SEC bowl projections after Week 1
The ludicrous job of projecting bowl tie-ins after one week of play (less than a week for Ole Miss, which still hasn’t played yet) has been complicated by the fact that the conference failed to produce 11 teams that look like bowl teams.
It was that bad, and the national media noticed.
But it’s also a bit of a mirage. This is a year where a lot of SEC teams are looking for new quarterbacks. As the season goes on, stars will emerge and teams will start playing better. This is the opposite of 2013 when Johnny Manziel, AJ McCarron, Zach Mettenberger, Nick Marshall and Connor Shaw were all starting for their teams.
So don’t panic.
Eventually, Jacob Eason will round into form for Georgia or maybe Greyson Lambert will hold him off because he has improved. Same at South Carolina with Brandon McIlwain and Perry Orth.
These storylines are happening all over the league this year, even at Alabama.
So it’s not so much a down year overall. It’s just a year to get SEC teams early while they are still trying to figure out their QB situations.
The league will get better as the year goes on, and 2017 will be more vintage because most of these young stars will be back.
For now, it’s a work in progress.
Sometimes an ugly work in progress.
2016 SEC bowl projections after Week 1 (11 invites)
- College Football Playoff semifinal (Peach Bowl): Alabama vs. Ohio State
- New Year’s Six (Sugar Bowl): Georgia vs. TCU
- Citrus Bowl: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
- Music City Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Penn State
- Outback Bowl: Texas A&M vs. Michigan
- TaxSlayer Bowl: Florida vs. Pitt
- Liberty Bowl: LSU vs. West Virginia
- Texas Bowl: Auburn vs. Texas
- Belk Bowl: South Carolina vs. North Carolina
- Birmingham Bowl: Arkansas vs. Navy
- Independence Bowl: Missouri vs. Duke
On the outside looking in: Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Kentucky.
Not seeing Bama and Ohio State. Ohio State doesnt have it. Pick another.
Maybe TN and Ohio State would be a better mix.
I’m sorry did you watch TN last week?
I think he meant put tOSU in the Citrus Bowl with UT, not put UT in the playoff.
Wow Gary, your like a soothsayer!!! Did you put the teams in a hat?
I have what will be a much more accurate prediction: Some SEC teams will go to bowl games, and some will not.
I’ll second that lol
Might need to move Texas and Auburn to a New Years Day bowl.
I can hardly see how Lambert will hold off Eason. Yeah it’s only one game but:
Jacob Eason QB Rating – 90.2
Greyson Lambert QB Rating – 45.6
Mitch Trubisky (UNC) QB Rating – 39.5
Can’t spell CITRUS without UT !
and you can’t spell Sugar w/out UGA
I’ll take the Sugar since it used to be the SEC champ. And it is one of the 4 ‘play-off’ venues.
Yeah, I can’t really complain about this one after that last game. Fingers crossed that it was a fluke. (C’mon. Please.)