Athlon Sports selects winner for each bowl, makes national title pick

Athlon Sports came out with its national title pick, and it’s not a pretty picture for the SEC.

Earlier this week, the outlet published its predictions for each bowl game using a panel of three staff members: Steven Lassan, Mitch Light and Bryan Fischer. You can see the full list of games with the group’s picks here.

Spoiler alert: The selections for the College Football Playoff games aren’t kind to the SEC teams involved.

All three analysts selected Oklahoma to beat Georgia in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, and they agreed that Clemson will top Alabama on the same day in the Sugar Bowl. There was some disagreement in the national championship game, with Lassan and Light choosing Clemson to win it all at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Fischer, meanwhile, picked Oklahoma.

It’s somewhat surprising that all three analysts would choose the SEC teams involved in the College Football Playoff to lose in the national semifinals. Both the Rose and Sugar bowls figure to be close, so it would be fair to guess that at least one pundit would have moved one of the SEC teams forward into the national championship game.

Still, there’s a good chance either Georgia or Alabama will prove them wrong.