SEC Bowl Projections as Blurry Now as Before Season

It was not exactly what you would call expected, but it was possible.

With Auburn's loss to Alabama on Friday, the Tigers were 7-5, but were still looking at a pretty good bowl game because at least two SEC foes should finish 6-6 after South Carolina loses to Clemson and Georgia fell to Georgia Tech.

But the SEC proved to be the superior conference over the ACC on Saturday when both South Carolina and Georgia upended the two teams that will play for the ACC title.

And that put a few flies in the ointment when looking at the bowl picture.

Here is a list of teams that are 7-5: Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee.

Where does that put these five football teams come the bowl season? Let's look at the overall picture and see if placing them is possible.

History is the best way to place teams into bowl games.

The BCS Championship game semifinals will be played Saturday with Alabama and Florida vying for a trip to Pasadena and the other settling for a Sugar Bowl trip.

After that, it looks like LSU will head to the Capital One (Citrus) Bowl at 9-3.The Capital One Bowl must take the SEC team with the next best record, or a team within one win of the next best record.

Ole Miss will most likely return to Dallas after falling in the Egg Bowl and finishing 8-4, seeing as the Cotton Bowl will get to pick first from the West.

And now for the fun part.

The first pick is the Outback Bowl and history says that either Tennessee or Georgia will make the trip to Tampa. Since the Bowl has first pick of teams from the East, they could take either team.

The other team will go to Atlanta in the Chick-Fil-A (Peach) Bowl.

Then the Music City Bowl gets to pick. After last season, the Kentucky Wildcats will surely be the team going to Nashville. They brought a great crowd to the last three bowl games.

The Liberty Bowl could pick Arkansas, since the Hogs are very close to home in Memphis. However, they could take Auburn as well.

The Independence Bowl gets the next selection and could take Arkansas, Auburn, or South Carolina, depending on whether Arkansas or Auburn go to Memphis.

The Papajohns.com Bowl gets last pick, but you can rest assured they will do whatever it takes to get the Tigers from Auburn into this bowl game. Can you imagine the crowd in Birmingham if Auburn were in this bowl? I can. Wow!

No matter how you shake it, this bowl season is going to be fun to watch before it even starts.

Who will play in what bowl and what teams will they play.

Can the SEC go undefeated like it has in the past?

We will not have to wait much longer to find out.