Lookin’ Like Shreveport

Well, the LSU Tigers are your SEC champs, and have a very strong shot at the BCS Title Game against Ohio State. So far, the signs are showing the possibility of a repeat trip to Shreveport, Louisiana in the Independence Bowl for Alabama (4-4 SEC). Our opponent would probably be the Colorado Buffaloes (4-4 Big 12), but nothing is for certain. Mississippi State (4-4 SEC) seems to be the Liberty Bowl pick, and Kentucky (3-5 SEC) will probably repeat to the Music City Bowl. I for one look forward to playing in Shreveport again because I don’t feel like having to play Central Florida (7-1 C-USA) since they are from C-USA. Sure, they are 10-3, but it is C-USA. The Big 12 is at least a high profile conference (Please, hold your ULM jokes until after the bowl selection show).

IT’S THE BIG TWEALVAH!!

Besides, Colorado will give us soooooooo much material leading up to the bowl game if we end up playing them (as shown above). Dan Hawkins is one of my favorite coaches to watch in college football these days. He’s got the personality to match his coaching abilities, although people have forgotten this since they went 2-10 his first season in Boulder. But, he has gotten them up to 6-6 this season, which is an impressive task for such a hippie town.

So, I beg you bowl selection chieftains, please allow this match-up to happen. Sure, Shreveport bites a big one, but these two teams will give us an interesting game with plenty of personality. Look into your hearts, you know it to be the truth. Let Mississippi State play Central Florida, I know they’ll enjoy it. Besides, they beat us and got to 7-5, they deserve to go to Memphis (sorry Memphis Tider, I know you might be bummed).

More Bowl Scuttlebutt

I just wanted to see how I could work the word scuttlebutt into an actual post title….. today is that day.

It appears that the Independence Bowl is lusting after Alabama for a return trip to Shreveport, Louisiana:

But allow this question to be the starting point: Would the PetroSun Independence Bowl want the University of Alabama to make a return trip to Shreveport on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.?

“The answer is yes,” said Joe Darwin, the bowl’s chairman for 2007.

To me, this basically assures us of a Bowl game offer. If selected, we would either play Colorado or Texas A&M. Currently, it seems that the Buffalos are going to be making the trip to Shreveport. Of course, it depends on whether or not the Tide is grabbed up by the Music City Bowl or the Liberty Bowl:

Just because Alabama and South Carolina are 6-6, it doesn’t mean the Independence Bowl will simply choose between the two. The rules state that bowls such as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl can choose a 6-6 team over a 7-5 team, provided that there is still an SEC bowl slot available for the 7-5 team.

That’s the fear of the Independence Bowl.

“Alabama may not be one of the ones we have a choice with,” Darwin said. “The Liberty Bowl or Music City Bowl, I’m sure, is saying, `We could take a 6-6 Alabama team we didn’t think would be available two or three weeks ago.’”

There are rumors that the Liberty Bowl would take Alabama, but that is purely speculation at this point. If we head to Memphis, we would play Central Florida, who gave some BCS teams a few tough games this season. I personally might take Shreveport to play a Big 12 team; more to gain and less to lose *sigh*.

Bowls? Who Said Anything About Bowls?

So yeah, I’ve heard the gnashing of teeth in regards to bowl selections. Saban got paid $583,333 per win (he’s getting $3.5 million this season folks, none of this $666,666 crap is actually true), so it would be nice to get some post-season practice.

After Saturday, it appears that Alabama’s bowl chances actually improved, if only slightly. Both South Carolina and Kentucky lost (3-5 SEC), giving us a better SEC record/overall record combo. It is worth mentioning that UK did beat LSU. So, based on the standings and BCS bowl layout, Bama can go bowling. UGA also won, almost clinching a BCS bid. We finished tied for 3rd in the SEC West at 4-4, but MSU and Arkansas will probably got before us based on divisional record and overall record. It pretty muc appears this way:

• The SEC Championship probably won’t matter too much, although Tennessee winning might actually help us a bit. The winner goes to the Sugar Bowl, the loser probably heads to the Cap One or Outback.
• Florida will either take the Outback or Cap One.
• Auburn will either go to the Outback, Chick-Fil-A, Cotton, or maybe even the Cap One (longest shot I think).
• Georgia will end up in a BCS bowl game with the way things are shaking out. UGA must got to a BCS bowl if the SEC is to get 9 or 10 bowl teams.
• Mississippi State will either go to the Liberty, Music City, or Chick-Fil-A. The same could be said for Arkansas.
• Alabama will either get the Liberty, Independence, or Music City at this point in time if selected. Independence might be an option, although I’m sure the officials would prefer a different team since Bama was there last season.
• Kentucky and South Carolina are about where we are right now in terms of bowls. Whatever the bowl game in Houston is may take an SEC team as well (Houston accepted a bid to that bowl, so I would rather avoid that one to keep from having a rematch).

The bowl selection rankings are as follows:

Sugar Bowl- SEC Champ or At-Large
Capital One Bowl- 2nd pick
Cotton Bowl- 3rd through 5th pick
Outback Bowl- 3rd through 5th pick
Chick-Fil-A Bowl- 3rd through 5th pick
Liberty Bowl- 6th pick
Music City Bowl- 7th pick
Independence Bowl- 8th pick

So, I still think we will end up in a bowl game. Do we deserve one? Well, that is a debate for another post.