re: Navigating the bowl picture

I think (and this might be a separate thread in and of itself) that the SEC is trying to fix a problem that's cropped up two years in a row now:

The SEC Championship has become a liability for the teams playing in it.

2011: LSU had to play Georgia while Alabama stayed home and got slotted in at #2. Given the situation, it might actually have benefited LSU to lose in the SECCG last year; if LSU is a 1-loss team, then Alabama's loss to LSU looks worse than if LSU were undefeated, and consequently Oklahoma State might have been placed at #2. In any case, Alabama got the chance to compete for, and win, the national title, by staying home during the SECCG and watching LSU grind through a 13th game that was ultimately of no benefit and potentially (if UGA had managed to blow LSU out) going to force them out of the title game.

2012: Florida, secure in the knowledge that it will be in the top 4 no matter the outcome of the SEC Championship, stays home, 2nd place in its division, and watches Alabama knock Georgia to the Chik-Fil-A Bowl (assuming no intervention by the league). Georgia, who finished better than Florida in ranking and in conference standing, is punished for losing a game Florida wasn't even good enough to get invited to play. If Georgia happens to win, then Alabama gets kicked out of the BCS, despite being the champion of the tougher of the two divisions this year, and despite losing its spot to the #2 team in the #2 division.

I think the case is made pretty easily, and that consequently the SEC has decided to be proactive in making the SEC Championship less of a postseason-killing liability.