How important is earning the top overall seed in the College Football Playoff? For Alabama, it's very important. It would allow the Tide to play a virtual home game in the Sugar Bowl as opposed to going out West to possibly face Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

That's why Nick Saban and his team have to be ecstatic with their No. 1 ranking in the latest playoff rankings. As long as they win out and win the SEC title, they're headed to New Orleans for the first semifinal game.

Meanwhile, if everything plays out as it should -- and it never does -- the Tide's opponent in the Sugar Bowl would be none other than Mississippi State. That's right. The Bulldogs only dropped to No. 4 after Saturday's loss to Alabama, and that means they're still in good shape for the playoff if they can take care of business against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.

The next two weeks should also be interesting for the rest of the conference as a number of teams are fighting for that sixth win and bowl eligibility. Both Florida and South Carolina should get there this Saturday as they play Eastern Kentucky and South Alabama, respectively. It won't be as easy, though, for teams like of Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.

We predict a total of 12 SEC teams becoming bowl eligible by season's end.

College Football Playoff semifinal (Sugar Bowl): Alabama

College Football Playoff semifinal (Sugar Bowl): Mississippi State

Capital One Orange Bowl: Ole Miss

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: Georgia

Citrus Bowl: Auburn

TaxSlayer Bowl: Florida

Outback Bowl: Missouri

AdvoCare 100 Texas Bowl: Texas A&M

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Tennessee

AutoZone Liberty Bowl: LSU

Belk Bowl: South Carolina

Birmingham Bowl: Arkansas