Did I say Liberty? I mean't Music City!

Okay, mark me down for one mistake at least. I forgot about Kentucky!

With only eight SEC teams qualified for the post season and one SEC practically assured of playing for the national title (I still think there is a risk Florida won't make it with a victory over Alabama but I hope I'm wrong), the Memphis Liberty Bowl and the Nashville Music Bowl will be select from the last two SEC teams.

Each of these two bowls submit their list of preferences and the SEC decides who will go where. If The principal motivating factor for a bowl is to make money, which means selling tickets and hotel rooms. Kentucky has a large and proven fan base and has played in the Music City Bowl for the last two years in a row. Vanderbilt is the smallest school in the SEC and hasn't been to a bowl in 26 years. In other words, smaller fan base and unknown post-season turnout.

I would expect the Liberty folks and the SEC to want Kentucky to go Memphis. It would be a new venue for Kentucky fans to visit while still close to its home state (important in these tough economic times!).

The Nashville media's take is that a Music City bowl bid is a bad thing for Vanderbilt and Nashville. I completely disagree for the following reasons:

• It's a Vanderbilt bowl - The old adage of beggars can't be choosers applies here. I'd be happy with the Joe the Plumber Bowl. I think most Vandy fans are just excited its happening at all.
  
• Vandy alumni are nationwide & global - I don't have the statistics handy, but its safe to say that Vanderbilt has the lowest percentage of local state residents of any SEC school. This means more hotel rooms sold to visiting Vandy fans.
  
• Tough economic times - With the financial markets in turmoil, home foreclosures, and massive layoffs, people don't have as much (if any) disposable income, especially this time of year of gift giving. So the college bowls are also facing the same beggars can't be choosers adage. One has to ask the question if a more distant school is selected that enough people would travel to make a difference for hotel rooms.
  
• Grow the local fan base - If Vanderbilt is going to grow its fan base, it will have to win over Middle Tennessee. Many UT fans are also part-time Vandy fans. But the last twenty years has produced little on the field for these fans to get excited about. With UT down and changing coaches, Vandy has a great opportunity to enthuse these part-time fans over the coming seasons. A local bowl game will help that.
  
• Other bowls are doing it - Even with only a few bowl announcements prior to this final weekend of games, we already know that Rice will be at home in Houston for the Texas Bowl and Georgia Tech will be playing in the Chick-Fil-A bowl which is less than three miles from their own campus!

Vandy Likely for Liberty Bowl

When the season began, my expectations were not very high:

I would expect wins against Rice and Duke, and possible victories against Miami(OH) and maybe Ole Miss. After that things get more dicey with Mississippi State (who went to a bowl last season) and perhaps Kentucky or Wake Forest. I'll be happy with a four win season or a signature upset win, such as against Auburn (we haven't beaten them since 1955) or Florida (last win 1988) or Tennessee (how sweet that victory would be).

Who would have predicted a 5-0 start, another victory over South Carolina, a first win over Auburn in over half a century, and a visit to College Gameday to Vanderbilt campus. There was the inevitable tailspin of four straight losses including the weaker teams of Mississippi State and Duke. There were also the disappointing losses against Tennessee and Wake Forest. However, the glory of victory against Kentucky clinched our first bowl eligible season in a quarter-century.

Here are my prediction on bowl games if Bama wins the SEC Championship:

• National - Alabama
• Sugar - Florida
• Capital One - Ole Miss
• Cotton - LSU
• Outback - Georgia
• Chick-Fil-A - South Carolina
• Liberty - Vandy

If Florida wins the SEC Championship, I'm afraid there is a good chance they won't play for the national title thanks to the BCS B.S. In this case, I see the bowls shaking out this way:

• Sugar - Florida
• Capital One - Alabama
• Cotton - Ole Miss
• Outback - Georgia
• Chick-Fil-A - LSU
• Liberty - Vandy
• Music City - South Carolina

In either case, it looks like the Liberty Bowl will go for Vanderbilt. The Chick-Fil-A bowl people said they would only consider the 'Dores if they could beat both Tennessee and Wake Forest, which obviously did not happen. Considering this, it is doubtful would get any better consideration with the higher ranked bowls.

While it would be convenient to play in the Music City bowl, there is a concern that not as many hotel rooms would be sold by selecting a local team. It may not be up them anyway since the Liberty Bowl selects first and there are a shortage of bowl eligible SEC teams this year.

Holy Schniky! Vandy is Bowl Eligible!

Vandy beats Kentucky with a big help from D.J. Moore - his first two receptions were both touchdowns plus an interception. We are now bowl eligible for the first time in 26 years. This will be the first time that both Kentucky and Vandy are bowl eligible in the same season. UK has played in the Music City bowl for the past two years.