There were a lot of bookies, bettors and sportswriters who anticipated a clean sweep for the SEC in the post season bowl games for this year. Las Vegas oddsmakers seemed to agree because the SEC teams went into each one of these bowl games as the odds on favorite to win the contest. Not everyone agreed and it turns out that the SEC doubters had a good case after all.
The Vanderbilt Commodores went up to Nashville to play North Carolina State in the Music City Bowl as 6.5 point favorites. Vandy has long been considered one of the weakest teams in the SEC but the Commodores finished out the season with seven straight wins to gain their place in Nashville. They scored 28 points in the first half and beat NC State 38-24.
Then came the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida where Mississippi State went into the game as 2.5 point favorites over the #21 ranked Northwestern Wildcats from the Big 10. Bulldog Quarterback Tyler Russell had 4 passes picked off before it was over and Northwestern won the day by a final score of 34-20.
Next we saw the Chick-fil-A Bowl from Atlanta featuring Tigers on both sides of the ball. The #9 ranked LSU Tigers verses the #14 ranked Clemson Tigers. LSU was favored by 4.5 points by the Vegas bookmakers. It turned out to be one of the most exciting football games of the season with Clemson finally kicking a field goal with just two seconds remaining to win the contest by the slim margin of 25-24.
So it was Go Tigers instead of Geaux Tigers, this time.
The biggest surprise of the post season came in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans where #4 Florida took on the Cardinals of Louisville who were ranked #22.
The Gators were favored by a whopping 14.5 points but that just was not to be. Louisville came to play football and the Gators were flat as could be. Terell Floyd intercepted a Florida pass on the first play from scrimmage and ran it back for a touchdown with only 12 seconds off the clock. It was all downhill from there for the Gators. Final Score: Louisville 33-Florida 23.
The two strongest SEC showings so far in the post season games were presented by the Georgia Bulldogs who defeated Nebraska 45-31 and the South Carolina Gamecocks who beat Michigan by a score of 33-28.
