Sports Illustrated projects Texas to play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl

Anyone interested in a trip to New Orleans to bring in the new year?

Bourbon Street. Texas Longhorns football.

Playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 1 is still a realistic possibility for head coach Tom Herman’s team, as Sports Illustrated projects that the Longhorns will head to Louisiana to face off against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Basically, SI is projecting Texas as the Big 12 champion right now, with Oklahoma earning an at-large bid for the Peach Bowl, West Virginia heading to the Camping World Bowl, and Iowa State drawing the Alamo Bowl bid.

SB Nation isn’t quite as generous with its projection, slotting Texas in the Alamo Bowl, which receives the first pick among the bowl partners for the Big 12. The reason? A loss in the Big 12 championship game to Oklahoma, which is fair given that the last time those two teams met on a neutral field, the postgame win expectancy for Texas was only nine percent.

If the Longhorns manage to take care of business in Lawrence to clinch a berth in the Big 12 championship game, the bowl berth will come down to whether Texas can claim the conference title. Doing so would lock in that trip to New Orleans since the Horns aren’t in contention for the College Football Playoff.

Losing to Kansas could result in Texas missing out on the championship game and potentially ending up in the Camping World Bowl.

Losing in the championship game would likely result in the Alamo Bowl bid projected by SB Nation.

So those are the scenarios that are in play now with one game left in the regular season and a likely trip to Jerry World looming that could come to pass even with a loss against the Jayhawks.