We could see a major shakeup in our weekly SEC bowl projections after a few key showdowns take place next weekend.
Saturday’s results caused us to reshuffle the deck a bit -- Ole Miss and Texas A&M moved up, while Auburn and Arkansas moved down -- but just wait until we do this again a week from now.
Most of us didn’t expect to see Ole Miss take down Alabama last season, but the Rebels pulled it off. They’re playing well enough to win next weekend’s rematch, too, but they’ll have to do it at Bryant-Denny Stadium this time.
The outcome of Saturday's Auburn-LSU game might drastically alter the way we think about at least one of those teams. Auburn’s stock is plummeting after Saturday’s overtime win against Jacksonville State, while it’s difficult to know what to make of LSU after nearly blowing a double-digit lead against Mississippi State.
And what about next weekend's South Carolina-Georgia contest? The Gamecocks lost to Kentucky on Saturday but played much better in the second half -- and they’ve had Georgia’s number over the past several seasons.
Even if those upsets don’t happen, we’re sure to see plenty of them as the season progresses, causing us to rework this list again. But for now, here are our best guesses on which SEC teams will play in the postseason and where they’ll go bowling:
College Football Playoff semifinal (Cotton Bowl): Alabama
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Georgia
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: Texas A&M
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl: Ole Miss
Outback Bowl: LSU
TaxSlayer Bowl: Missouri
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Auburn
AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl: Mississippi State
Belk Bowl: Tennessee
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Arkansas
Birmingham Bowl: Kentucky
Camping World Independence Bowl: Florida