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SEC Football: What the new SEC bowl game alignment means for Tennessee and Vanderbilt

By Colton Pickard

NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 24: Khari Blasingame #23 of the Vanderbilt Commodores plays during a 38-13 victory over the University of Tennessee at Vanderbilt Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 24: Khari Blasingame #23 of the Vanderbilt Commodores plays during a 38-13 victory over the University of Tennessee at Vanderbilt Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /
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The SEC announced on Tuesday they would be switching things up with their bowl games for the future including adding two bowls starting in 2020. This could add extra motivation for Tennessee and Vanderbilt to get a bid to one of the new bowls.

The two bowls the SEC will be adding into their rotation in 2020 is the Las Vegas Bowl and the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Those bowls are a long way from Tennessee but adding new bowls could be a fun, new thing the SEC will be doing in the future. The SEC will be participating in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2020, 2022, and 2024. They will be alternating with the Belk Bowl where they will participate in 2021, 2023, and 2025.

Other bowls the SEC has extended their contracts with are the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, the Outback Bowl in Tampa, the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl in Nashville, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl in Houston, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis and the Birmingham Bowl.

"“We are pleased to have an SEC bowl lineup that provides exciting destinations for our student-athletes and traveling fans,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “We enjoy great relationships with some of the best bowl games in college football and this lineup will continue to provide a wide array of rewarding bowl game experiences for our student-athletes and fans in celebration of a successful season.”"

The Music City Bowl will be shaken up as well. Since 2014, the ACC and Big Ten have shared affiliation, but the ACC will be dropped in 2020. From then on it will be SEC versus Big Ten until the bowl decides to add another conference. The Citrus Bowl will have the first selection among SEC teams after the College Football Playoff field is decided, but there is a twist. The bowl will not decide what SEC team will be participating in their bowl game. Instead, the SEC will also assist in deciding where each team goes based off location for each team and which bowl seems to be the best fit in the SEC’s eyes.

I’ve never been a fan of conference alignments for bowl games, at least for the smaller bowl games. The prospect of adding new locations like Las Vegas and Tampa is exciting. The new bowls could also add a little extra competitive edge and incentive in Tennessee and Vanderbilt’s season finale when the winner could get a spot in the Las Vegas Bowl compared to the loser going to the Birmingham Bowl or Liberty Bowl. Nothing against either of those bowl games but I would much rather be in Las Vegas than Memphis or Birmingham.

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If you have wanted the SEC to branch out and participate in more or different bowls, then get ready because 2020 is going to be a fun one for you. If successful, this could lead to the SEC exploring more bowls outside of the ones they already participate in. Of course, they are going to stay in the Southeast but maybe adding a bowl like the Las Vegas bowl every five or six years to spice things up could be something the SEC might be aiming for.

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