Plenty of possibilities for Gamecocks' bowl future

COLUMBIA -- Even after the biggest win of the season, you'll need a doctorate in |"bowlology" to figure out where South Carolina will end up for the holiday season.

USC's 34-17 win Saturday against 15th-ranked Clemson got the Gamecocks a coveted seventh victory, but it doesn't assure them of any certain postseason fate.

With a logjam of six SEC teams at seven wins, it might take an MIT professor to figure out the bowl pecking order. Think about it: Half the league finished the regular season at 7-5.

The Gamecocks could still wind up anywhere from Florida to northern Louisiana (Shreveport), depending on the whims of the bowls -- especially their financial leanings.

USC joins Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee at 7-5.

Florida and Alabama figure to be in the BCS, leaving nine SEC-affiliated bowls.

The Capital One will likely take 9-3 LSU. The Cotton could take 8-4 Ole Miss, even though the Rebels were there last season.

The Outback seems tilted toward 7-5 Tennessee, which won in overtime at Kentucky, but that's no guarantee.

Georgia's upset of Georgia Tech means the Bulldogs are a strong possibility to stay in Georgia and play in the Dec. 31 Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

That might've been a logical option for the Gamecocks, who haven't been to that bowl since 1969. But then Georgia went out and won, against long odds.

"I don't know why it hasn't worked out over the years," said Chick-fil-A representative Art Gregory, who was in Columbia on Saturday. "You would think, with the proximity to Atlanta, that South Carolina would be strong candidate."

The Liberty might lean toward Arkansas, because it's one of the closer bowl sites to Fayetteville, but others could factor in there.

The Music City, Independence and Papajohns.com bowls would then pick from the Gamecocks, Auburn and Kentucky.

Note that USC is the only one of those teams to finish the season with a victory (and against an ACC division winner, at that), but it's not as if any one factor plays into a bowl's decision.

A lot of things are involved, but money is chief. Bowls are businesses, after all.

Right now, there's really no way to predict the immediate future with great assurance.

"It's so hard to say right now where anyone is going," said Outback Bowl scout Scott Skornschuk, who was in attendance Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Even the folks in Tampa aren't ruling USC out -- despite USC's 31-10 loss to Iowa last season. USC didn't travel particularly well a year ago, but that was on the heels of some dreadful showings at Florida and Clemson.

USC was much more together in both games this season.

"I don't think last year will have any influence on what we decide to do this year," Skornschuk said. "This is a new season and South Carolina has represented itself very well in the past at the Outback Bowl."

If you were expecting the picture to become clear after this weekend, you'll have to keep waiting.

"There's still a lot of jostling and negotiating that has to be done between the SEC, the teams and the bowls," Gregory said. "I'm not sure anyone will know until later in the week who is going where. Obviously, we'd like to get things settled sooner rather than later."

Entering the week, a lot of bowl projections had the Gamecocks headed to the Independence Bowl (Dec. 28, Shreveport). But that was probably based on a USC loss.

"I think that changes a lot of things," Gregory said. "I don't think there's any question that this win moves South Carolina up the food chain as far as bowl destinations. I would imagine that someone would be very happy getting South Carolina and their tremendous fan following."