you've got Monte, Kuz and JaVale, but it's been pros that have come through here for years, so people have seen you before. In Flint, everybody isn't going to be like, 'Oh, man, this is the best thing since sliced bread.' No. You're not about to get that, and people are going to hold you highly accountable in Flint."

That message was echoed by Pamela McGee, the mother of the Lakers' center and herself a star athlete who won multiple state championships at Flint Northern High School before going on to win NCAA titles at USC, earn a gold medal in the Olympics and play two seasons in the WNBA.

"If you can survive in Flint, you can survive anywhere," Pamela McGee said. "I always tell people, if they're coming out of Flint, Detroit, Saginaw, they're hard workers because it's a blue-collar town. Just to survive in Flint, you know they're going to come to work every day and they have another level of resiliency."

That resiliency has been tested in recent years, as a water crisis has plagued Flint since 2014.

Kuzma, who declined to comment for this story, told ESPN in 2018 that he wants to eventually have the same kind of impact on Flint that LeBron James has had on his hometown of Akron, Ohio. He has reached back to the city through his basketball camps and numerous donations to the downtown YMCA, where he, Morris and Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges all worked on their craft.

"You never know how you can inspire other people," James said in November. "The fact that I can inspire my teammate, with Kuz doing the things that he's doing in Flint and the things that he does in the summer when he goes back for his basketball camp and his charity events that he does ... I'm not on the ground in Flint, but I definitely always got my thoughts and my prayers to that city on how they can fix it for sure."

Since Morris has been with Denver, he and his teammates have made multiple visits to Flint to give back to the community, including handing out bottled water to help residents impacted by the water crisis. Nuggets coach Mike Malone said Morris will "run for mayor of Flint" one day.

"They had so many great players that have come out of there," Malone said last week. "Tough city. I think the one thing about people in Flint is that they use that toughness as a source of pride and a chip on their shoulder."

That hometown pride runs deep for Flint athletes, including four active NBA players; boxers Claressa Shields, and Anthony and Andre Dirrell; UFC fighter Mike Perry; and NFL players Mark Ingram II (Baltimore Ravens), Brandon Carr (Dallas Cowboys) and Malik Taylor (Green Bay Packers).

"A Flintstone is tough. They're gritty, they're passionate about their friends and their loved ones and their city," Ingram told ESPN. "Nothing's given, everything is earned."

Many of those characteristics were instilled in generations of Flint athletes by NBA referee Courtney Kirkland's father. Grover Kirkland, who died in 2014, coached 28 years at Flint Northwestern High School and won back-to-back state titles in 1984 and 1985. He remains the winningest high school coach in Flint-area history.

"I knew nothing other than basketball coming up. I was born into this," Courtney Kirkland said. "They went to the state finals the year after I was born. I used to always tell him that I was the key to his success because he was able to turn these programs around after I was around. So I would say, 'You've been successful ever since I've been alive, so I'm the key to that.'"

Former All-Pro NFL receiver Andre Rison, who played on those state title teams alongside three-time NBA All-Star Glen Rice and former NBA player Jeff Grayer, said Grover Kirkland "was very integral" in molding the tight bond among athletes in the area.

"We're all an extension of Grover Kirkland," Rison said. "We were raised to be professionals."

MORRIS AND KUZMA have battled for three games so far this series, but have been facing off since they were kids. They first competed on the over-the-door mini hoop at Kuzma's house, keeping his parents awake with loud thuds.

"That drives you nuts," Kuzma's mother, Karri, recalled. "It was so loud. Just playing on that all night long.

"It wasn't really until they got to college and you could just see it was going to be something more," she added. "You've just always got to support their dreams."

Morris, 25, told ESPN that he and Kuzma used to talk of eventually reaching the NBA together. Now they're meeting in a postseason for the first time since 2012, when Morris' Beecher Buccaneers squad defeated Kuzma's Burton Bentley team 80-34 in Round 2 of the Michigan Class C boys' basketball district playoffs. Morris finished with 15 points to Kuzma's 12.

"Kuz never beat me until we got to the NBA," Morris said, laughing. "But I never lost to Kuz when we were growing up."

Since they both entered the league in the 2017 draft -- Kuzma the No. 27 pick out of Utah and Morris the No. 51 pick out of Iowa State -- Kuzma has a 6-3 edge in their head-to-head meetings, including a 2-1 advantage in the Western Conference Finals.

But it was Morris who earned Michigan's Mr. Basketball honors over Kuzma when they were both coming out of high school in 2013. He was a big enough star that he nearly lured the Hornets' Bridges, who ended up earning All-America honors at Michigan State, to join him in Ames at Iowa State.

"For me, when I met Monte, it was kind of like me meeting a LeBron-type, because he was always on the news, winning state championships," Bridges said. "Monte was big time for me when I met him."

Now one of the new Flintstones is getting to represent the city on the NBA's biggest stage. And while Morris will no doubt be upset if the Nuggets' latest comeback attempt falls short, he would also be happy to see his friend carry on Flint's legacy.

"We both thank God for this situation to compete, and one of us is going to end up in the Finals," Morris said, "so we will see."