The Cardinal could end up facing its 2009 Sun Bowl opponent, Oklahoma, if the Sooners win Bedlam. Where is Georgia going to play in a bowl game? Excellent question, and one that's impossible to answer at this point. Now if you couch it to ask, where might. Georgia's only chance to control its bowl destiny slipped away when the Bulldogs blew a halftime lead and allowed LSU to run away with a 42-10 win in Saturday's SEC championship game.
Sugar Bowl: Michigan vs. Houston.
Most bowl projections have had Michigan headed to the
Sugar Bowl in recent weeks. It does appear the Wolverines will play in a BCS game, but suddenly the Fiesta Bowl is also a possible landing spot.
Going into Saturday, Michigan needed some help to be in a position to land an at-large bid to a BCS bowl game. Thanks to an upset and some blowouts, the Wolverines did get quite a bit of help, but not quite enough to silence all doubt about them ending up in a BCS game. While it certainly looks like Michigan will jump into the top 14 and be one of the at-large teams, there are no guarantees. And even if the Wolverines do make the BCS, right now it's not clear where they would go or who they would play.
As it stands right now, the general consensus among the many bowl projections out there is that Michigan is headed to a BCS game. As has been the case the last few weeks, the most often mentioned destination is the
Sugar Bowl, where Michigan was expected to play Houston. Since the Cougars lost on Saturday, there are a few teams that could end up in New Orleans to potentially take on the Wolverines. To say the least, there are a ton of different scenarios out there for Michigan's bowl game, so let's break everything down and take a look at the situation at hand.
Path to the
Sugar Bowl
Michigan has been predicted to end up in the
Sugar Bowl for weeks based on LSU and Alabama meeting in the BCS National Championship. LSU is for sure going to be in the game and will be ranked No. 1 in the nation, meaning the
Sugar Bowl will get the first at-large selection to fill the vacancy created by losing the SEC champion. Normally Alabama would get this spot, but if the Crimson Tide end up playing LSU in the title game, then the
Sugar Bowl will have to look elsewhere. This is where Michigan comes in as the most attractive at-large option and becomes one of the teams playing in the
Sugar Bowl.
Who will the Wolverines play if this scenario plays out and they end up in the
Sugar Bowl? Right now it's not clear. If TCU moves into the top 16 of the final BCS standings and automatically qualifies for an at-large bid, chances are the Horned Frogs would play Michigan. If TCU fails to crack the top 16, however, Michigan could potentially be matched up against Kansas State (at-large bid), Boise State (at-large bid) or even West Virginia (Big East champion). It would come down to which team the
Sugar Bowl thinks is the most attractive in terms of the matchup. The consensus seems to be that Kansas State would be selected to play Michigan, but given all that happened with Michigan and West Virginia and Rich Rodriguez, it would not be surprising if the
Sugar Bowl went with a Wolverines/Mountaineers matchup.
Prediction
To arrive at a prediction for where Michigan will be playing this upcoming bowl season, some questions need to be answered. For starters, will Michigan crack the top 14 of the BCS standings? If no, pencil Michigan in for the Capital One Bowl. If yes, it's necessary to ask this question: Will Oklahoma State or Alabama play LSU in the BCS National Championship? If you go with the former, Michigan is likely headed to the Fiesta Bowl, whereas the latter likely puts Michigan in the
Sugar Bowl.
After sorting through everything, my prediction is that Michigan will take on Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. I do think Michigan will be ranked in the top 14, and I think Oklahoma State will surprisingly jump up to No. 2 in the nation. This scenario would put Alabama in the
Sugar Bowl and open up the door for the Fiesta Bowl to put together a matchup between Michigan and Stanford that features Denard Robinson vs. Andrew Luck and the team that wanted Jim Harbaugh a year ago vs. the team that Jim Harbaugh left a year ago.
Should Alabama make the BCS National Championship, I expect Michigan to be matched up against West Virginia in the
Sugar Bowl. I do not think TCU will be in the top 16, and I don't see the
Sugar Bowl going with Kansas State as Michigan's opponent. Michigan/West Virginia is the more appealing matchup, as it would almost certainly be dubbed the "Rich Rodriguez Bowl." There are storylines galore with this matchup, and that can't be said about Michigan/Kansas State.
To sum this all up, Michigan seems to be in good shape as far as the BCS is concerned. Where specifically Michigan will end up depends on what happens with the BCS National Championship.
