It’s time to completely reconsider two teams in the SEC.

First, there’s LSU. They went from firing Les Miles, to saving Les Miles and becoming a national title contender, to no longer being a contender and firing Miles. That news has been confirmed now after the 18-13 loss to Auburn.

And then there’s Georgia. In a 3-0 start, the Bulldogs looked shaky and suspect. In Saturday’s 45-14 loss to Ole Miss, the Bulldogs just looked bad.

So our latest bowl projections will reflect these developments. Where do LSU and Georgia fall?

Here are some thoughts before we dive into the projections:

  1. We dropped South Carolina out of the list of bowl teams after losing at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gamecocks’ offense is lacking too much to get to six wins, even in the relatively weak SEC East.
  2. We added Auburn, which looked good enough against LSU to not only look like a team that could get to six wins but maybe seven or eight with its solid defense.
  3. Of the seven teams in the East, we only have four teams getting in. Missouri is looking more solid, but it’s hard to find a bowl road map for Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
  4. We still have three SEC teams in the New Year’s Six bowls. Alabama and Tennessee are our presumed division winners, and we like Texas A&M over Ole Miss for the third team at this point.
  5. Two bowls with SEC tie-ins would be looking for alternatives in this scenario. There wouldn’t be enough bowl-eligible SEC teams to supply a team to the Independence and Birmingham Bowls.

2016 SEC bowl projections after Week 4 (10 invites)

  • College Football Playoff semifinal (Peach Bowl): Alabama vs. Stanford
  • New Year’s Six (Sugar Bowl): Tennessee vs. Oklahoma
  • New Year’s Six (Cotton Bowl): Texas A&M vs. Houston
  • Citrus Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Wisconsin
  • Music City Bowl: Auburn vs. Wake Forest
  • Outback Bowl: Florida vs. Nebraska
  • TaxSlayer Bowl: Arkansas vs. Michigan State
  • Liberty Bowl: LSU vs. Oklahoma State
  • Texas Bowl: Missouri vs. TCU
  • Belk Bowl: Georgia vs. Virginia Tech

On the outside looking in: Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Kentucky