SEC Bowl Projections After Week 12

The SEC enters the final week of the regular season and with the relative mediocrity parity of the conference in 2016 several bowl spots seem up in the air still. Included in those up for grabs is the Sugar Bowl spot, but it looks like the SEC may get frozen out of any other New Years’ Six spots including the Orange and Cotton Bowls.

Tennessee may have the inside track to the Sugar Bowl despite presently being ranked behind Auburn and Florida. If Tennessee defeats Vanderbilt and Auburn loses to Alabama, while Florida loses to both Florida State and Alabama, the Volunteers appear likely to be ranked ahead of the Tigers and Gators in the College Football Playoff rankings. That would give the Champions of Life a date in New Orleans. However, Auburn or Florida win their upcoming games that would seem to give them the inside track to the Sugar Bowl ahead of Tennessee.

South Carolina and Kentucky secured bowl eligibility with their sixth wins last week while Vanderbilt likely did with their fifth win. As a result of the Commodores’ APR score, Vanderbilt would likely go bowling to a non-SEC contracted bowl game but could still secure a sixth win if they can beat Tennessee.

Other than that, the only game with bowl eligibility implications is the Egg Bowl. With Vanderbilt’s aforementioned win over Ole Miss, the Rebels need to win to secure six wins. A Mississippi State win could potentially get the Bulldogs into play at five wins based on the numbers above, but they would need numerous teams to lose and potentially turn down bowl bids (like Missouri at 5-7 last year).