The 2018 college football season is officially underway, and that means it’s time for analysts to finalize their early College Football Playoff predictions.

On Friday morning, former Florida State QB (and current CFB analyst) Danny Kanell released his projections, and preseason No. 1 Alabama was a notable absence.

As you can see in the tweet below, Kanell thinks Auburn will represent the SEC in the Playoff before losing to Clemson in the title game:

It’s hard to fault Kanell for picking Clemson to win it all, as the Tigers return a stacked team, particularly along the defensive line.

Auburn does the same, with a stout defense and a talented quarterback in Jarrett Stidham returning to lead the way. This year’s Iron Bowl could have major Playoff implications, so it’ll be fun to see how the first 12 weeks of the season play out.