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BYU Football: The Cougars will play in one of these nine bowls

By Shaun Gordon

SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 21: Jamaal Williams #21 of the Brigham Young Cougars carries the offensive player of the year award offstage after defeating the Wyoming Cowboys 24-21 in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium December 21, 2016 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 21: Jamaal Williams #21 of the Brigham Young Cougars carries the offensive player of the year award offstage after defeating the Wyoming Cowboys 24-21 in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium December 21, 2016 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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SHREVEPORT, LA – DECEMBER 27: Photograph of the Independence Bowl logo on top of scoreboard during the MainStay Independence Bowl game between the University of Mississippi Ole Miss Rebels and the University of Nebraska Huskers at Independence Stadium on December 27, 2002 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Mississippi defeated the Nebraska 27-23. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
SHREVEPORT, LA – DECEMBER 27: Photograph of the Independence Bowl logo on top of scoreboard during the MainStay Independence Bowl game between the University of Mississippi Ole Miss Rebels and the University of Nebraska Huskers at Independence Stadium on December 27, 2002 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Mississippi defeated the Nebraska 27-23. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

SEC & AAC Tie-Ins

Yes, the best (and they’ll let you know it) conference in college football may not be able to fill all of their bowl games.

Of course that’s because the SEC will likely place three teams in NY6 bowls, which would create 12 total bowl slots for the conference.

But the SEC will only have 11 eligible teams, meaning that if three teams do play in the prime bowls there will be more bowls than possible teams.

The American Athletic Conference has seven bowl tie-ins, but UCF will likely reach a NY6 bowl to create eight openings instead. Six teams are currently bowl eligible, and both SMU and Tulane still have a chance to reach six wins.

So there’s a good likelihood that both the SEC and AAC will have at least one open slot:

Independence Bowl – Shreveport, LA

December 27, 11:30am MT, $1.25 Million Payout

If the Cougars head to the Bayou after Christmas, they’ll be taking on an ACC team and earning a decent payout.

Plus, if BYU fans want to see a Kalani Sitake v. Bronco Mendenhall bowl game, this is the most likely destination.

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Birmingham Bowl – Birmingham, AL

December 22, 10:00am MT, $1.65 Million Payout

This is a matchup between the SEC and the AAC, so one or both of these slots could be left unfilled.

While it’s not exactly a destination location for Cougar Nation, they’d likely draw a solid opponent and receive a pretty hefty payout.

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Cure Bowl – Orlando, FL

December 15, 12:30pm MT, $751,000 Payout

This would be scraping the bottom of the barrel for BYU. If they fill the AAC’s open slot in the Cure Bowl, they’ll be taking on a Sun Belt team in one of the earliest games in the bowl season.

Plus this used to be the Miami Beach Bowl…

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