Thirteen Southeastern Conference football teams learned their postseason bowl destinations on Sunday, including No. 2-ranked Georgia who will play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, a quarterfinal game in the new 12-team College Football Playoff format.
In other College Football Playoff games, No. 5 seed Texas will host Clemson in a first-round game and No. 7 seed Tennessee will play at Ohio State in a first-round game. Both games will be played on Dec. 21.
On Sunday, the College Football Playoff committee first named the 12 teams to participate in the playoff.
Next, the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando selected South Carolina from the SEC to play Illinois of the Big Ten.
This marks the 11th year the Conference has assigned league schools to an “SEC Bowl Pool” that includes six postseason games. The SEC Bowl Pool includes the Kinder’s Texas Bowl in Houston, the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, the Reliaquest Bowl in Tampa and the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. In alternating years, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl replaces the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl in the SEC Bowl Pool.
LSU will play in the Kinder’s Texas Bowl in Houston, Ole Miss will play in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Missouri will play in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, Arkansas will play in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Alabama will play in the Reliaquest Bowl in Tampa and Texas A&M will play in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl.
Following the SEC Bowl Pool, the Birmingham Bowl chose Vanderbilt, the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa selected Florida and the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth chose Oklahoma.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF GAMES
- CFP First Round Game – Clemson at Texas (Austin) – Dec. 21 – 4 pm ET – TNT and MAX
- CFP First Round Game – Tennessee at Ohio State (Columbus) – Dec. 21 – 8 pm ET – ESPN and ABC
- Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans) – Georgia vs. Indiana/Notre Dame winner – Jan. 1 – 8:45 pm ET – ESPN
SEC-AFFILIATED BOWLS:
- Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa) – Florida vs. American – Dec. 20 – 3:30 pm ET – ESPN
- Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth) – Oklahoma vs. American – Dec. 27 – 12 pm ET – ESPN
- Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham) – Vanderbilt vs. ACC or Big 12 – Dec. 27 – 3:30 pm ET – ESPN
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Memphis) – Dec. 27 – Arkansas vs. Texas Tech – 7 pm ET – ESPN
- SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas) – Dec. 27 – Texas A&M vs. Current/Former Pac-12 – 10:30 pm – ESPN
- TransPerfect Music City Bowl (Nashville) – Missouri vs. Big Ten – Dec. 30 – 2:30 pm ET – ESPN
- Reliaquest Bowl (Tampa) – Alabama vs. Big Ten – Dec. 31 – Noon ET – ESPN
- Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (Orlando) – South Carolina vs. Illinois – Dec. 31 – 3 pm ET – ABC
- Kinder’s Texas Bowl (Houston) – LSU vs. Big 12 – Dec. 31 – 3:30 pm ET – ESPN
- TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) – Ole Miss vs. ACC – Jan 2 – 7:30 pm ET – ESPN
The SEC Bowl Pool participants are determined after conversations with bowl partners and discussions with school personnel in order to create a lineup of compelling bowl games. This process, as approved by the institutions of the SEC, provides an opportunity to create intriguing matchups and varying assignments to help prevent repetitive postseason destinations when possible.
