The SEC has 9 bowl-tie ins. This year the conference has 10 bowl eligible teams. With the likelihood of the conference having a national title game representative, they will get 2 BCS bids, and the other 8 bowl games will fill in their tie-ins with the conference. Here's a breakdown:

Bowl Eligible Teams
Alabama - 12-0, 8-0 (vs Florida (SECCG)
Florida - 12-0, 8-0 (s Alabama (SECCG)
LSU - 9-3, 5-3
Mississippi - 8-4, 4-4
Tennessee - 7-5, 4-4
Georgia - 7-5, 4-4
South Carolina - 7-5, 3-5
Kentucky - 7-5, 3-5
Auburn - 7-5, 3-5
Arkansas - 7-5, 3-5

Projections

BCS National Title Game: Florida vs Texas
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs Cincinnati/Pittsburgh
Capital One Bowl: LSU vs Iowa/Penn State
Cotton Bowl: Mississippi vs Nebraska/Oklahoma State
Outback Bowl: Tennessee vs Wisconsin/Northwestern
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Georgia vs Virginia Tech/Miami
Music City Bowl: South Carolina vs Boston College/North Carolina
Liberty Bowl: Auburn vs Houston/East Carolina
Independence Bowl: Kentucky vs Kansas State/Texas A&M
Papajohns.com Bowl: Arkansas vs South Florida/Connecticut

The sad part is if any of those bowl games were played in Ohio, the SEC would never win a game. What a joke.

sleeper wrote: The sad part is if any of those bowl games were played in Ohio, the SEC would never win a game. What a joke.

I wouldn't go far to say that, but the SEC really needs a regular bowl tie-in a location other than a state where a conference team is domiciled. With plenty of games out west and the domes in the north, it wouldn't hurt an SEC team to play north of the region every now and then.

sleeper wrote: The sad part is if any of those bowl games were played in Ohio, the SEC would never win a game. What a joke.

What is this opinion based on?

jordo212000 wrote:

sleeper wrote: The sad part is if any of those bowl games were played in Ohio, the SEC would never win a game. What a joke.

What is this opinion based on?

Logic.

Given that the SEC has 9 bowl tie-ins, why would they switch to one located outside of their region? Would it make any sense for them to do this? For purposes of travel, it makes a lot more sense to stay close to home. It's also logical that football, in late December and January is generally played in domes or in places with nicer weather. Again, why leave your region when it offers this as well?

Why don't people bring up the same fact about the Pac 10? Look at their bowl tie-ins:

Rose Bowl - California
Sun Bowl - Texas
Holiday Bowl - California
Emerald Bowl - California
Las Vegas Bowl - Nevada
Poinsettia Bowl - California

What about the ACC? Bowl tie-ins in Miami, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville and Orlando. I don't see much travel going on there. What about the WAC and the Mountain West as well? Their bowl tie-ins are also located in their immediate regions.

This isn't anyone's fault. It just happens to be that football in the United States is usually played in warm climates. That favors southern and western teams. If you are going to make comments about the SEC, why not include half of the other FBS conferences who are in a similar position?

What bowl games are played in Ohio out of curiosity, sleeper?

Because unlike the SEC, other conferences, particularly the PAC-10, have traditionally played tough non-conference schedules out of their region in the regular season. For the better part of the last 3 decades the SEC has scheduled pitifully (there are numerious threads on the freehuddle and the previous huddle) out of conference. It has become better but for a long time Georgia, Auburn, even Alabama most years, Florida, etc. have had embarrassingly weak scheduling. For Christ's sake Georgia went decades without playing a game outside of the southeast.

Stop being an SEC homer, UK is a basketball school anyway.

"What about the ACC?"

What about it, is San Francisco and Boise not outside the ACC region? Come on. Do you think I'm that stupid. My freaking alma mater played in Boise a few years ago.

We aren't talking about regular season scheduling. We are talking about bowl games. Facts are facts. Why would the SEC change one of their bowl tie-ins to another region?

And yes, I'm aware of the ACC having OTHER bowl tie-ins. I never said they didn't. However, the SEC isn't in any danger of losing their tie-ins, and don't NEED to leave the region to get an additional game. That's different with the ACC, and a few other conferences. They will take what they can get at this point, and given the current state, the ACC, Big East, WAC and MWC would likely take additional bowl tie-ins anywhere they could get them.

Again, nobody has answered my initial question. When the SEC has everything they want with the current setup, why change? Why play a game out west or up north?

As for UK, I'm a supporter of all their athletics. I'm as big of a UK football fan as I am a basketball fan. I do love college basketball in general far more than college football, but I don't think I'm a homer. Whether UK is a basketball school or not has little to do with this discussion.

Manhattan Buckeye wrote: Because unlike the SEC, other conferences, particularly the PAC-10, have traditionally played tough non-conference schedules out of their region in the regular season. For the better part of the last 3 decades the SEC has scheduled pitifully (there are numerious threads on the freehuddle and the previous huddle) out of conference. It has become better but for a long time Georgia, Auburn, even Alabama most years, Florida, etc. have had embarrassingly weak scheduling. For Christ's sake Georgia went decades without playing a game outside of the southeast.

Stop being an SEC homer, UK is a basketball school anyway.

Boy that scheduling has really killed the SEC and hid how bad of a conference it is. (Sarcasm). The SEC is fine when bowl season starts. I really don't get the obsession with the SEC from some of you guys. Be glad that Ohio State isn't playing them anymore than they have to. We haven't exactly had much success against the SEC

In all honesty, it is stupid to schedule games away from home in tough environments. The way the system currently works there is no benefit in doing so.

Besides, up until recently (Texas, USC) Ohio State didn't really ever venture out of Columbus either.

I wouldn't take a 6-6 Georgia or a 6-6 South Carolina. In my opinion, you shouldn't qualify for a bowl if you're a .500 ball club. But that's just me

Great win for South Carolina against Clemson. They put themselves into the mix for a better bowl, although they are likely still on the lower end of the pecking order. Best case scenario for them is that Georgia and Tennessee both lose later today. That would likely assure them of a Music City bid or better.

jordo212000 wrote:

Manhattan Buckeye wrote:
Besides, up until recently (Texas, USC) Ohio State didn't really ever venture out of Columbus either.

Uh, u couldn't be more wrong. OSU has almost always had a home and home with a another BCS conference school for as long as I can remember. And I have been around quite a long while.

I'd love to see those match-ups. Seeing Boise against a Big Ten team would be a good one to watch.

It hasn't always been a home and home but the Bucks have ventured outside Columbus for a while;

Took a trip to LSU in the 80's played Miami and Boston College in Kickoff Classics in the 90's, went to Missouri, Washington, Arizona, and others.

Updated after tonight's unfortunate results

Tonight was the Cats best chance to bring it home... some dumb play calling at the end of regulation and then in OT killed them

Georgia holds on. The opponents could change, but I think the SEC slots are pretty much set IMO. The only deviations I see might be Georgia to the Outback Bowl over Tennessee, Kentucky to the Music City Bowl over South Carolina and maybe Auburn and Arkansas switching spots. Otherwise, it's pretty much set. Obviously the opponents are subject to change.

"BCS National Title Game: Florida vs Texas
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs Cincinnati
Capital One Bowl: LSU vs Iowa
Cotton Bowl: Mississippi vs Nebraska
Outback Bowl: Tennessee vs Wisconsin
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Georgia vs Virginia Tech
Music City Bowl: South Carolina vs Boston College
Liberty Bowl: Auburn vs Houston
Independence Bowl: Kentucky vs Kansas State
Papajohns.com Bowl: Arkansas vs (South Florida/Connecticut Winner)"

I see the SEC going 8-2 in these matchups.

"BCS National Title Game: Texas
Sugar Bowl: Cincinnati
Capital One Bowl: Iowa
Cotton Bowl: Nebraska
Outback Bowl: Tennessee
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Virginia Tech
Music City Bowl: South Carolina
Liberty Bowl: Auburn
Independence Bowl: Kansas State
Papajohns.com Bowl: Arkansas vs (South Florida/Connecticut Winner)"

I think the SEC will be favored in at least 5 of those games, maybe up to 7. I think the SEC will be the dog in the Georgia-VT ame, Auburn-Houston and Kentucky-K. State. This is of course if cats is correct on the matchups.

I edited the original post to put all the possible opponents. I'd say it's about 95% or more that the opponents will include 1 of the 2 teams listed.

I think the opponents are pretty critical given his list.

Projections

BCS National Title Game: Florida vs Texas
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs Cincinnati/Pittsburgh
Capital One Bowl: LSU vs Iowa/Penn State
Cotton Bowl: Mississippi vs Nebraska/Oklahoma State
Outback Bowl: Tennessee vs Wisconsin/Northwestern
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Georgia vs Virginia Tech/Miami
Music City Bowl: South Carolina vs Boston College/North Carolina
Liberty Bowl: Auburn vs Houston/East Carolina
Independence Bowl: Kentucky vs Kansas State/Texas A&M
Papajohns.com Bowl: Arkansas vs South Florida/Connecticut


I would take OK State over Ole Miss, but not Nebraska. I would take UNC over South Carolina, but not BC. And I would probably take Va Tech over Georgia but not Miami.

I probably see 5-7 wins for the SEC this year.

I like:

Texas
Bama
LSU
Depending on the Matchup, Ole Miss over Oklahoma State, but Nebraska over Ole Miss
Tennessee over Northwestern but Wisconsin over Tennessee
ACC over Georgia
North Carolina over South Carolina
Auburn regardless
Kentucky regardless
Arkansas pretty much regardless