re: Chick-Fil-A Bowl...?!? Seriously?

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Don't play the money card here. It has been discussed and shown that financially, this bowl is a break-even proposition for LSU. Once all the expenses are added up and subtracted from the revenue LSU gets from the game, it is almost a wash. The league is going to get its bowl money regardless of who plays in the game.

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Ok well how about the 4 extra weeks of practice that they get to help get better for next year? Is that good enough reason?

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Homophobe Bowl

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FIFY

Also, agreed why even go. That bowl blows.

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I think the CFA is a good bowl, but Atlanta in January is hit or miss with the weather.

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It's indoors.
Go to Wal-MArt and buy a coat so you won't be cold waiting for the next MARTA train.
Feel better now?

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LSU should go to the outback ahead of USCE. IMHO

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AGREED!!!!!!!!!!! But I would rather play MICH there instead of a Northwestern.

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We get to watch Alabama destroy Michigan....again? No thanks.

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That will not happen. IF Bama losses, I see LSU vs. Mich in the outback. The Cap one will be BIG loser vs. Bama.

I'd be really surprised to find LSU in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. The loser of the SECCG almost always takes a plunge down the bowl selection list. Granted that this would be a sensible year for that trend to be bucked, especially if Alabama were the loser in the SECCG - but it's still a noteworthy trend.

The LSU/Miami game several years back is a good example. LSU ended up in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, behind:

* Auburn, who LSU beat earlier that year, and who was a half-game behind LSU after the SECCG, but who nonetheless attended the Capital One Bowl
* Florida, who LSU beat earlier that year, and who was 1.5 games behind LSU after the SECCG, but who nonetheless attended the Outback Bowl
* Alabama, who LSU beat earlier that year, and who was a half-game behind LSU after the SECCG, but who nonetheless attended the Cotton Bowl

If the teams were placed the way that this article would indicate they ought to be placed, then LSU would have been in the Capital One Bowl that year.

There are more examples like this, too:

2012 Capital One Bowl: South Carolina (then 10-2) went over the SEC East champion, Georgia (then 10-3; 10-2 prior to losing the SECCG), as well as over Arkansas (who was also 10-2 with a win over South Carolina). South Carolina was on a 3-game winning streak, including a win over top-25 Clemson, while Arkansas and Georgia lost their last games before their respective bowls.

2011 Capital One Bowl: Alabama (then 9-3) went over LSU (then 10-2, with a win over Alabama earlier in the year). Both teams had lost their last games of the season.

2008 Capital One Bowl: Florida (then 9-3) went over Tennessee (then 10-3). Florida was on a 4-game win streak, Tennessee had just lost the SECCG.

2005 Capital One Bowl: LSU (then 9-2) went over Georgia (also 9-2), despite Georgia defeating LSU earlier in the year; LSU also went over a 9-3 Tennessee team that was 9-2 prior to losing the SECCG. Georgia had lost to Auburn in the second-to-last game of their regular season, while LSU was on a 6-game winning streak.

I only went as far back as 2004 for this analysis, but I think that's a fair enough sample size. Common trends observed:

1. The SECCG loser doesn't get any special favors. The only year in that set where the loser went to the Capital One Bowl over arguably-more-worthy competition was 2006-07, when Arkansas (who'd lost to Florida) went over Auburn. In all other cases, the team selected was either the only obvious choice (e.g. 2009-10, when only Florida, Alabama and LSU had gotten to 10 wins; Florida and Alabama both went BCS bowling, and LSU was head and shoulders above the rest), or, when faced with multiple options, the SECCG loser was simply passed over.

2. Being 'hot' helps, but only in as far as an actual winning streak is concerned, not as much the nature of your wins. Since it'll be LSU - who's on a 3-game winning streak - competing against the loser of the SECCG who, definitionally, is not on a winning streak, the odds look nice.

In short, relax, my friends; we may not go to the Capital One Bowl, but falling all the way to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl is unlikely. (And, hell, even if we do, we're facing Clemson. That should still be a fun game.)