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Alabama barely hung on. Georgia had no such concerns.
The top 2 teams in the Associated Press poll, and the top 2 in our bowl projections, had different paths to remaining undefeated as they both won their SEC openers.
The Crimson Tide escaped The Swamp by beating Florida, whereas the Bulldogs cruised past South Carolina.
Both are still projected into the College Football Playoff, and we’re still keeping Florida into the New Year’s Day 6 after Saturday’s loss. Texas A&M also is still pegged for a major bowl.
As for the rest of the SEC, most of the teams cruised against overmatched competition. Mississippi State’s bowl hopes took a blow with a loss (though not a shocking one) to Memphis, and the league’s other team to take a nonconference loss, Vanderbilt, wasn’t projected to a bowl anyway.
As always, we remind you that this is not based on where teams are now in the standings, but where we think they will be come the postseason.
The Citrus Bowl has the pick of SEC teams after the conference’s CFP and NYD 6 spots are filled. The next 6 bowls are treated equally: The Gator, Outback, Duke’s Mayo, Liberty, Gator, Texas and Music City bowls. The Birmingham Bowl selects after that group if there are any bowl-eligible SEC teams left.
Here are our SEC bowl projections:
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Orange (CFP semi) | Dec. 31 | Miami | Alabama vs. Clemson |
| Cotton (CFP semi) | Dec. 31 | Arlington, Texas | Georgia vs. Oklahoma |
| Sugar | Jan. 1 | New Orleans | Texas A&M vs. Iowa State |
| Peach | Dec. 30 | Atlanta | Florida vs. Cincinnati |
| Texas | Jan. 4 | Houston | Arkansas vs. Okla. St. |
| Citrus | Jan. 1 | Orlando | Ole Miss vs. Iowa |
| Outback | Jan. 1 | Tampa | Auburn vs. Wisconsin |
| Gator | Dec. 31 | Jacksonville | LSU vs. N.C. State |
| Duke’s Mayo | Dec. 30 | Charlotte | Miss. St. vs. Va. Tech |
| Music City | Dec. 30 | Nashville | Missouri vs. Mich. St. |
| Liberty | Dec. 28 | Memphis | Kentucky vs. Kansas St. |
| Birmingham | Dec. 28 | Birmingham | Tennessee vs. Virginia |
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a copy editor and writer with SaturdayDownSouth.com.
