Nine Southeastern Conference football teams learned their post-season bowl destinations on Sunday, including No. 3-ranked Georgia which will play No. 2 Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl while No. 4-ranked Alabama will face No. 1 Clemson in the Sugar Bowl on January 1 in semifinal games for the College Football Playoff.
It marks the first time one conference has placed two teams in the CFP semifinals in the same season.
On Sunday, the College Football Playoff committee first selected teams for the national semifinal games, the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The committee later announced the participants in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl and the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl.
In addition to Georgia and Alabama in the CFP semifinals, Auburn was selected to play in a CFP New Year’s Six Game, meeting UCF in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on January 1.
Next, the Citrus Bowl presented by Overton selected LSU from the SEC to play Notre Dame.
This marks the fourth year the conference assigned league schools to an “SEC Bowl Pool” that includes the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, the Academy Sports & Outdoors Texas Bowl in Houston, the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl in Nashville and the Outback Bowl in Tampa.
Missouri will play a Big 12 opponent in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl, Texas A&M will play an ACC opponent in the Belk Bowl, Kentucky will play a Big Ten opponent in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, Mississippi State will play an ACC opponent in the TaxSlayer Bowl and South Carolina will play a Big Ten opponent in the Outback Bowl.
Because three SEC teams were selected for New Year’s Six Games, and by agreement in the SEC Bowl Pool structure, a team from the SEC was not available to participate in the Liberty Bowl for this season.
The selection process for the SEC Bowl Pool was based on preferences expressed by the SEC’s bowl eligible schools, input from the SEC’s affiliated bowls, travel considerations, attention to previous matchups and additional relevant factors.
“The SEC Bowl Pool participants are determined after conversations with bowl partners and discussions with school personnel in order to create a lineup of compelling bowl games for our schools and their fans,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “This process provides an opportunity to create intriguing matchups and varying assignments to help prevent repetitive postseason destinations.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF BOWLS
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta) – Auburn vs. UCF – Jan. 1 – 12:30 pm ET / 11:30 am CT – ESPN
Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual – Georgia vs. Oklahoma – Jan. 1 – 5 pm ET / 4 pm CT - ESPN
Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans) – Alabama vs. Clemson – Jan. 1 – 8:45 pm ET / 7:45 pm CT – ESPN
SEC-AFFILIATED BOWLS:
Citrus Bowl presented by Overton (Orlando) – LSU vs. Notre Dame – Jan. 1 – 1 pm ET / Noon CT – ABC
SEC Bowl Pool:
Academy Sports & Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston) – Missouri vs. Big 12 – Dec. 27 – 9 pm ET / 8 pm CT – ESPN
Belk Bowl (Charlotte) – Texas A&M vs. ACC – Dec. 29 – 1 pm ET / Noon CT – ESPN
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (Nashville) – Kentucky vs. Big Ten - Dec. 29 – 4:30 pm ET / 3:30 pm CT – ESPN
TaxSlayer Bowl (Jacksonville) – Mississippi State vs. ACC – Dec. 30 – Noon ET / 11 am CT – ESPN
Outback Bowl (Tampa) – South Carolina vs. Big Ten – Jan. 1 – Noon ET / 11 am CT - ABC
(Contact Dennis Norwood at sportsshooter614@gmail.com; follow him on Twitter at @DennisENorwood)