Alabama and Georgia are really good in 2020. Florida and Texas A&M are just a step below. Vanderbilt is not good at all. This much we know.
Anybody who tells you that they have figured out any of the other nine teams in the SEC after Week 4 is either extremely overconfident or lying.
The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs went toe-to-toe for much of their huge showdown on Saturday before Bama pulled away in the second half, cementing their status as the top team in the conference. Georgia lost but did nothing to make me think that the Dawgs are any worse than second best in the SEC. Both teams still look like strong College Football Playoff contenders.
Florida and Texas A&M are on the fringe of CFP consideration and are contenders for New Year’s Day 6 bowl berths. The edge goes to the Gators for now, even after the Aggies beat them head-to-head, just because A&M has a tougher path through the West Division.
Speaking of the West — it’s time to welcome Arkansas to the projections! The Razorbacks defense has improved every week, and new coach Sam Pittman is working wonders with what is still not a deep roster. Right now, the Hogs are the last SEC team in, pegged for the Birmingham Bowl.
Meanwhile, Tennessee and Auburn turned in head-scratching performances on Saturday and fell further into the quagmire of teams packed together for consideration in the “everything after the Citrus” bunch of bowls. Remember, six bowls in the pecking order after the Citrus — Outback, Gator, Music City, Texas, Liberty and Las Vegas — are considered equals in the conference’s eyes. So if you read these projections and don’t like where your favorite team is headed, just close your eyes, throw a dart and put them in one of the other five bowls in this pack.
If your team already has two losses and still has Alabama or Georgia left on the schedule (or both of them and Florida — sorry, Kentucky), then you probably can’t ask for much more.
Hey, at least y’all aren’t Vandy.
Now let’s look at this week’s projections:
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Rose (CFP semi) | Jan. 1 | Pasadena, Calif. | Alabama vs. Ohio State |
| Sugar (CFP semi) | Jan. 1 | New Orleans | Georgia vs. Clemson |
| Cotton | Jan. 2 | Arlington | Florida vs. Oklahoma St. |
| Citrus | Jan. 1 | Orlando | Texas A&M vs. Michigan |
| Gator | TBA | Jacksonville, Fla. | Kentucky vs. Florida St. |
| Outback | Jan. 1 | Tampa, Fla. | LSU vs. Nebraska |
| Liberty | TBA | Memphis, Tenn. | S. Carolina vs. Iowa St. |
| Music City | TBA | Nashville | Tennessee vs. Minnesota |
| Texas | TBA | Houston | Auburn vs. Texas |
| Las Vegas | TBA | Las Vegas | Missouri vs. Utah |
| Birmingham | TBA | Birmingham | Arkansas vs. Tulane |
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a copy editor and writer with SaturdayDownSouth.com.
