Under the current bowl contracts, the SEC has tie-ins that, if the play-off were excluded, would give the SEC this many match-ups against the following conferences:
  • Big XII = 3 (Sugar, Liberty, Houston)
  • B1G Ten = 2 to 4 (Citrus, Outback, Music City and/or TaxSlayer)
  • ACC = 1 to 3 (Belk, Music City and/or TaxSlayer)
  • American = 1 (Birmingham)
  • (It's possible I may be overstating the number of match-ups available from Music City and TaxSlayer. I think there is a limit on how many times a particular conference can appear in these bowls during the life of the contract, so this number may vary)


I'm curious how many of you would like to see the Pac-12 added into the mix somewhere (outside of the playoffs) and what bowl location. Here are the Pac-12 Bowl tie-ins (excluding the Rose Bowl, which should stay B1G Ten/Pac-12 when it's not a playoff game):
  • Alamo (San Antonio, TX)
  • Holiday (San Diego, CA)
  • Foster Farms (San Francisco, CA)
  • Sun (El Paso, TX)
  • Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)
  • Cactus (Tempe, AZ)


Personally, I'd like to see the SEC/Pac-12/Big XII rotate teams in the Alamo and Houston Bowls the way the SEC/B1G Ten/ACC rotate through the TaxSlayer and Music City Bowls so that one year the Alamo might be SEC vs Pac-12 and the Texas could be either SEC vs Big XII or Big XII vs Pac-12 followed the next year with a Big XII vs Pac-12 Alamo and either SEC vs either Pac-12 or Big XII. Obviously, I have a personal stake in getting more opportunities to see State play in Texas, but don't you think some of our bowl match-ups have gotten a little stale? Haven't we seen this year's Sugar Bowl match-up or Florida-Michigan plenty quite a bit in the last dozen years or so?