2010 Bowl Projections: Is LSU-Arkansas A Sugar Bowl Play-In Game?

It's been assumed that if Auburn made it to the BCS National Championship Game, an SEC team would slide into the Sugar Bowl as an at-large selection. Now, we have our first confirmation of that from a Sugar Bowl official.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Matt Jones tweets as much:

A Sugar Bowl rep confirmed what we have believed all along: This is a play-in for the Sugar Bowl if Auburn wins SEC Championship.

That's always made a lot of sense. The SEC champion is ticketed for the Sugar Bowl in years that the SEC champion fails to make the BCS National Championship Game; since that hasn't happened since 2005, the Sugar Bowl has been taking the second-best SEC team for the last few years, which has typically been the team that makes the most geographic sense for the New Orleans-based bowl.

And in years that LSU is BCS-eligible, the Sugar Bowl all but salivates over the chance to get an in-state powerhouse playing a virtual home game.