SEC Bowl Games 2011-2012: Seven Teams In Seven Games Other Than BCS National Championship

Dont'a Hightower #30 of the Alabama Crimson Tide calls the defense against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Nine teams from the SEC are in eight different bowl games. The biggest is obviously the BCS National Championship game, where the LSU Tigers face the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The SEC has gone and made some money in the 2011-12 season. Nine of their 12 member schools have managed to become bowl eligible. Predictably, all nine of those teams were invited to play in bowl games, due to the ticket sales and television audience that they will likely produce. The Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers face off in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, but there are seven other bowls involving teams from the SEC.

Five out of the eight bowls involving SEC teams are January bowl games, an incredible haul for one conference. The earliest bowl game involving an SEC team is on Dec. 30. Seriously. Here's the entire schedule of bowl games involving SEC teams.

Music City Bowl: Dec. 30, 6:40 p.m. ET

Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Liberty Bowl: Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. ET

Vanderbilt Commodores vs. Cincinnati Bearcats

Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ET

Auburn Tigers vs. Virginia Cavaliers

Gator Bowl: Jan. 2, 1 p.m. ET

Florida Gators vs. Ohio State Buckeyes

Capitol One Bowl: Jan. 2, 1 p.m. ET

South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Outback Bowl: Jan. 2, 1 p.m. ET

Georgia Bulldogs vs. Michigan State Spartans

Cotton Bowl: Jan. 6, 8 p.m. ET

Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Kansas State Wildcats

BCS National Championship Game: Jan. 9, 8:30 p.m. ET

LSU Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

For more on each bowl game pairing and a complete schedule, stay tuned to SB Nation's 2011 college football bowl game coverage. And visit our many college football blogs.