When media members returned to the press box after LSU’s 21-17 loss to Alabama, two items greeted them: a Chick-fil-A Bowl pamphlet and a Capital One Bowl flier.
It was a stark reminder of LSU’s suddenly recalibrated bowl hopes, which remain in limbo as the Tigers jockey with five other Southeastern Conference schools for two likely spots in a prestigious BCS game.
“That game mostly took us out of championship mode, but now the goal is to stamp that BCS tag on our season,” said senior offensive lineman Josh Dworaczyk.
The task won’t be easy.
The SEC champion is guaranteed a BCS bid, and barring an all-time stunner in the Iron Bowl, LSU is out of that running.
Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M last Saturday kept LSU’s faint conference title aspirations intact, but it may have come at a cost.
Along with Florida, the Aggies and their magnetic freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel are now the Tigers’ prime competition for a Sugar, Fiesta or Rose Bowl berth.
With Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia also ranked in the BCS top 10 and utter chaos likely necessary for LSU to secure a BCS slot, other post-New Year’s bowls have taken notice.
“We’re always interested in LSU,” said Cotton Bowl vice president of communications Charlie Fiss, who attended the LSU-South Carolina game last month. “Right now, there’s not enough dust settled for any official talks to be under way. Other bowls pick ahead of us, but you hope for a team of [LSU’s] caliber to still be available.”
Dallas would be a familiar destination for the Tigers, who played at Cowboys Stadium twice in eight months last year. LSU will also open the 2013 season there against TCU in the Cowboys Classic.
The Capital One Bowl has sent representatives to every LSU game since the beginning of October and traditionally includes the most attractive SEC team that doesn’t crash the BCS party.
“We have a strong relationship with LSU, but I don’t want to mischaracterize the process,” said Greg Creese, the Florida Citrus Sports director of communications. “We speak with schools throughout the year, but there are no invites until things are certain. Our membership casts ballots in two weeks that we don’t even open until Selection Sunday [on Dec. 2].”
LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Herb Vincent called any bowl projections “premature,” saying the week after the Arkansas game is “prime time” for official decisions.
“There is no rhyme or reason or consistency to the process,” Vincent said. “Right now, it’s just bowl representatives making themselves visible at our games. … Not much can be locked in until the SEC Championship.”
With six-win Vanderbilt currently the next available bowl-eligible league team after the SEC’s Super Six, Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve figures to be LSU’s worst-case scenario.
All of this is assuming the Tigers win out, which players say is getting lost in the bowl discussion shuffle.
“What’s at stake right now is Ole Miss and getting the win this week to keep goals in sight,” said senior defensive tackle Josh Downs. “That’s my mindset right now, and I think the team’s is pretty close to that.”
That doesn’t mean preferences are absent among players. Redshirt senior defensive end Lavar Edwards cited all three of the aforementioned non-BCS bowls as his favorite bowl experiences during his career, though he ultimately preferred the Capital One Bowl.
Senior wide receiver Russell Shepard admitted players can’t always maintain that tunnel vision and will often try to pin down their holiday destination.
“We’re only human, so of course we’re gonna talk about it,” he said. “You hear stuff from the Fiesta or even the Rose to the Cotton Bowl. This team has made the BCS our focal point — we feel like that’s the elite level, how you define yourself as the best.”
