Florida Football: Bowl Projections for the Gators

The Florida Gators currently stand at 5-4 (3-4) on the season, with one SEC game left. 

The Gators will travel to South Carolina this week and play their final SEC game of the season against the Ole Ball Coach and his Gamecocks. 

With this being the last conference game for the Gators, there is not much room for them to move up or down from their current standing in the SEC. With a win or a loss, the Gators will finish seventh in the SEC this season. Even if Auburn were to lose their two remaining SEC games, they would finish higher than Florida due to a tie breaker, having beaten the Gators this season. 

Looking at the rest of the Gators schedule and other teams in the SEC, let's take a look at potential bowl games the Gators could end up in at the end of the season 

Gator Bowl

Gator Bowl January 2nd, Jacksonville, FL

The Gator bowl pits the SEC against the Big Ten. 

The bowl game gets the fourth choice picking a Big Ten team, and the sixth choice of SEC teams. 

If the Gator bowl gets the sixth pick and the Gators finish seventh, how will Florida get a Gator bowl birth?

Assuming LSU stays the course and lands in the BCS National championship game, that will move all the other SEC teams up a slot. Alabama would likely land in the Sugar Bowl, Arkansas in the Capital One bowl, Georgia in the Outback bowl, Auburn in the Cotton bowl, and South Carolina in the Chick-fil-A bowl. 

This scenario would likely land Florida in Jacksonville to face off against a Big Ten team, possibly Ohio State.

The Gators would be a good selection for the Gator bowl as Jacksonville is a very short trip for Gator fans to make and should be able to sell out their allotment of tickets. 

Music City Bowl

Music City Bowl, December 30th, Nashville, Tennessee 

The Music city bowl works with the Liberty bowl and the SEC offices to determine who gets the seventh and the eighth pick. 

The bowl game gets the seventh choice of SEC teams and the sixth choice of an ACC team. 

The Gators will finish seventh overall, and that slot would land them in the Music City bowl or Liberty bowl.

The Music city bowl has featured a team from the SEC East since 2006. 

Liberty Bowl

Liberty bowl, December 31st, Memphis, Tennessee

The Liberty bowl along with the SEC and Music city bowl choose who will get the seventh and the eighth pick in the SEC. The Liberty Bowl also gets the Conference USA champion. 

With the Gators likely to finish seventh, they could land in either of these bowl games. 

The Gators would generally rather face a team from the Big 10, but with Houston currently undefeated, the chance to match up against the NCAA all time leader in passing and an undefeated team could be a good matchup. 

Bowl Prediction

Gator Bowl, January 2nd, Florida gators vs Ohio State Buckeyes

With LSU on their way to the BCS national championship game, this will allow the Gators to move up into the Gator Bowl. 

A re-match of the 2006 National championship game will create some good story lines leading up to the game. If you were to ask a fan of either school after this initial matchup played out in 2006 who the coaches would be the next time they played, you would not have heard Will Muschamp and Luke Fickell. 

Regardless of the coaches, this is the best possible matchup and outcome for the Gators could hope for after struggling through his season.