Wondering what the lines are for the SEC’s bowl games this holiday season?  Here’s an updated look and, yes, the Vegas bookmakers know full well that betters will be plunking down big cash on SEC teams based on their reputation.  That’s why every single team from Mike Slive’s league opened as a favorite:

Music City Bowl in Nashville – Monday, Dec. 31st

Vanderbilt vs NC State

Opened:  VU -5

Current:  VU -7 (moved up a half-point this week)

Chik-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta – Monday, Dec. 31st

LSU vs Clemson

Opened:  LSU -3

Current:  LSU -4 (no change this week)

Gator Bowl in Jacksonville – New Year’s Day

Mississippi State vs Northwestern

Opened:  MSU -2

Current:  MSU -2 (no change this week)

Outback Bowl in Tampa – New Year’s Day

South Carolina vs Michigan

Opened:  USC -4.5

Current:  USC -5 (no change this week)

Capital One Bowl in Orlando – New Year’s Day

Georgia vs Nebraska

Opened:  UGA -8.5

Current:  UGA -10 (no change this week)

Sugar Bowl in New Orleans – Wednesday, Jan. 2nd

Florida vs Louisville

Opened:  UF -15

Current:  UF -13.5 (moved down a half-point)

Cotton Bowl in Arlington – Friday, Jan. 4th

Texas A&M vs Oklahoma

Opened:  A&M -3

Current:  A&M -4.5 (no change this week)

BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham – Saturday, Jan. 5th

Ole Miss vs Pittsburgh

Opened:  UM -2

Current:  UM -3.5 (no change this week)

BCS Championship Game – Monday, Jan. 7th

Alabama vs Notre Dame

Opened:  UA -9.5

Current:  UA -10 (moved up a half-point)

Nine bowl games – still nine SEC favorites, three of them double-digits. The first SEC bowl games kickoff two weeks from Monday.

New Arkansas defensive coordinator Chris Ash reportedly has interest in staying at Wisconsin as head coach
Vanderbilt has sold more than 17,000 tickets for the Music City Bowl
Florida has sold just 6,500 tickets for the Sugar Bowl
Former Tennessee assistant coaches Darin Hinshaw and Blake Rolan joining Tommy Tuberville’s staff at Cincinnati
The SEC will not suspend Alabama DE Quinton Dial for his hit on Georgia QB Aaron Murray in SEC title game
The SEC will not suspend Georgia CB Sheldon Dawson for his eye-gouge of Alabama CB Dee Milliner in the SEC title game
11 of the 26 players on the FWAA All-America team come from the SEC
Friday night SEC basketball
Boise State 89 – LSU 70
Ole Miss 77 – East Tennessee State 55
Follow the SEC every single day at MrSEC.com and twitter.com/mrsec

Bowl season kicks off in six days.  Here are the SEC bowl matchups and where the lines currently stand.

Music City Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina State.  Commodores opened as a 5.5 point favorite.  Most offshore lines now have Vanderbilt as a 6.5 or 7-point favorite.

Chik-Fil-A Bowl: LSU vs. Clemson.  Louisiana’s Tigers opened as a 3.5 point favorite.  LSU remains a 3.5 or 4-point favorite.

Gator Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Northwestern. Bulldogs opened as 2-point favorite.  That line has held steady – MSU favored by 2 or 2.5.

Capital One Bowl: Georgia vs. Nebraska. Bulldogs opened as a 8.5 point favorite – it’s now up to 10 points.

Outback Bowl: South Carolina vs. Michigan.  Gamecocks opened a 6-point favorite.  That line has moved down a point to 5.

Sugar Bowl: Florida vs. Louisville.  Gators opened as 15-point favorite.  It’s now down to 13 or 13.5.

Cotton Bowl: Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma. Aggies opened a 3-point favorite.  That line has moved up to 4.5

Compass Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Pittsburgh. Rebels opened a 2-point favorite. It’s now up to 3.5 points.

BCS National Championship: Alabama vs. Notre Dame.  Crimson Tide opened as a 10.5 favorite.  That line is now 10 points at most offshore books.

That’s nine games – the SEC favored in every single one.

BCS National Championship - Alabama vs. Notre Dame

Sugar Bowl - Florida vs. Louisville where the Gators will face their former defensive coordinator in Cardinals coach Charlie Strong

Capital One Bowl – Georgia vs. Nebraska

Chik-Fil-A Bowl - LSU vs. Clemson

Cotton Bowl - Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma in a matchup of old Big 12 rivals. Big 12 coaches tried to maneuver Oklahoma into a BCS bowl game without success.

Outback Bowl – South Carolina vs. Michigan.

Music City Bowl – Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina State (Vanderbilt also announced that James Franklin is getting a contract extension).

Gator Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Northwestern.

BBVA Compass Bowl - Ole Miss vs. Pittsburgh

Kentucky’s announced attendance last Saturday against Vanderbilt was 44,092 – actual attendance was 18,885
Auburn football hires security firm to enforce curfews
Vanderbilt coach James Franklin asked Wednesday if he’s getting interest from other schools: “We don’t get into that”
Georgia coach Mark Richt will need offseason hip replacement surgery
Texas A&M O-Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury on rumors tying him to Kentucky’s job: “I’m just trying to get a first down against Alabama.”
Tennessee defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri on Derek Dooley taking a more active role in the defense: ““He’s the boss. I think it will be good,”
Florida might start using more no-huddle to spark its struggling offense
Georgia QB Aaron Murray on the prospects of facing Alabama in the SEC title game: “I bet they’re going to be huge favorites going into the game, and rightly so.”
Keep up with all the news from across the SEC on MrSEC.com and on twitter at Twitter.com/mrsec

It’s Thursday and people are starting to get a little froggy about the “Champions” Bowl announcement that the SEC and Big XII had said they’d make this week.  No press releases came on Monday.  No press conferences were called on Tuesday.  No news broke yesterday.

But SEC associate commissioner Mark Womack says a decision between the Cotton Bowl in Arlington and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans is coming soon:

“We’re not quite there yet.  The goal was to try to get it done this week.  Whether that will be the case or not, we’re still not quite sure on that.”

We were told by someone in the SEC office yesterday afternoon that it’s still hoped a decision will be announced by the end of the week.

According to The Baton Rouge Advocate, the delay seems to revolve around the number of times the “Champions” Bowl will serve as national semifinal game during the 12-year playoff run that will kick off after the 2014 season.  Womack admitted that getting the SEC, Big XII and ESPN on the same page is tricky:

“Getting two different conferences to work things out and having all of our ADs on board is a little more time-consuming…

“We are talking about a long-term, major deal here.  And we need to have everybody on board and in agreement.  But we’re hopeful to have it done soon.”

Better hurry, guys.  In our microwave society, people want their news yesterday.

Jerry Palm — the computer guru/numbers-cruncher who made a name for himself ranking college basketball teams — has posted his predictions for this season’s bowl matchups.  You might want to hold off on ordering tickets with the season still a month away and all, but for a late-summer read, eh, it’s worth a look.

In chronological order, here’s how Palm expects things to shake out for the SEC’s team this season (the comments after each game are mine):

Music City Bowl, 12/31 (SEC #7 vs ACC #6): Missouri vs Georgia Tech (A so-so first year for Mizzou.)

Liberty Bowl, 12/31 (SEC #8 or #9 vs C-USA #1): Tennessee vs Houston (Enough to save Derek Dooley?)

Chick-fil-A Bowl, 12/31 (SEC #5 vs ACC #2): South Carolina vs Virginia Tech (A disappointment for the Cocks?)

Capital One Bowl, 1/1 (SEC #2 vs Big Ten #2): Georgia vs Michigan State (A rematch from last year and another reason we don’t like automatic tie-ins.)

Gator Bowl, 1/1 (SEC #6 vs Big Ten #4 or #5): Mississippi State vs Iowa (Pretty good expectations for the Bulldogs.)

Outback Bowl, 1/1 (SEC #3 or #4 vs Big Ten #3): Florida vs Nebraska (Will Muschamp makes some progress.)

Sugar Bowl, 1/2 (SEC champ or At-large BCS bid vs At-large BCS team): Alabama vs Louisville (Bama fans still remember the name of Browning Nagle.)

Cotton Bowl, 1/4 (SEC #3 or #4 vs Big 12 #2): Arkansas vs Oklahoma State (Good, but probably not good enough to land John L. Smith the full-time gig.)

BBVA Compass Bowl, 1/5 (SEC #8 or #9 vs Big East #5 or a C-USA fill-in): Auburn vs Cincinnati (Folks would start to have their doubts about Gene Chizik.)

BCS Championship Game, 1/7 (BCS #1 vs BCS #2): LSU vs Southern Cal (Tiger fans won’t have to wonder if Les Miles will play Jarrett Lee.)

The squads Palm doesn’t envision going bowling: Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

Stealing the SEC’s thunder today, a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education states that Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany  is apparently angling for the power to fire coaches.  Yep, the employees of member institutions could be nixed by the commish himself if a proposal the league “is mulling” comes to fruition.

The idea is for Delany to have the power “to penalize individual members of an institution, should their actions significantly harm the league’s reputation.”

Penalize?  Fine.  Fire?  That’s nuts.  Even in light of Joe Paterno’s situation at Penn State.

Mike Slive suspended Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl for eight games in 2011 after he was caught lying to the NCAA.  Most outside the Volunteer State saw that move for what it was — an attempt by Slive to help fend off further NCAA sanctions for an SEC program/coach.  But to think that Slive could have fired Pearl or any other SEC coach?  That’s madness.

Leave it to Delany to “mull” such a move.  And remember, this is the same man who helped convince the NCAA to keep five Ohio State players eligible for their Sugar Bowl date despite the fact that their guilt was already known.

So maybe there needs to be a commish above the commish who can fire the commish when his actions “significantly harm the league’s reputation.”

Whoda thunk it?  The wildest story of the day didn’t come from SEC Media Days.

1.  The Football Bowl Association offered their congratulations to the folks who decided a playoff should include the bowls.

2.  This media member likes the new playoff set-up…

3.  But there are still plenty of unknowns according to this scribe.

4.  And a four-team playoff won’t last long in this writer’s mind.

5.  This writer thinks Auburn’s 2004 snub set the wheels in motion for a playoff.  (Not buying that.  Auburn and other schools have been shafted since.  This one was all about an all-SEC title game.)

6.  Need an early preview of Alabama’s opener with Michigan?  Here ya go.

7.  Nick Saban, Gene Chizik and Les Miles will take part in SEC BeachFest — along with an expected crowd of 10,000 — to kick off the season in late-August.  (Sorry, we’re not going to buy the “Coaches Gone Wild” videos that are sure to emerge.)

8.  The Arkansas state trooper who helped Bobby Petrino after his motorcycle wreck might have broken the law in accepting tickets and a Sugar Bowl ring from the UA program (pre-wreck).

9.  Ex-LSU center Justin Hamilton says he’ll find his way onto an NBA roster one way or another.

10.  Are you following Les Miles on Twitter?  (For that matter, you need to follow us on Twitter and you can do so right here.)

11.  Mississippi State’s Arnett Moultrie will probably be a first-round NBA draft pick… Renardo Sidney will not.

12.  Both State’s Dan Mullen and Ole Miss’ Hugh Freeze are okey-dokey with a playoff system.

13.  Ole Miss has created an “external relations unit.”

14.  Texas A&M has suspended two key contributors on defense for its season opener due to the dreaded violation of team rules.

15.  A rendering of possible renovations for Kyle Field sent Aggie fans into a frenzy yesterday.  (Looks cool, folks.)

16.  A&M linebacker Sean Porter makes the Top 20 of this paper’s “best players in the SEC” list.

17.  Kevin Sumlin talks about his squad’s SEC transition.

18.  Florida will have to face a lot of quality quarterbacks in 2012.

19.  Gator hoops assistant Matt McCall is getting a raise, while Billy Donovan says his team is trying to get an identity.

20.  Georgia’s going to have to start thinking about strength of schedule.

21.  Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham — naturally — hopes to a be a head coach someday.

22.  An NCAA rule change is a great help to UGA hoops coach Mark Fox.

23.  This writer ranks the importance of Kentucky’s 2012 football games.

24.  Breaking down the physics of ex-Cat Anthony Davis’ shot-blocking technique.

25.  Trademarking terms tied to his “unibrow.”  (Yes, really.)

26.  Missouri AD Mike Alden on the school’s $200 million facilities upgrade plan: “I think when (the SEC sees) this amount of work coming out of the chute, it will tell them Mizzou is really serious.”

27.  The Tigers have unveiled an artist’s rendering of their own proposed football stadium upgrades.

28.  The SEC has been at the forefront of the college football playoff debate for a while now.

29.  “Newness” abounds in SEC hoops circles.

UPDATE — A terrifically-researched piece from SI.com’s Stewart Mandel, this column is an absolute must-read.  Great stuff.

One quick vent:  It never fails.  If I have outside business to attend to, that will be the day when news stories pop up from one end of the SEC to the other.  Always.  Guaranteed.  It’s amazing really.  Folks who haven’t said a peep in weeks all decided to write and report on June 27th of all days.  Grrrrrrrrr.  At any rate, sorry for all the links today.  I’ve got opinions on a lot of what you see above, but no time to write ‘em.

It appears that the SEC is getting back together with an old girlfriend.  The Independence Bowl — according to a report from CBSSports.com — will become the SEC’s 10th bowl tie-in partner for the next two seasons.  The SEC’s current bowl contracts all expire after the 2013 season and new many new questions will be answered at that time.  (Will there be a playoff?  Where will the Big 12-SEC “Champions Bowl” be played?  What about the SEC’s tie to the Sugar Bowl?)

While CBS reports the deal is done, bowl officials in Shreveport aren’t ready to make an announcement just yet.  “I can’t comment on anything right now,” said the bowl’s executive director, Missy Setters, to The Shreveport Times.

The SEC had a tie-in with the Louisiana-based game from 1995 through 2009.  In that final SEC game, Georgia faced new SEC rival Texas A&M.  Last year, with Missouri getting the shaft from the Big 12 on the bowl front, the SEC reportedly helped open the door for it’s other expansion partner to go to Shreveport to face North Carolina.  Now those two new SEC members have led Mike Slive to find a new bowl partner and return to the Independence Bowl on a regular basis… for two years, anyway.

The game will feature the 10th selection from the SEC taking on the seventh selection from the ACC.  It’s the third SEC-ACC bowl matchup, along with the Chick-fil-A and Music City Bowls.  This year’s game will have a 2pm ET kickoff on Friday, December 28th.

That’s 10 tie-ins for the SEC — more than any other conference — but with 14 schools in the conference don’t be surprised to see Slive and company cut another deal with a Texas-based bowl.  The league had nine tie-ins for a 12-team league last season.

All of the bowl selections could be impacted, of course, by the number of SEC teams grabbing BCS slots the next two seasons, too.

The full list of SEC bowl partners for 2012 is: Sugar Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Outback Bowl, Chick-fil-A Bowl, Gator Bowl, Music City Bowl, Liberty Bowl, BBVA Compass Bowl, and now Independence Bowl.

Beginning in 2014, we expect to see the SEC with tie-ins to more than one bowl in Texas and a tie to a new St. Louis-based bowl that’s currently just a whisper in the wind.