LSU on Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Outback radar

• By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Dec 4, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Georgia Tech on Wednesday accepted a bid to the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Will LSU be joining the Yellow Jackets?

“Isn’t speculation pretty strong that it’s the Atlanta, Chick-fil-A Bowl?,” LSU coach Les Miles said Tuesday.

LSU (7-5) looks likely to land in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 in Atlanta. But the invitation might not come until as late as Sunday, when the bowl selections are announced.

“I think we’re at the Chick-fil-A, but who knows? We could still wind up a lot of other places,” LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva said Wednesday.

The biggest holdup is if No. 22 Ole Miss (8-4), which has won five consecutive games and won 31-30 at current No. 2 Florida, has pulled ahead of No. 17 Georgia (9-3) in the eyes of the Capital One Bowl. Georgia, the preseason No. 1 in the nation, lost two of its last four, including a 45-42 loss at home to Georgia Tech.

“We understand they’re (the Outback Bowl is) still Georgia, and Ole Miss is still the Cotton Bowl,” Gary Stokan said. “… We’ve just got to wait for the SEC to tell us what the Capital One and the Cotton Bowl are doing, and we’ll be prepared to make a decision.”

Eight Southeastern Conference teams are bowl-eligible.

“It looks like LSU and South Carolina are in our sights right now,” Stokan said.

The intrigue of the Capital One selection is this: Should the Capital One take Ole Miss, then LSU would likely go to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, with Georgia getting chosen by the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

That scenario would occur because, after the BCS takes its teams, the Capital One gets first pick. Then, choosing equally, the Cotton has first choice of Western Division teams, and the Outback has first pick of Eastern Division teams. LSU is in the Western Division, while Georgia is in the Eastern Division.

“That’s exactly a possibility,” Alleva said of LSU making the Cotton Bowl, where the Tigers would have to face a powerful Big 12 foe like Texas Tech. That would have South Carolina (7-5), which is a possibility for the Outback Bowl, instead landing in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

The Outback Bowl could also choose LSU instead of South Carolina, an Eastern Division team. LSU does have a head-to-head win over the Gamecocks, but the Outback Bowl has traditionally chosen an Eastern Division team.

The other stalling point, possibly, is to make sure the loser of the SEC title game between No. 1 Alabama (12-0) and No. 2 Florida (11-1) will qualify for a BCS bowl, if only because one BCS slot for the SEC is guaranteed. This is considered more of a formality, however.