SEC Shuffles Bowls in 2014 College Football Postseason

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WCBI/ESPN) — The SEC will have guaranteed bowl spots for at least 10 of its 14 members beginning in 2014, sources told ESPN.

The bowl affiliations will be filled after any SEC teams qualify for the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Following the semifinals, the next-highest-ranked SEC team will advance to the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Also, in years the Discover Orange Bowl does not host the national semifinals, a team from the SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame will play in the Orange Bowl against the ACC.

The SEC will send a team to the Orange Bowl a minimum of three years during the 12-year contract.

After SEC teams are placed in the playoffs, Sugar and/or Orange bowls, the SEC will have guaranteed bowl spots for nine more teams, sources said.

The SEC’s next pick will go to the Capital One Bowl, sources said.

After the Capital One Bowl (Orlando, Fla.), six bowls will be pooled together and share the next six selections. Sources said the bowls that will share the SEC’s second through seventh selections are: AutoZone Liberty (Memphis), Belk (Charlotte, N.C.), Franklin American Mortgage Music City (Nashville, Tenn.), Outback (Tampa, Fla.), Taxslayer.com Gator (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Texas (Houston).

The SEC’s final two bowl slots will be the AdvoCare V100 (Shreveport, La.) and BBVA Compass (Birmingham, Ala.).

In the Capital One Bowl, an SEC team will face a Big Ten team unless a Big Ten team is chosen for the Orange Bowl. When that occurs, the ACC would replace a Big Ten team to face the SEC.

The SEC’s opponents in the remaining eight bowls are: Belk (ACC), Gator (ACC/Big Ten), Music City (ACC/Big Ten), Liberty (Big 12), Outback (Big Ten), Texas (Big 12), AdvoCare V100 (ACC) and BBVA Compass (American).

Excluding the College Football Playoff semifinals, Sugar and Orange bowls, the SEC will face another “power five” conference in eight of its nine bowl games.