College football postseason picture clarifying

By Walter GeigerSports fans worldwide will be watching with interest Saturday when #1 LSU travels to #2 Alabama for an epic SEC showdown. After that battle, Alabama will have games remaining against Mississippi State, Western Carolina and Auburn while LSU will battle Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M.I don’t see any upsets brewing in those match-ups so the winner of Saturday’s game will be the SEC West champ. I really like LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and, if Tua can’t play or is limited, I think LSU (8-0, 5-0) gets it done against the Tide (8-0, 5-0) in Tuscaloosa. If he is full go, he may give Bama the edge.The winner will go to the SEC championship game in Atlanta. Georgia (7-1, 4-1) has control of the SEC East after topping Florida (7-2, 4-2) Saturday in Jacksonville. Georgia has Missouri, Auburn, Texas A&M and Georgia Tech left on its schedule and should get by all those teams and make the title match.Auburn has a great defensive front but little else. All the talk has been about legacy quarterback Bo Nix who played well at LSU. But, in his only other game against a top 10 opponent in Florida, the freshman looked more like Bo Pix, throwing three interceptions in a 24-13 loss.Auburn struggled at home Saturday with Ole Miss (3-6, 2-4) and quarterback John Rhys Plumlee before winning 20-14 with their home stadium largely empty at the end. The War Eagle Tiger Plainsmen could play a role in both the SEC East and West races but I feel they are looking at two more losses at home against Georgia and Alabama.On the flats, Georgia Tech is 2-6 in what everyone knew would be a rebuilding year as the Jackets transitioned from the option attack it ran for so many years under Paul Johnson to the more modern offense run by new coach Geoff Collins. After losing 20-10 Saturday to Pittsburgh at homecoming, Tech has four games remaining with Virginia, Virginia Tech, NC State and Georgia. The Jackets are very likely looking at a 2-10 season.Defending champion Clemson is 9-0 with games remaining against NC State, Wake Forest and South Carolina. I don’t see any upsets there or in the ACC title game so you can pencil the Tigers in for one of the four CFP spots right now. The winner of the SEC championship will get another spot. So, who does that leave?The only remaining undefeated teams of consequence are #3 Ohio State and #5 Penn State. Those two play each other on Nov. 23 at Ohio State. Penn State has to go on the road to #13 Minnesota (8-0) this week. It is unlikely they get by both those teams but, if they do, they are in as their other two remaining opponents are Rutgers and Indiana.Meanwhile, the Buckeyes (8-0) host Maryland this week. They go to Rutgers before the battle at Ohio State. They close the season at #14 Michigan (7-2) in a huge rivalry game.That Big 10 schedule will go a long way toward filling in a third spot on the playoff bracket. My sleeper pick for the fourth spot is Oregon because there is much pressure to include a team from out west. We shall see.Meanwhile, in the Sun Belt, Georgia Southern upset Appalachian State 24-21 Saturday. Ranked #20 going into the game, App State was the highest ranked Sun Belt team ever. I’m not sure what the future holds for Erk’s Eagles but that was a big win.