A wild bowl season comes to a close
It wasn’t the best start for the SEC when it came to positive bowl results, but thankfully the bowl season ended on a high.
The LSU Tigers capped the bowl season Tuesday with a 63-7 win over Big Ten West champion Purdue at the Citrus Bowl. Earlier, Mississippi had an emotional win over Illinois at the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa. The game was Mississippi State’s first since the death of head coach Mike Leach.
The conference got off to a sour start, with Florida and Missouri opening bowl seasons with losses to Oregon State and Wake Forest, respectively. The conference’s first victory came in the Liberty Bowl, when Arkansas defeated Kansas 55-53 in three overtimes.
The most exciting game of the bowl season came on New Year’s Eve when Georgia defeated Ohio State to earn a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. The Bulldogs erased two separate 14-point deficits to win the Peach Bowl at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia will face TCU on Monday, January 9th at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for a chance to win its second national championship in as many years.
The SEC finishes the bowl season with a record of 6-5 with one game remaining. Here’s a look back at how the SEC performed during bowl season.
Las Vegas Bowl: Oregon State 30 Florida 3
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Click here for Gators Wire’s Las Vegas Bowl recap.
Gasparilla Bowl: Wake Forest 27 Missouri 17
Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Liberty Bowl: Arkansas 55 Kansas 53 (3 OT)
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Click here for the Razorbacks Wire Liberty Bowl recap.
Texas Bowl: Texas Tech 42 Ole Miss 25
Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Gator Bowl: Notre Dame 45 South Carolina 38
Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union
Click here to read the Fighting Irish Wire’s Gator Bowl Recap.
Orange Bowl: Tennessee 31 Clemson 14
The Knoxville News Sentinel
Click here to read Vols Wire’s Orange Bowl Recap.
Sugar Bowl: Alabama 45 State of Kansas 20
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To learn more about the Alabama Sugar Bowl win, click here to view the Roll Tide Wire recap.
Music City Bowl: Iowa 21 Kentucky 0
The Tennessee
Click here to read the summary of Hawkeye’s Wire’s Music City Bowl.
Peach peel: Georgia 42 Ohio State 41
Online Athens/Joshua L. Jones
For a recap of Georgia’s stunning Peach Bowl win, check out the UGA Wire round-up.
ReliaQuest Bowl: State of Mississippi 19 Illinois 10
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Citrus Peel: LSU 63 Purdue 7
Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports
Watch LSU Wire’s Citrus Bowl Recap by clicking here.
College Football Playoff National Championship: Georgia vs. TCU (Monday, 6:30 p.m. CT)
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For coverage leading up to the College Football Playoff National Championship, visit the UGA Wire.
Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire
