A busy Thanksgiving weekend filled with rivalry games did little to narrow the focus of the Gator Bowl for the two teams it will match Jan. 1 at EverBank Field.
The SEC championship game on Saturday between Auburn and South Carolina will do more to determine the final pairing of SEC and Big Ten teams to play in Jacksonville. The Gator Bowl is in the first year of a four-year conference affiliation deal after the Gator Bowl matched the ACC, Big East, Big 12 and Notre Dame for 15 years.
The Gator Bowl favorites remain the Florida and Penn State, two teams that lost their final regular-season games to finish at 7-5. But Iowa's loss to Minnesota (also dropping the Hawkeyes to 7-5) might result in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, which picks a Big Ten team ahead of the Gator, opting for the Nittany Lions.
Iowa has been to the Outback Bowl four times since 2004. Penn State has played in the event three times since 1996.
Although both lost last week, Iowa is on a three-game losing streak and went 2-4 in the second half of the season. Penn State was 4-2 over the same span.
"We'd be extremely happy with either Penn State or Iowa," said Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett, who also pointed out that Michigan (7-5) and Illinois (6-5 with a game remaining Saturday against Fresno State) remain on the bowl's board.
If Auburn beats South Carolina, the Tigers would go the BCS national championship game and the Sugar Bowl is likely to pick up Arkansas as its replacement for losing Auburn to Glendale, Ariz.
Under the SEC bowl lineup (and most projections), the Capital One Bowl in Orlando would take Alabama to play Michigan State, the Outback Bowl would snap up South Carolina to face Iowa or Penn State and the Chick-fil-A Bowl would take Mississippi State to face the loser of the ACC championship game between Florida State and Virginia Tech.
The would leave Florida to the Gator Bowl, almost by default. The Gator could consider Georgia, Tennessee or Kentucky, who are all 6-6. One edge Georgia and Tennessee might have over the Gators is that they won their final games over archrivals (Georgia over Georgia Tech, and Tennessee over Kentucky), while the Gators limped to the finish with losses to South Carolina and Florida State.
Without eliminating any bowl-eligible team, Catlett pointed out that it's more than a debate on whether to take a 6-6 team over the 7-5 Gators.
"The three teams at 6-6 in this mix all lost to Florida," Catlett said of Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. "That's something that has to be taken into consideration."
The Gator Bowl will be able to announce its teams until after the BCS Selection Show on Sunday night.
