SEC Football: Quick Hits for January Bowl Games

By John Richardson | Dec 9, 2015

10 SEC Football teams received bowl bids this week, some in premiere matchups. Of those 10 games, the SEC team is favored in 9 of them.

While you can expect more in depth analysis and predictions as bowl season approaches, right now let’s just take a look at the January matchups and why so many SEC football teams are favored.*

*All spreads taken from teamrankings.com*

Outback Bowl

#23 Tennessee (-8) v Northwestern

January 1, 12 PM EST

Tennessee enters the game on a 5 game win streak, explaining 8 point spread. The Volunteers have won against less than stellar competition, however, and lack a quality win this season. 10-win Northwestern would be Tennessee’s biggest win of the season. The Key to the game is Josh Dobbs and the Tennessee rushing attack against Northwestern’s tight defense. This should be a fun game to watch.

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Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl

January 1, 1 PM EST

#19 Florida (+4) v #14 Michigan

Florida, after being embarrassed against Florida State and Alabama, enters the 2015-16 bowl season as the only underdogs from the SEC. Michigan entered their rivalry game with a ton of momentum after winning 4 straight, but were stomped 42-13. This is just a line on which offense can score. I’m surprised Michigan is only favored by 4.

Allstate Sugar Bowl

#12 Ole Miss (-6.5) v #16 Oklahoma State

January 1, 8:30 PM EST

The Mississippi Rebels enter their bowl game with Oklahoma State after posting 38 points in back-to-back rivalry games. Hugh Freeze loves pointing out the the Rebels were a 4th and 25 away from playing in Atlanta. Oklahoma State won ten in a row before losing their last two games of the season to finish outside the College Football Playoff. 6.5 points seems like a large spread, but a lot of touchdowns should be expected in this game.

TaxSlayer Bowl

Georgia (-6.5) v Penn State

January 2nd, 12 PM EST

Georgia and Penn State entered the 2015 season with high expectations. Both ingloriously fell short of them have to be disappointed to only be playing in the TaxSlayer Bowl. While it is a warm weather game, both traditional powers had their eyes set on much bigger targets. This is a tough game to predict as both have fallen hard against elite competition. 6.5 feels like “meh, sure . . . why not?”

AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Arkansas (-11) v Kansas State

January 2nd, 3:20 PM EST

Arkansas should absolutely destroy Kansas State in this matchup, hence the 11 point spread. Kansas State needed to win in their season finale to reach 6 wins and have no answer for the Razorback offense. Arkansas, even though they beat Ole Miss and LSU, did lose to Toledo this season. So who knows. If Arkansas shows up to play, though, they will throttle Kansas State.

Next: Only 2 SEC Teams in Basketball Top 25

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