The SEC announced an agreement with nine bowl games on Monday, along with a new way of selecting which SEC teams will play where. The agreement will begin in the 2014 season.
"We are pleased to have established a lineup of premier bowl games that will give our student-athletes a wonderful postseason experience and our fans the opportunity to travel to venues in the geographical footprint of the conference," said SEC commissioner Mike Slive in a release.
The nine bowl games are the Capital One (vs Big Ten/ACC), Outback (vs Big Ten), Music City (vs ACC/Big Ten), Gator (vs ACC/Big Ten), Liberty (vs Big 12), Texas (vs Big 12), Belk (vs ACC), Birmingham (vs TBA) and Advocare V100 (vs ACC) bowls.
The Texas Bowl and Belk Bowl essentially replace the Cotton Bowl and Chick-Fil-A Bowl as both those games will now be access bowls affiliated with the College Football Playoff.
As for how it will be decided which SEC teams play where, the Capital One Bowl will have first choice of available SEC teams -- SEC teams that qualify for the playoff obviously won't be in play. After that it gets a bit interesting.
The SEC will select which SEC schools play in the Outback, Music City, Gator, Liberty, Texas and Belk bowls, not the bowl games themselves.
"This bowl process gives us the best opportunity to address several issues that impact SEC fans, including the creation of intriguing matchups, the accommodation of travel for fans, reduced ticket obligations for our schools and a variety of assignments to help prevent repetitive postseason destinations," said Slive.
As for the Birmingham and Advocare V100 games, they will have the next selections of SEC teams should any eligible teams remain, with the Birmingham Bowl selecting first.
