The SEC could have as many as eleven teams qualify for its eight postseason positions. Ole Miss is the only team that has been eliminated from postseason contention and there are many questions concerning what will happen with the remaining eleven.
Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom is in a position that is certainly a surprise-lobbying for a bowl bid. Most recently Croom visited with the executive director of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Steve Ehrhart. Earhart stated that the Bulldogs were, "a very strong candidate."
The SEC bowl situation is uncertain at best right now. Aside from a guaranteed spot in the BCS for the winner of the league's title game, the conference also has direct bowl tie-ins with seven other bowls. The seven certainties are the Capitol One, Chick-Fil-A, Cotton, Independence, Liberty, Music City, and Outback bowls.
There is also a good chance that the SEC could recieve two BCS bids if LSU earns a spot to play in the national title game. If that situation were to occur Auburn, Florida, or Georgia would be excellent candidates for the Sugar Bowl.
But that still leaves more bowl-eligible teams than slots.
The Poinsetta bowl is the only bowl that has a designated at-large berth, the major stipulation being that a six-win team cannot be picked over a seven-win team for the slot.
The SEC could also snag another game in Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl, likely facing against Air Force. The other slot in that game belongs to the Pac-10. However that league is unlikely to fulfill its bowl obligations, meaning that officials will be able to select another bowl-elligible team from another conference.
If the SEC snags a spot in the national title game along with securing a place in the Armed Forces and Poinsetta Bowls there will be eleven very-worthy teams from the SEC playing in bowl games.
Mark Womack, the SEC associate commissioner, has sworn that the league will, "do everything in our power to try and find a bowl opportunity for all those that meet the eligibility requirements."
Almost every SEC fan should get a kick out of this, sorry Ole Miss.
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8 months ago
That's really quite something. If that doesn't prove the SEC's superiority, I don't know what will.
from 8 months ago
While I agree that it's impressive that the SEC could potentially send 11 out of 12 teams to a bowl game - the "haters" will look at the feat as a telling sign of how weak the SEC's OOC matchups are. Good read Leon...I hope they can all pull it off. Should be some interesting matchups, too.
8 months ago
If LSU goes to the national title game, do either Florida or Auburn have a chance to go to the Sugar Bowl even if the Dawgs destroy Auburn this Saturday? Even if this happens, Georgia can not make it to the SEC championship game unless Tennessee drops one of its remaining games. In this case Tennessee would be tapped to represent the East in the SEC championship game. If this happens and Tennessee wins the SEC championship game, will the Vols automatically go to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl?
Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
DAWGS ......... sic 'em !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Destroy Auburn on Saturday!!!!
from 8 months ago
Unfortunatly for the SEC, yes, if Tennessee wins the SEC Championship Game, they will be in the Sugar Bowl. Then again, LSU could still be ranked high enough to grab one of the BCS at-large bids, despite losing the SEC championship game.
The best bet for the SEC to have 2 BCS games is for LSU to make the national championship game, then for one of the teams who missed out on Atlanta to win out, i.e. Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Kentucky if UT does make it to Atlanta.
8 months ago
Well, I hope my Georgia Bulldogs just focus on executing each play in each game with energy and a desire to win. There needs to be a hungry and desire to destroy the other team. If the Dawgs do this consistently then I think we have a chance to win our last three regular season games against Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia Tech. I'd like to see my Bulldogs develop a defense that consistently shuts down the running and passing game of each opponent. Supposedly, Georgia is so far one of the top two or three teams in 2008 recruiting which I hope includes key defensive players that can make an impact.
8 months ago
Question: If LSU wins the SEC Champtionship, will the loser of the game go to the Sugar Bowl automatically, and if so, can they play another SEC team. Marc
from 8 months ago
If the SEC runner-up is Tennessee...dont bet on an Sugar Bowl Birth. Their only shot at a Sugar Bowl is to win the SEC. If they were to lose to LSU, the Sugar Bowl trip would go to Georgia, because their high BCS ranking.
If the SEC runner-up is Georgia that means UT lost to Kentucky, so Tennessee is out of the Sugar Bowl talk. That leaves us UGA & Florida to go to the Sugar Bowl as the SEC representative. I believe the Sugar Bowl berth would go to the SEC team that's highest ranked in the BCS. Assuming that UF beats FSU this Saturday and UGA beats GT (which neither are *great* assumptions), I'd say its a toss up if Georgia were to lose to LSU.
Right now UGA is 7th and Florida is 12th. A loss to the number one team shouldn't hurt Georgia *that* badly...so they'd be the better bet for Sugar Bowl contention. Then again, if Tebow wins the Heisman, I wouldn't put anything past voters to try to catapault the Gators ahead of UGA...but that's all if Kentucky beats Tennessee. That's the key game. Good question.
6 months ago
If only Tennessee had fallen...
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