LSU finished eighth in the BCS Standings, but it will not get the opportunity to play a bowl game in January. Circumstances resulted in the Fighting Tigers playing Clemson in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta.

The Tigers were also a candidate to play in the Cotton, Captial One or Outback Bowl. The Outback Bowl usually takes a team from the SEC East and they did again this year, as South Carolina will play Michigan on New Year’s Day in Tampa.

The SEC wanted Georgia to play in New Year’s Day bowl after coming up short in the SEC Championship game. So the Bulldogs will play Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on January 1st.

The Cotton Bowl was considered a strong candidate for the Tigers after the SEC Title game. But Northern Illinois University (my alma mater) got into a BCS Bowl, which knocked the Sooners out of the BCS. Oklahoma will go to the Cotton and bowl officials thought it would be a good match-up between Texas A&M and the Sooners, two former conference rivals.

While some LSU fans are disappointed in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, you can make the argument the LSU-Clemson match-up is better than the Sugar Bowl, which pits Florida against Louisville.

Clemson finished 14th in the BCS Standings after a 10-and-2 season. They lost to Florida State and Florida. Clemson is number one in the ACC in scoring offense, total offense and passing offense. Quarterback Tajh Boyd averaged nearly 300 yards passing a game. Receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Wtkins are two of the best receivers in the ACC.

LSU has had a lot of success in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl/Peach Bowl. The Tigers are 5-and-0 all-time in this bowl game, outscoring their opponents 147-54. This will be their third trip to the Chick-Fil-A in the Les Miles era. In those two games, LSU did not allow a touchdown.