My Thoughts:
* I added in Stewart Mandel's picks from CNN/SI, though his fall in line with majority consensus on every game.
* With Penn State's loss to Iowa, both Alabama and Florida control their own destiny to play in the BCS Title game. As long as neither slips up against their final 2 regular season opponents, the loser of the clash in Atlanta will receive a Sugar Bowl Bid as a consolation prize.
* Please disregard any posts I may have made in the past weeks stating that Tennessee would rally around Fulmer's departure and win out. What a horrid performance they put on Saturday.
* And if anyone knows how to reach Cary Estes, the contributing writer for NBC.com, I'd love to hear if he thinks Auburn is going to knock off Georgia or Alabama to get their 6th win and wrap up an Independence Bowl bid.
* At least to me, it doesn't make sense for Kentucky to end up in Nashville for a 3rd straight season. The Bowl-Tie-In page on the SEC's site says:
In selections 6-7, the AutoZone Liberty and Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowls will make their selections, not in any specific order, but in consultation with the SEC Office. The Bowls will rank available qualified teams in order of preference. If there are no similarities in the order of selection, the bowls will be granted its selection. If the bowls rank the same teams in preference, the team involved in the process would get its preference of which bowl to participate.If the Chick-Fil-A Bowl selects Ole Miss over UK, that's going to leave the 'Cats and (supposedly) Vanderbilt left as the 6th and 7th bowl-eligible teams. Obviously the Liberty Bowl would rank Vanderbilt ahead of Kentucky, but would the Music City Bowl rank Kentucky ahead of Vanderbilt on its list of preferences? And even if they did, would Kentucky really opt to head to Nashville again?
* I'm still not convinced that Vanderbilt wins another game this season to wrap up that Liberty Bowl bid. They're stuck in a pressure cooker at this point and with a shaky defense and shakier offense, win #6 is looking tougher.
* I like Bruce Feldman. I really do. He and Chris Low are the best two college football writers espn.com has. But there's no way that the Capital One Bowl deems LSU the most attractive non-BCS-Bowl-bound SEC team. Sitting at 3-3, they're going to have to work just to finish with a winning conference record. Ole Miss and Arkansas are certainly capable of knocking them off. Georgia is far and away the more attractive option there, especially considering the woodshed beating laid on the Tigers in Tiger Stadium.
3 comments:
Interesting comments about the VU/MC Bowl thing on VandySports. It's the private board but I don't think anyone really cares about me reproducing their comments, since it's just a radio summary:
Andrew Kerr wrote, "I heard the director for the Music City bowl on 106.7 yesterday and when asked if he would be interested in Vanderbilt - he demured and said that at some point in the next week or two he would like to sit down with Coach Johnson and David Williams to discuss Vanderbilt's interest in playing in the game in Nashville. He implication was that if Vanderbilt wanted to kids to have a bowl experience and get to go to a new city that they Music City bowl would not be opposed. He said that they would love to have UK again or that even Ole Miss would be attractive because their fanbase would be able to drive."
Jesse Johnson wrote, "I think the people at the MC Bowl don't get how many people that never see the inside of Vanderbilt Stadium, would converge back into Tennessee to see Vanderbilt in a bowl game. That said, I hate LP Field personally and would also rather see them play somewhere else if Vanderbilt ever gets to a bowl."
I agree with Jesse that VU alums from outside Nashville would make a big part of the crowd at the MCB, and we have no reason to be picky. That said, I have a slight preference for another bowl, so the players can travel.
It will be an interesting situation for the 'Dores if they do pick up that elusive 6th win. I can certainly see the pros and cons of each side regarding VU and the MCB.
It just seems to me that hte MCB would be hesitant to take UK for a 3rd straight year. It would be hard to avoid a feeling of "Been there, done that... twice" by the players and the fan base.
Vanderbilt would seem to be a better fit for the Liberty Bowl as it's just a 3 hour trip down I40 and, like you mentioned, the players would at least get to travel. If both the LB and MCB list VU first, my guess is they would opt for the Liberty Bowl.
Please - for those loyal fans - in and around Nashville (me, I'm in N. Ala) - who have FOR YEARS waited for this moment - a Music City bowl bid is like a slap in the face! And it makes no sense ...as the local economy will not see any hotel or restaurant revenue of significance compared to if they had two schools from out of town! ANYWHERE BUT NASHVILLE!
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