SEC Football: Previewing the New Year’s Day SEC bowl games

By Abbey Giese | Dec 22, 2017

TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 09: Head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide talks with head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers after the Tigers defeated the Crimson Tide 35-31 in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Raymond James Stadium on January 9, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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BATON ROUGE, LA – NOVEMBER 25: Darrel Williams /

Citrus Bowl

The No. 17 LSU Tigers (9-3, 6-2 SEC) will play the No. 14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-3 Independent) in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

Early in the season, LSU suffered a shocking loss to their homecoming opponent, the Troy Trojans. This was just two weeks after the Tigers were blown out by Mississippi State. Most everyone thought their season was over at that point.

Hey @LSU, thanks for having us down for homecoming! We really enjoyed it! 😁
— Troy University (@TROYUnews) October 1, 2017

However, the Tigers went on to win six of their last seven games. LSU had an incredible win over Auburn when they came back after being down 20 points. Their one loss in the later part of the season was to Alabama, who is in the playoff.

This is also Ed Orgeron’s first full season as head coach since he took over as an interim after LSU fired Les Miles in the the middle of last season. After the Troy loss, some fans questioned whether or not the Tigers were any better off with Orgeron than they had been with Miles.

However, Orgeron has led LSU to back to back bowl games, and he has a chance to get 10 wins this season. With a win over Notre Dame, he could further prove that he is the right coach for the Tigers.

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