For most teams outside of college football’s Bowl Subdivision, the playoffs begin in mid-November. For Georgia Southern, the playoffs start Saturday.

            The Eagles are 2-3 and 0-2 in the Southern Conference by a combined three points. It’s a tough reality, but whether it’s three points or 30 points, GSU is staring at last place in the SoCon.

            There is no margin for error anymore. Southern must win ‘em all from here on out. It starts in Chattanooga and will have to end in Chattanooga if the Eagles are to win that elusive seventh national title.

            One thing Chris Hatcher and crew have been able to do this season is to keep things close enough to have a shot at winning in the end. I don’t see that being an issue this weekend.

            Thanks to our good friends at CNN Local Edition, Josh Aubrey caught a Chattanooga player this preseason telling the camera, “When we see Georgia Southern on the schedule, we pretty much put a ‘W’ by it.”

            That statement alone won’t sit well with the Blue-and-White, and I suspect it’ll be a motivational tool this week at Beautiful Eagle Creek.

            Can’t lose GSU 42, Chatty 17.

Baseball

            I’ll start with the happenings in Major League Baseball. I went 5-0 with one more result to be decided today in the American League Central – not too shabby. That pushes the overall record to 41-31 for the year.

            But this is where it gets tricky. We’ll start in the AL, where Los Angeles hosts Boston and Tampa Bay gets the survivor of Minnesota-Chicago.

            I still think the Angels are the team to beat; they take out Boston in four. Tampa Bay won’t be as lucky. Since I picked the White Sox to survive, they beat Detroit today, then take out Minnesota in the one-game playoff and that momentum alone with be tough to slow down.

            In the NL, the Cubs sweep the Dodgers, while the Unbelievable Brew Crew wins a classic in five over Philadelphia.

Wild world of football

            I took a hit last week in CFB, going 1-2 thanks to Penn State bailing me out. It’s the Big Ten again this week that has another top game with Ohio State playing Wisconsin in Madison in prime time.

            I know a lot of you despise the Bucks, as if it’s the pollsters fault for continuing to rank them as high as they are. But how quickly we forget last year, when OSU fell short against Illinois, then climbed the totem poll as everyone else folded along the way.

            The circumstances are a bit different in ’08 heading into the first week of October. Don’t for a second, however, underestimate Ohio State. With a new quarterback and a healthy Beanie Wells, this team is almost completely different from the one we saw Southern Cal destroy.

            In this case it’s the Badgers who are a bit overrated. They’ll still be smarting from the loss to Michigan: State 28, Wisconsin 17.

            In the Big XII, it’s been a generation since Missouri won at Nebraska. No problem this time for the Tigers: MU 42, Nebraska 24.

            In the ACC, Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech go back to work, hosting Duke at noon. Duke!? Easy win, huh? Perhaps not. The Dukies rolled over Virginia 31-3 last week, and although Virginia’s become pitiful, when was the last time Duke beat anyone by 28.

            Tech wins, but closer than many may think: 38-24.

Paid to play

            I’ve been more impressed with the Atlanta Falcons this year than I ever thought I would be. At 2-2, they’ve more than taken care of business at home while losing twice on the road by identical scores.

            The problem is that Atlanta is once again back on the road this week. The Falcons are headed in the right direction, but won’t win at Lambeau: Packers 35, Falcons 20.