re: Reasons for the bowl selection...

Very east champ. There were only two teams that were ever going to go to Atlanta this year once Clemson was locked in as he ACC #2. Texas A&M or LSU. Why? UF and Bama in BCS, USCe just played Clemson and UGA opens with Clemson the first game of the 2013 season. Then, the cotton picks in front of the Chicken. Pretty darn easy to see why the cotton picked A&M with them being in Texas and the heisman winner. Remember, its about MONEY. LSU would have been in the cotton had Northern Illinios not snuck into the the BCS because A&M was not playing Texas.

So there you go, a bunch of unfortunate circumstances that all went the wrong way has poor LSU playing a BSC type matchup in the bowl season.