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SEC bowl projections after Week 4: Keep an eye on the Dawgs
By Jim Tomlin
Published:
Saturday was a day of stability in the SEC.
The ranked teams did what they were supposed to do, especially the higher-ranked squads. Alabama and Georgia look like the class of their respective divisions and nothing happened Saturday to change that train of thought.
The league’s perception might have taken a slight hit in a totally unimpressive trio of non-conference victories. LSU fans are unlikely to savor a nine-point win over Syracuse for long and, though Louisiana Tech is a decent team, South Carolina had a far tougher time than most anticipated.
But Tennessee displayed a whole other level of meh. A four-point win over UMass — UMass — won’t make coach Butch Jones’ seat any more comfortable. As far as projections, the Vols look less and less stable in their current spot. It’s possible that Kentucky, Vandy or South Carolina could leap Tennessee in the SEC East, but all three will have to prove it before their projected bowl destination is upgraded.
The same applies for any of those teams as far as jumping Florida (Kentucky will kick itself for a year for not doing so Saturday when it had such a marvelous chance to end its losing streak to the Gators at 30).
As for 1-2 Arkansas staying in our list … OK, even granting the Razorbacks’ easy non-conference wins against New Mexico State and Coastal Carolina, I’m not sure where three SEC wins are going to come from, either. But Bret Bielema’s bunch will stay for now if for no other reason than it’s way too early to try to figure out which APR scores will be good enough to lock up bowl bids for 5-7 teams.
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a copy editor and writer with SaturdayDownSouth.com.
