December 1, 2012

Bowl bid countdown enters final day

Tomorrow night, most bowl-eligible football programs will learn where they will be playing their last game of the season. Vanderbilt will host an announcement party at the school's Student Life Center (which sits directly across the street from Memorial Gym), and fans are invited to attend.

The Commodores are bowl-eligible for the second year in a row, the first time VU has ever accomplished such a feat.

Most 8-4 teams would likely be looking at playing in one of the top bowls in America. But in this year's SEC, 8-4 ranks you below six other schools -- all ranked in the nation's Top 10 -- and tied with Mississippi State, which is also 8-4.

The pecking order fairly well rules out the big bowls that hold mandatory SEC invites. By tonight's announcement, the SEC will have either Alabama or Georgia in the BCS title game, and four others schools with two losses: Florida, LSU, South Carolina, and one of Bama or UGa.

Where those four schools fall will largely dictate where Vanderbilt falls in the pecking order. Under the exact right conditions, it appears VU might land in the Chik-fil-A Bowl -- a first for the school -- to play the ACC's No. 2 team, Clemson.

Worst case scenario is that VU falls all the way to the Compass Bowl to face a mid-major like Toledo, Bowling Green or Central Florida.

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