Bowl Projects: BCS and SEC Destinations for This Year's Postseason

Now that the regular season is over, let's take a look at our updated bowl projections for the 2010-11 postseason. A few things have changed based on what I'm hearing and based on the last few days of football.

First, the BCS bowls, which change not at all.

BCS National Championship Game: Oregon vs. Auburn
Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. TCU
Sugar Bowl: Arkansas vs. Ohio State
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Stanford
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Connecticut

Oregon, Auburn, Oklahoma and UConn all win, which lock them into their selective spots. I still think the Sugar takes Arkansas over LSU to fill Auburn's place and Ohio State to round out the match, while the Orange Bowl grabs Stanford to avoid the ratings black hole that would be the Hokies vs. the Huskies. And, yes, I'm picking Connecticut to win the Fiesta Bowl because Bob Stoops is going to have to win another BCS bowl to convince me that he can.

Other SEC bowls:

Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State
AT&T Cotton Bowl: LSU vs. Texas A&M
Outback Bowl: Florida vs. Penn State

All of these changed. I keep hearing buzz that the Capital One Bowl wants to go with Alabama, which confuses me from both a competitive and an excitement standpoint, but I'll put them there instead. The Outback Bowl going with Florida actually kind of makes sense if you consider that it's the Outback Bowl, and if the selection committee was actually discussing that on Friday, the SEC Championship Game doesn't help South Carolina's chances.

The Game Formerly Known as the Peach Bowl: South Carolina vs. Florida State
Gator Bowl: Mississipi State vs. Illinois
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Tennessee vs. N.C. State
Liberty Bowl: Georgia vs. Central Florida
BBVA Compass Bowl: Kentucky vs. Pittsburgh

I'm going to take a chance on being wrong here. A lot of people see Mississippi State ending up in the Music City Bowl -- I don't. Knoxville and Starkville are not that different from a driving perspective, and Mississippi State is the more exciting team (at least to me). While the Peach Bowl is arguably a "worse" bowl than the Outback Bowl, South Carolina fans are up for a change of pace, and Florida State might be a better opponent for their resume than Penn State. Whoever wins that game will probably find their way back into the rankings, or to a better ranking if they somehow are still in the Top 25. Plus, there's the chance to match Steve Spurrier up with the Seminoles again.

Nothing else is changed by this weekend's action. We'll find out officially tonight.