Biggest games for teams seeking bowl eligibility

Most of the attention during the college football season is focused on the College Football Playoff race.

However, there’s also significant drama at the bottom of the postseason picture.

To fill all the spaces in the 39 bowl games this season, 78 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision must finish with six or more wins.

If that doesn’t happen, teams with five wins will be added to the mix.

Here’s the current situation involving the 129 teams eligible to play in the postseason with three weeks left in the season:

❚ 48 teams have at least six wins.

❚ 23 teams already have seven losses.

❚ The 30 available spots must be filled by the remaining 58 teams.

Here are some of the key games this week that will determine if the field is filled:

Miami (Fla.) (5-4) at Georgia Tech (5-4)

It wasn’t supposed to be like this for the Hurricanes, who started the season in the top 10. But here they are with three games left and not a simple path considering their current form. The Yellow Jackets looked certain to end their season in November, but four wins in five games have them on the brink of a bowl.

California (5-4) at Southern California (5-4) The Pac-12 has six teams with five wins as it tries to fill all of its bowl slots. Either the Golden Bears or Trojans can punch their ticket this week. Cal is on the upswing after beating Washington and playing Washington State close away from home. USC hasn’t missed a bowl game in a season it was eligible since 2000.

Tennessee (4-5) vs. Kentucky

It’s been an up-and-down year for the Volunteers in Jeremy Pruitt’s first campaign. An opportunity for a postseason finish remains, and the road would be a lot easier with an upset of the Wildcats considering that would leave some margin for error.