We have our first College Football Playoff Rankings of the year and the debate rages on as who will end up staying in there. Kirk Herbstreit came on the special presentation show for the rankings and detailed who he believes will be his Playoff "sleeper" and he gives a pretty good reason why this team is a good pick for that designation:
The big part to take away from that is this bit from Herbstreit:
"It's just because of the opportunity and the games that they still have to play. Everybody wants to talk about - especially Chris Fallica, the Bear - these two-loss teams at the end, this year for the first time, maybe having a shot at finishing in the top four. How about Auburn? With what they have in front of them. The big game with Georgia that everyone's already assuming - we're already talking about Georgia-Alabama, undefeated in Atlanta, what happens if Georgia loses a close game. Auburn is sitting there saying "aren't they coming to Jordan-Hare? We still get to play them right?"
If Auburn were somehow able to knock of Georgia and Alabama, sitting there with two losses? I think Auburn is still a team that's thinking about trying to surprise some people. They're definitely in striking distance if they're able to get a couple of big wins late in the year."
Auburn is currently ranked No. 14 in the country and will definitely have a chance to jump if they get wins over Alabama and Georgia like Herbstreit suggests as a possibility. Both of the games are at Auburn and are definitely the Tigers' best chances to summit the rankings assuming they beat Texas A&M this weekend and handle Louisiana-Monroe the week after Georgia.
[h/t The Spun]