Kirk Herbstreit breaks down biggest College Football Playoff storylines ahead of Week 12 games

On Saturday morning’s SportsCenter, just ahead of ESPN College GameDay live from James Madison, college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit broke down the current playoff picture with so many undefeated teams.

Particularly, Herbstreit thinks an Alabama win over Georgia in the SEC title game would really throw a wrench into the playoff situation and could leave the committee in a spot where they’d need to make some very difficult decisions.

“Down the stretch if Alabama beats Georgia, hold on to your hat, because you could have a very controversial ending, if Alabama was to somehow upset Georgia in Atlanta.”

With Michigan and Ohio State both undefeated, the situation is a little bit clearer where the winner almost certainly makes the College Football Playoff while the loser would need a whole lot to break for them to sneak in as OSU did a year ago.

“Then of course, what’s going to happen at Ohio State and Michigan is a huge storyline next week. We head to Ann Arbor,” Herbstreit noted of the GameDay crew.

Plus, there’s still Washington way out west who is undefeated still but does have one of their toughest games of the year, a matchup on the road vs. Oregon State, coming up.

“And what happens with Washington? Washington’s sitting there at five and they have a monster game tonight on ABC against Oregon State in Corvalis, where they’re an underdog, even though they’re up at No. 5. They’ve gone through a gauntlet in that conference,” said Herbstreit of the Huskies.

He then remarked on how there are so many more contenders for the playoff and undefeated power conference teams remaining at this stage compared to other recent seasons.

“So, so many storylines. Usually, we get to this point and it’s ‘okay, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson Ohio State. It’s almost like you know what’s going to happen. Right now, it’s wide open and potentially creating some chaos down here down the stretch these last few weeks.”

The chaos is all the fun. As Kirk Herbstreit noted, we still have so many games that will decide the College Football Playoff field. Obviously, Michigan and Ohio State will play, then Georgia and Alabama meet again in the SEC title with everything on the line. Meanwhile, Washington has to get through 8-2 Oregon State in Corvalis before likely meeting up with Oregon once again in the PAc-12 title game — who is also gunning for a CFP spot.

The field of legitimate playoff contenders is as large as it ever has been this late in the season, which sets the stage for what’s sure to be an immensely fun and dramatic next three weekends of college football.