that means 56 teams do not get to bowl games. 120 fbs teams. 6-6 teams made it to bowls last year that had wins over fcs teams. what is funny or sad they are adding two more bowls next year.

Used to be only one I-AA win every 3-4 years could count towards eligibility. Now it’s one per year. So more relaxed, but not nonexistent.

that is why they had there lofty ranking.

- Curiously, every non-eligible team (except Vandy, of course) needs two wins in their last four; at the moment nobody’s right on the cusp, and no-one’s teetering on the edge. UGA needs to split against Auburn and Kentucky (unless rivalry enthusiasm spurs them past GaTech); Tenn might need a split between Kentucky and Vandy, though they could certainly beat Ole Miss; Kentucky needs one from Vandy, UGA and Tenn; Ole Miss needs one from Tenn and MSU, assuming they’ll be dogs against LSU; MSU will very likely need Arky and Ole Miss; Arky needs two from SoCar, Troy and MSU. Frankly, I could see any team making it, though MSU has the slimmest margin for error; I could just as easily see any busting out. And of course so many of the remaining games are amongst the gooey middle, so it can become something of a zero-sum situation.

- Florida might be merely “very good” this year… and this might be a year where that’s enough. But even though UGA’s frailties helped, there’s a lot to be pleased with, particularly the first-half play-calling and the second-half kickoff coverage, both sore spots recently.

- Not really; this is awfully late in a QB’s career to suddenly “get it.” He’s certainly not dreadful the way he was early on, but I’d be more inclined to think we’re seeing high-side variance from a mediocre mean. Though, to be fair, we’ve seen a lot of that this year among SEC QBs.

- They play hard, and when they don’t play stupid they’re not half bad. (Ironically, the game that’s gotten them national attention was the one in which they benefited the most from luck and opponent’s mistakes; MSU had some really valiant efforts earlier in the season that were undone by their own screwups.) Getting to a bowl will be seriously difficult, but the program’s definitely moving in the right direction. The West really doesn’t have any basket-cases at the moment.

- Ole Miss; UGA’s been a disappointment, no question, but expectations weren’t that high for the Dawgs after losing Stafford and Moreno. On the other hand, this was supposed to be a breakout, top-10 or better kind of year for Ole Miss, and Snead’s great coming out party on the way to Heisman consideration and a massive NFL contract. Instead the Rebs are out of the top 25 again, and Snead’s just another average SEC QB. The only preseason darling that has fared as badly is Oklahoma, and they at least can plead injuries. (On second thought, UGA was #13 pre-season in both polls; hmm. OM is still the bigger disappointment, but perhaps it’s not so clear-cut as I was thinking.)

Is Auburn’s bounce-back an anomaly or the starting of a trend? Not that they need it to be a trend to beat Furman and Georgia.

Anyways, let’s go ahead and make bowl guesses. . .

Capital One: LSU. They need a truly epic collapse to miss this now, losing to Bama, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. Which is all possible, actually. I’m just not predicting it. Who would step up in that case? Tennessee and Auburn (now) have the best shot, although USC and Ole Miss are not out of the game.

Cotton: Auburn. If they beat Georgia, they finish 8-4. Provided Ole Miss loses another game (almost a lock), that’s good enough for the Cotton.

Outback: Tennessee. They need to win out, but they should be favored in their remaining four games. Playing with their 3rd string MLB for the rest of the season won’t help, but this team looks like they’ve turned the corner. We’ll see if it sticks. Also (and this says a lot about the SEC this year), UT could still get here with a slipup, provided that the slipup is not against Ole Miss (who could take the spot if no East teams are decent), Carolina loses to Clemson, and Georgia loses to Auburn (or Kentucky). Four teams would be 7-5, and Tennessee would have wins over the other three.

Chick-fil-a: South Carolina. This is where it gets really tough. Because anyone could lose to anyone. Ole Miss, Arkansas, Georgia, and either Auburn or Tennessee should they slip are still in play for this spot. But USC has done well in taking tight games this year. I think that continues with wins over Arkansas and Clemson to put them in Atlanta for bowl season.

Liberty: Ole Miss. This makes sense for the Liberty, given the size of the Ole Miss contingent in Memphis. Also, Ole Miss should be 7-5, and with a head-to-head win over Arkansas, they’re the most attractive of the remaining teams.

Music City: Kentucky. Loss to a tough MSU team aside, the ’Cats have an excellent chance to win 3 of their last 4 to finish at 7-5. Georgia is fading, and I think Kentucky comes in to Athens and pulls the upset.

Independence: Arkansas. The Hogs get the requisite pair of wins to get to 6-6 and get to Shreveport.

Staying home: Georgia, MSU, Vandy. I can see MSU upsetting either Arkansas or Ole Miss, but not both. Georgia, on the other hand, is not in a good place right now. This is reminding me of disappointing seasons for Tennessee and Auburn last year. Georgia beats Tennessee Tech but loses three straight to Kentucky, Auburn, and GTech to end the season. However, if they do win one of those games, the SEC can get ten teams in bowls this year. Eleven is unlikely, because a winning streak for MSU makes it very tough for Arkansas and Ole Miss to get bowl eligible.

Also, Ole Miss is the biggest disappointment. No one was predicting Georgia to make a run into the top ten. Folks had Ole Miss beating ‘Bama and LSU and going to the SEC Championship. And I am sold on Crompton as an average (or slightly above average) SEC QB. Tennessee fans have been hoping all year that Crompton pulls a Carson Palmer under Kiffin’s tutelage, and although he won’t win a Heisman, the turnaround is just as drastic.

Florida/Bama: BCSNCG/Sugar in no particular order

Cap One: LSU (who else right now?)

Outback: Tennessee (can’t spell Citrus without “UT”)

Cotton: Auburn (the rules aren’t quite like you say. Cotton gets its choice of Western Division after Cap One makes its pick, but if it wants, it can take an Eastern Division team. It just has to wait until after Outback makes its selection to take an Eastern Division team. It will consider South Carolina, but will go with Auburn because they travel better.)

Peach: South Carolina

Liberty: Georgia

Music City: Ole Miss

Independence: Kentucky

After watching the game its official Tebow might be the most over hyped player in history of college football. He may be in the record books better than Herschel Walker, but anybody who watched Herschel or other great players knows that Tebow is not even in the same league as Walker or any of the other great players in history. We seem to discredit Tech QBs for all the numbers they put up because they are system QBs yet we don’t do the same thing for Tebow? 15 for 21 passing with 2 TDs and 164 yards while running 18 times for 85 with 2 TDs with a long of 23 is considered a Heisman worthy performance. Ridiculous. He is a just a product of stat padding and Meyer not wanting to use a running back in the red zone. For somebody that has a total of 614 carries in his career and have a career long of 30 yards tells you all you need to know about Tebow. You would think that somebody who runs the ball that many times you would be able to break at least one run for over 40 yards much less 50?

Now look at Colt McCoy a guy who doesn’t nearly get the accolades that he should has produced runs of 44, 35. 33 and 27 in four seasons while getting as half as many carries as Tebow (about 350). Its a total myth and a travesty that Tebow is being mentioned in the same breath as Herschel Walker. You could make the argument that McCoy is the better player than Tebow. Tebow averages 4.2 on 614 carries while McCoy averages 3.5 yards on about 350 carries and more than half of those were of broken plays while Tebow has had many more designed runs than McCoy. Imagine how could the Florida offense would be if McCoy who can actually throw the ball ran that offense. I bet they would be better.

I will be sickened to my stomach if he wins the Heisman.