With only 3 SEC games on Saturday and only one top-25 upset (and that was just SMU losing), the bowl projection landscape was quite still over the weekend.
We still think the SEC will get 4 teams into the New Year’s Day 6 bowls: Alabama into the College Football Playoff semifinals, plus Florida, Texas A&M and Georgia making major bowls as well.
Our only real difference this week is that South Carolina is out — after that putrid defensive showing against Ole Miss, the Gamecocks look unlikely to win another game. Even in a season where the usual NCAA bowl eligibility requirements have been waived, there has to be a line drawn somewhere.
Also, Mississippi is matched up against Iowa State in the Liberty because that game is supposed to be SEC vs. Big 12, but in truth we’d rather see a team like Memphis. It would make perfect geographic sense, Ole Miss vs. Memphis has a long history — and besides, 2020 has been a rough year all the way around, so can we please have a 68-63 bowl game? We deserve one, right?
Now let’s look at this week’s projections:
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Sugar (CFP semi) | Jan. 1 | New Orleans | Alabama vs. Notre Dame |
| Orange | Jan. 2 | Miami | Florida vs. Miami |
| Cotton | Dec. 30 | Arlington | Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma |
| Peach | Jan. 1 | Atlanta | Georgia vs. Cincinnati |
| Citrus | Jan. 1 | Orlando | Auburn vs. Indiana |
| Gator | Jan. 2 | Jacksonville, Fla. | LSU vs. Boston College |
| Outback | Jan. 2 | Tampa, Fla. | Missouri vs. N’western |
| Liberty | Dec. 31 | Memphis | Ole Miss vs. Iowa State |
| Texas | Dec. 31 | Houston | Arkansas vs. Kansas State |
| Music City | Dec. 30 | Nashville | Tennessee vs. Iowa |
| Las Vegas | TBA | Las Vegas | Kentucky vs. Colorado |
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a copy editor and writer with SaturdayDownSouth.com.
