Alabama quarterback Blake Sims (6) runs past Missouri defensive lineman Charles Harris (91) during their game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, in Atlanta.Welcome to bowl selection day in college football and the first-ever “pool of six” in the Southeastern Conference.
Well after the four-team playoff is announced early this afternoon, the league will get together with representatives of the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Taxslayer (formerly Gator) Bowl in Jacksonville, Belk Bowl in Charlotte, Music City Bowl in Nashville, Liberty Bowl in Memphis and AdvoCare Texas Bowl in Houston. Those bowls are now considered the same, giving the two Tennessee bowls the potential of better matchups than in recent years, especially the Liberty.
“It’s great to have all six of us be equal,” Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart said Saturday afternoon. “They basically have the same financial arrangements, and there is no pecking order to where this bowl picks third and this bowl picks fifth. I think that’s good for the conference and good for the universities, because now I don’t think people will be saying they were dissed or disrespected.
“I think all six bowls will prosper, but right now we’re all up in the air, because nobody knows how this will work out.”
The teams for the inaugural four-team playoff, in which the Rose and Sugar bowls will serve as semifinals, will be announced today around 12:45. The Orange, Fiesta, Cotton and Peach matchups will be revealed a couple of hours later.
Alabama and Mississippi State will have been picked from the SEC by that point, and possibly Ole Miss, too. Then the Citrus Bowl in Orlando will get to choose among the remaining SEC teams before the pool of six will be determined.
SEC officials could encourage the Citrus Bowl to take league runner-up Missouri. The Tigers have not played in a Florida bowl since 1981.
Each pool-of-six bowl as well as each remaining eligible league member can list a preference of whom they want.
“We will have discussions with bowls and the institutions about which bowls they are interested in,” SEC executive associate commissioner Mark Womack said, “but at the end of the day, the conference will make the decisions about where they are placed.”
Auburn, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M could be in the running for those six spots. After the pool of six bowls are determined, the Birmingham Bowl will pick an SEC team, followed by the Duck Commander Independence Bowl.
The pool-of-six matchups should be known by early this evening, followed by the bowls in Birmingham, Ala., and Shreveport, La.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.