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All for Tennessee SEC, New Year’s Six and College Football Playoff Bowl Projections Following Week 12 of the Season

By Caleb Calhoun

Nov 19, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) after the game against the Missouri Tigers at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 63 to 37. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 19, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) after the game against the Missouri Tigers at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 63 to 37. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Aug 28, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; General exterior view of NRG Stadium before a NFL football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Houston Texans. NRG Stadium will play host to Super Bowl LI on Feb 5, 2017. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 28, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; General exterior view of NRG Stadium before a NFL football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Houston Texans. NRG Stadium will play host to Super Bowl LI on Feb 5, 2017. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Pre-New Year’s Day Bowl Projections Part I

Independence Bowl: Monday, Dec. 26 at 5 p.m.; Independence Stadium; Shreveport, La.

Ole Miss Rebels vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Well, with the Independence Bowl getting the final bid on bowl teams from the SEC this year, we had the South Carolina Gamecocks going here. But the Ole Miss Rebels had an embarrassing outing in a 38-17 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores last week, dropping them to here. They still have to win a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs to get bowl eligible, but with that game at home we project it will happen.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are still the team that we have from the ACC going to this game, as they’ll be one of the last teams in. This will be an exciting bottom-feeder SEC-ACC match-up in our bowl projections, so pay attention to it. With Ole Miss close to Louisiana, expect lots of fans to fill the stadium there as well.

Texas Bowl: Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 9 p.m.; NRG Stadium; Houston, Texas

Arkansas Razorbacks vs Baylor Bears

The Arkansas Razorbacks are right in line with our projections, so we still have this team finishing the season at 8-4. After moving to 7-4, their final game is against a bad Missouri Tigers team. Doing that will put them in position for a top-tier pre-New Year’s Day bowl game, which is excatly what the Texas Bowl is. So they’ll go back here, a perfect spot for their fans to travel to and fill up the stadium.

Last week, we had the Kansas State Wildcats going here in our bowl projections, but with two Big 12 teams in the New Year’s Six, the fifth ranked team in the conference will go. That team will be the Baylor Bears at this point.  It would be a thrilling match-up to see Arkansas’s physicality against Baylor’s high-scoring, spread the field system. Which one prevails?

Birmingham Bowl: Thursday, Dec. 29 at 2 p.m.; Legion Field; Birmingham, Ala.

South Carolina Gamecocks vs South Florida Bulls

With the Ole Miss Rebels falling to the Vanderbilt Commodores, we’ve moved them to the bottom of the SEC bowl teams provided they win this week. That moves up the South Carolina Gamecocks, who reached bowl eligibility by beating the Western Carolina Catamounts over the weekend. They now get the second best bowl game in the bottom tier of SEC bowl tie-ins, and it might be a blessing in disguise.

That’s because it’s the Birmingham Bowl, where they’ll face the third best team from the American Athletic Conference in our bowl projections, the South Florida Bulls. South Carolina and Will Muschamp have a legitimate chance at a bowl win here to finish 7-6 after the Clemson Tigers destroy them this weekend. However, South Florida is a solid team, so they can’t take this game for granted.

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