Since it has become a national trend to watch conference bowl records around this time of year, I am excited to see that 3 teams on the Gators conference schedule this season grabbed bowl wins over the last few days.
...Kentucky beat Clemson 28-20 in the Music City Bowl, beating a Tigers team who were looked at as one of the better teams in the ACC by many. 'Cats QB Andre Woodson had an awesome day, going 20-28 with 3 TD passes. The Kentucky defense, ranked 118 going into the day, was able to hold the explosive Clemson offense in check for most of the game, forcing 4 turnovers and only allowing 6 points until two late 4th quarter TDs by the Tigers.
...The Ball Coach and his gang won the Liberty Bowl over the Houston Cougars in a shootout, 44-36. The two teams combined for 1029 yards in this one, but Blake Mitchell's 323 yards passing and 4 touchdowns were too much for the Cougars, especially considering South Carolina dominated the TOP category 33:19 to 26:41. Coach Spurrier is now 1-1 in bowls as the Gamecocks' head coach.
...The Georgia Bulldogs came back to beat the Virginia Tech Hokies 31-24 in a very exciting Chic-Fil-A (Peach) Bowl. The 'Dawgs found themselves down 21-3 going into the half in their own backyard, but rallied with 28 straight points to take the lead. This was the first game for new UGA OC Mike Bobo, and it turned out to be a pretty memorable second half of football.
...In non-positive SEC news, Alabama's 2 4th quarter touchdowns were not enough to beat Oklahoma State. The Cowboys kicked a game winning FG with only 8 seconds to go to beat the Crimson Tide, capping off a season of disappointment for the 'Bama players and fans. Joe Kines, the current DC for the Tide, took the role as interim head coach in this one, similar to the way Charlie Strong coached in the 2004 Peach Bowl for the Gators. With that in mind I wasn't expecting much out of the Tide, and my assumptions were somewhat correct despite the close score - the Tide could only manage 276 total yards, committed 8 penalties and had 3 turnovers on their way to the loss.
So there you have it - 3-1 in bowl games for the SEC so far, with several to go. Tennessee takes on Penn State, Auburn takes on Nebraska, Arkansas faces Wisconsin, LSU plays the Irish...and of course the Gators will play OSU for the national title.