Will the SEC champion reach the College Football Playoff this season?

Is there a chance the league places two teams in the final four?

If the best regular season in sports has shown us anything in recent years, it’s that these things are unpredictable, much like trying to project upsets and the SEC’s biggest games this season. We simply don’t know who will emerge as a breakout team or which programs are more inflated than they should be.

RELATED: Ranking the SEC Weekends

The beauty of the unknown is what makes college football so fun to watch.

With that in mind, here’s a guess at the most critical games this fall with regards to the SEC’s national championship hopes. If there are truly only five teams capable of winning the league title, these matchups will determine final placement down the stretch:

SEPTEMBER

  • Opening weekend
  • LSU at Auburn, Sept. 19

Anyone craving Week 1 as much as we are? Alabama-Wisconsin, Texas A&M-Arizona State, Auburn-Louisville — three games that will boost the non-conference resume when the Playoff committee grades body of work at the end of the season.  You can look at the reverse side of this too and understand that a win over Alabama for the Badgers would go a long way in determining overall value in a top-heavy Big Ten.

Rarely are we offered a Week 3 matchup that eliminates one team from the division title picture, but that’s what we could have on the Plains when LSU rolls into town on the 19th. Neither nationally-ranked program inside the Top 15 can afford a conference loss that early in a division that will likely take a 7-1 finish to win.

OCTOBER

  • Alabama at Georgia, Oct. 3
  • Georgia at Tennessee, Oct. 10
  • Alabama at Texas A&M, Oct. 17
  • Auburn vs. Arkansas, Oct. 24
  • Ole Miss at Auburn, Oct. 31

October’s loaded with relevant SEC matchups week to week that each have heavy division and national title implications. Knowing two losses could prove fatal to a Playoff berth, the projected elites must find a way to navigate this brutal month and escape to play meaningful games down the stretch. We’ve got a feeling one perceived league favorite could falter prior to Halloween due to its schedule brutality and that squad could be Alabama.

NOVEMBER

  • Weekend of Nov. 27-28
  • LSU at Alabama, Nov. 7
  • Auburn at Texas A&M, Nov. 7
  • Georgia at Auburn, Nov. 14

The final weekend of the regular season features the much-anticipated Iron Bowl, which could very well determine the Western Division champion and Playoff participant from the SEC. It’s also important to notice that if both Alabama and Auburn are unbeaten coming in (unlikely, but could happen), the loser has a great shot at reaching the final four in the No. 4 slot at 11-1 considering several regular-season victories would’ve been against nationally-ranked programs.

If the Crimson Tide or Tigers should falter prior to their rivalry showdown to end the regular season, the matchup will lose some of its luster nationally and weaken the league’s chances of having a Playoff participant unless the Eastern Division produces an elite. Keep an eye on Georgia’s trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 14. That’s potentially huge for the Bulldogs.