SEC bowl projections after Week 13

Alabama was that close to almost certain elimination from College Football Playoff consideration.

But the Crimson Tide’s 4-overtime win at Auburn kept them alive and maintained the program’s bid to repeat as national champions.

We still project Bama to lose a close one to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, but we also think Baylor beats Oklahoma State for the Big 12 title and, with that, the Crimson Tide goes to the Playoff.

Now, if we’re wrong and Oklahoma State wins? Then Tide fans — other than rooting for their team to beat the Dawgs and take care of the Playoff controversy themselves, obviously — will need to root for Houston to beat Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference title game, and/or for Iowa to topple Michigan for the Big Ten crown.

One thing is certain: The SEC has set a record for most bowl-eligible teams in a conference. The league has 13 teams eligible at 6-6 or better (sorry, Vanderbilt), so the SEC will fill out all of its contracted spots in the postseason and then some. The bowl picture could go so many ways with 13 bowl-eligible SEC teams. The guess here is that Missouri fills a berth at the First Responder Bowl in Dallas, left vacant by the ACC.

Georgia is a lock to go to the CFP even if the Dawgs lose to Bama in the SEC title game. After the CFP and other New Year’s Day 6 bids are filled, the next eligible SEC team will go to the Citrus Bowl. Then 6 teams will be chosen for the following bowls: Outback, Liberty, Gator, Duke’s Mayo, Music City and Texas. The Birmingham Bowl would then pick and the Gasparilla Bowl is in play for the SEC too.

Here are the newest SEC bowl projections after Week 13:

Jim Tomlin

Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a copy editor and writer with SaturdayDownSouth.com.