There wasn’t much movement in the SEC this week, but we were a Hail Mary away from chaos.

So let’s say for a second that Tennessee did not complete the heave to beat Georgia, 34-31. We’ve been assuming three SEC teams would be in the New Year’s Six games for the past few weeks, including today, and we’ve had Tennessee in on that mix.

But what if Tennessee lost?

That, to me, would mean an SEC team for the Birmingham Bowl and maybe just two SEC teams in the New Years’ Six. With Tennessee facing a potential loss to Alabama and another loss in the SEC title game, it would be hard to envision the Vols — having already lost to Georgia — being in one of the big six bowls.

At this point, that ship is getting close to sailing for Georgia and Florida as well.

For the West, it’s hard to see three SEC West teams in those big games.

So we’d be looking at 10 bowl-eligible teams — that list hasn’t changed since last week — but with only two in the New Year’s Six, including Alabama in the Playoff.

But that’s moot, for now, because of one of the craziest endings in college football this year.

A few other notes as we look at our post-Week 5 projections:

  1. Welcome to the party, Washington. We have Washington in the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 team playing Alabama in the Peach Bowl. The Huskies beat Stanford, our No. 4 team, on Friday to take that spot. And yes, Houston is looming.
  2. We played with some pairings for compelling matchups. How about a much better looking LSU team playing Florida State in the TaxSlayer bowl? What if Jimbo Fisher gets the LSU job after the regular season or is being rumored to get the job? Of course, it’s Week 5 and we’re just having fun with matchups.
  3. I, for one, love old Southwest Conference grudge matches. How about Texas A&M and Houston in the Cotton Bowl?

2016 SEC bowl projections after Week 5 (10 invites)

  • College Football Playoff semifinal (Peach Bowl): Alabama vs. Washington
  • 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: Arkansas vs. Michigan State
  • Outback Bowl: Florida vs. Nebraska
  • TaxSlayer Bowl: LSU vs. Florida State
  • Liberty Bowl: Missouri vs. TCU
  • Texas Bowl: Auburn vs. Oklahoma State
  • Belk Bowl: Georgia vs. Wake Forest

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