At this point, the most fascinating thing about projecting the SEC's bowl participants is not picking the top teams on the list.

That will shake out over the next couple of weeks, particularly with upcoming matchups such as LSU-Alabama and Florida-Georgia, which could all but determine the two division champions. It's anybody's guess as to which of the lower-tier SEC teams will even reach the postseason, however.

After Saturday's overtime victory against Auburn (4-3), should we now expect Arkansas (3-4) to be a bowl team? And where in the world will Auburn get the necessary two additional wins to make it to a bowl when its remaining opponents are Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Georgia, Idaho and Alabama?

What about Missouri? The Tigers (4-4) just ran their streak of touchdown-less games to three with a loss to Vanderbilt. Getting to six wins will hardly be a given for Gary Pinkel's club.

The SEC got 12 teams into bowl season last year, but it seems more and more likely that the total will be smaller this year. We'll give these teams the benefit of the doubt for now, but some of them have to pick it up considerably or they'll be watching from home during the postseason.

Here are this week's SEC projections:

College Football Playoff semifinal (Cotton Bowl): LSU

Allstate Sugar Bowl: Alabama

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: Florida

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl: Ole Miss

AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Mississippi State

TaxSlayer Bowl: Georgia

Outback Bowl: Texas A&M

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Kentucky

Belk Bowl: Tennessee

AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl: Arkansas

Birmingham Bowl: Missouri

Camping World Independence Bowl: Auburn

Outside looking in: South Carolina and Vanderbilt.