What bowl scenarios are you hearing?

[Freak]

I keep hearing that if the Vols beat Kentucky and Vandy and lose to Auburn that a Cotton Bowl matchup with Texas is a real possibiltiy. The Cotton Bowl does however, have the option of taking Notre Dame over a SEC team but I don't think that will happen.

 

[Vol67]

They won't take ND because the Cotton Bowl is negotiating a new contract with the SEC this year

 

[OWB]

Well, college football news projects us to go the Capital One Bowl playing Michigan, Espn agrees with that or says we could go to the Outback Bowl and play Iowa. Guess we will have to see how it all unfolds.

 

[Volstorm]

I heard the other day that if Tennessee losses the SECC then they will not go to the Capital One/Citrus bowl, like most of the other 2nd place SEC teams. Instead it would be GA, provided they lose to Auburn today.

 

[Vol67]

If LSU wins out look for them to go to the Capital One Bowl since they will be 9-2 and haven't been to a Florida Bowl since 1989.
Look for Georgia to go to the Outback Bowl.
Tennessee to the Cotton
Bama, UF, SC fighting for placement in the Peach, Music City and Independence Bowls

 

[DownNDirty]

Well, let's just break down some of the top bowls as of now.

FedEx Orange NC: USC vs Oklahoma - Just about every computer, person, etc, is predicting an Orange Bowl matchup of USC/OU screwing Auburn out of a chance for the NC provided they win out. If all 3 do win out it's the prime example of why if they don't do a playoff College Football needs "one more" game following the bowls to decide the true National Champion.

Sugar: This puts Auburn in the Sugar if they win out, now probably against Miami I think since they beat Virginia. Not a very attractive matchup if you ask me. I would think with all the problems Miami has had this year that Auburn would crush them in the Georgia Dome.

Fiesta: Boston College vs Utah. I think the Utes will edge into the BCS Bowl picture before the year is up somehow. The loss by Wisconson today really helped out their causes.

Rose: Michigan vs California. This could probably be a pretty decent matchup in the Rose Bowl.

Capital One: This is just my opinion but I really think that Tennessee will get the Capital One bid if they have a decent game in the SECCG against Auburn. They won't want a Georgia team that just got drilled by Auburn. If UT goes to the SECCG and gets killed by AU then that would probably knock them out of the Capital One Bowl chance. If somehow they go to the SECCG and beat Auburn and get the BCS bid I would see them going to the Fiesta to play Utah instead of Boston College. BC would then go to the Sugar Bowl to play Miami. If UT gets stomped by AU in the SECCG then I would see them going to probably the Outback Bowl against Iowa or Wisconson.

But there's still ALOT that can happen in the next 3 weeks. God I love College Football.

DD

 

[Freak]

I think it's a joke that the Big East still has an automatic birth.

 

[Vol67]

Mark it down in INK UT will not get even a sniff of the Capital One Bowl. LSU at 9-2 or UGA at 9-2 are both more attractive being top 15 than a 9-3 UT team ranked between 20-25.

 

[milohimself]

Originally posted by vol_freak@Nov 13, 2004 6:47 PM
I think it's a joke that the Big East still has an automatic birth.

They really are starting to turn into a throwaway conference, like WAC or Mountain West.

 

[Freak]

Originally posted by milohimself+Nov 14, 2004 3:57 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (milohimself @ Nov 14, 2004 3:57 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-vol_freak@Nov 13, 2004 6:47 PM
I think it&#39;s a joke that the Big East still has an automatic birth.

They really are starting to turn into a throwaway conference, like WAC or Mountain West. [/quote]
or the PAC 10&#33;

Just kidding. Sorry, I couldn&#39;t resist.

 

[milohimself]

We&#39;ll see what you have to say after USC brings the NC title to the west coast

 

[Freak]

Originally posted by milohimself@Nov 14, 2004 2:31 PM
We&#39;ll see what you have to say after USC brings the NC title to the west coast

Maybe we can bet some VolNation dollars on that one. B)

 

[milohimself]

It&#39;s a bet. &#036;200 VolNation dollars says USC beats Auburn (or bleh... Oklahoma...) for the National Championship.

 

[Freak]

Originally posted by milohimself@Nov 14, 2004 2:38 PM
It&#39;s a bet. &#036;200 VolNation dollars says USC beats Auburn (or bleh... Oklahoma...) for the National Championship.

You got a bet. We will start a betting thread once the season is over and the bowls are announced.

 

[Vol67]

USC is a really good team that has the advantage of playing in a really weak conference.

 

[milohimself]

I think a telling moment of them is when they were holding against Cal in the second half. Aaron Rodgers threw for what, 85% that game? USC really stepped up the defense against probably the best passing offense in any single game in college football this year, and still pulled out a victory.

And I watched the USC @ OSU game. That was entirely weather-based. When they could actually see, they looked spectacular. Our Oregon teams are probably the best weather-trained teams in the country.

 

[milohimself]

Is Pac-10 really that much weaker? I think Oregon is lurking somewhere just below the bottom of the BCS rankings, Arizona State is probably about to pass up Tennessee in the BCS, California is a distant but solid fourth place in the country, and of course there are the to-be national champions USC Trojans.

The SEC, in comparison, has only one more team in the top 25 than the Pac-10, even during the Pac-10&#39;s supposed "down year". I think Auburn should be in Oklahoma&#39;s number 2 spot, Georgia is still somewhere slightly ahead of the Vols (it&#39;s crap, I know), the Vols are middle of the pack, and LSU is a little on the lower end of the rankings, coming off last year&#39;s National Championship.

I know you are all thinking "What about Arizona/Washington?" Well, don&#39;t go off pointing out weak teams in the Pac. You know why? Kentucky, Mississippi, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State (Hell, even throw Florida in there if you&#39;d like) are also very weak.

So, just to back up all this talk, let&#39;s look at some interconference statistics:

Assuming USC beats Notre Dame, and Florida beats Middle Tennessee State, the Pac-10 will be .643 in non-conference games, and SEC will be .714. That is a pretty damned small gap, given the Pac-10 has played 10 games against 8 ranked non-conference opponents, compared to the SEC&#39;s 4 non-conference games against ranked opponents. The Pac-10 has finished better than SEC recently even under similar conditions.

So if the SEC is the best conference in the land, then you can say that the Pac-10 is right there with them.

 

[Memphis_Volunteer]

If USC ends up facing AU in the NCG, you can bet the Trojans probably wouldn&#39;t win, but who knows. It would definitely be a good game.

 

[GAVol]

I think all of the "Who&#39;s the strongest conference?" talk is way overblown. There are good teams with good players everywhere. I think there was a time when the SEC and Big 10 were markedly better from top to bottom, but now with reduced scholarship limits and number of quality players available, the gap between the major conferences is not that large.

 

[milohimself]

It may be overblown, but it is an important question none the less. It is the pretty much the best indicator of how the best teams will play against eachother in bowl games. That said, I think USC has a slight edge over Auburn. Trojans run a rock-solid defense (Like I pointed out, they held Cal to 17 when Rodgers was closing in on a 90% completion rate), and have easily the best all-around offense in the country. An amazing quarterback in Leinart, one of the best three runningbacks in the country in Reggie Bush, and a WR corps that never runs out of awesome talent.

 

[volbrian]

What is VOLNATION dollars? Can I use them at Walmart? epper:

 

[Memphis_Volunteer]

Man, I wish they could be used at Wal-Mart.

 

[allvol]

Originally posted by DownNDirty@Nov 13, 2004 9:32 PM
If somehow they go to the SECCG and beat Auburn and get the BCS bid I would see them going to the Fiesta to play Utah instead of Boston College. BC would then go to the Sugar Bowl to play Miami.

The Sugar Bowl gets the SEC Champ automatically unless the SECC is rated 1 or 2. If the Vols beat Auburn in the SECCG, then they will be in the Sugar Bowl.

 

[afanalso]

If we do end up playing Texas or Michigan we better step it up because we will definetly have our hands full

 

[milohimself]

We can probably beat Texas. Michigan would be tough, though