Bowl Outlook For the SEC in 2008

Ah, that time of year.  Where the humidity combines with the heat, and fans begin stalking eBay and Stub Hub for tickets.  Even though we are in August, I feel it could be a good time to look at where teams are going to play, if they are, in the postseason.

Before, I get into that, I think we should go over the selection process for bowl selection in the Southeastern Conference.  The first selection (being the SEC Champion) automatically goes to the BCS, after that dollar signs become more important than a record (just ask the 2002 Arkansas team).  The second selection goes to the Citrus…pardon the Capital One Bowl (I just hate these corporate title bowls it sounds so stupid.) with one catch, they must select the best available record or a team that is within one game of that record. 

The third selections go to both the Cotton and Outback Bowls, this is a bit complicated.  The Cotton Bowl has priority over a SEC West team and the Outback Bowl has priority over a SEC East team.  The Cotton Bowl cannot select an SEC East team before the Outback Bowl, and the other way around for the Outback Bowl.  The fifth selection goes to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.  The sixth selections go to both the Liberty and Music City Bowls, they rank the remaining teams they want and consult with the SEC Office when making a selection.  The eighth selection goes to the Independence Bowl.  The final selection is given to the Papajohns.com Bowl.

A convoluted system, but it is what we have.  Now here are my predicted records for each team.

Alabama: 9-3 (6-2) AL wins IB to get SEC West

Auburn:  9-3 (6-2)

LSU: 9-3 (5-3)

Ole Miss: 8-4

Miss. St: 6-6

Arkansas: 3-9

Georgia: 11-1 (8-0)

Florida:  11-1 (7-1)

Tennessee: 7-5

South Carolina: 7-5

Kentucky:  6-6

Vanderbilt: 3-9

So my bowl layout is like this

BCS: Georgia (SEC Champion in National Championship or Sugar)

BCS: Florida (Sugar Bowl or Fiesta)

Capital One: Alabama

Cotton: LSU

Outback: Auburn

Chick-Fil-A: Tennessee

Liberty: Ole Miss

Music City: South Carolina

Independence: Kentucky

Papajohns.com: Mississippi St.

That is the way I see it now, but ask me tomorrow and I might downgrade Alabama, upgrade Auburn.  The SEC has become cannibalistic and wild, which makes this kinda fun.