Who could play in 2018 AutoZone Liberty Bowl?

With the bowl game selections being announced Sunday, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl has begun its final deliberations to see who will receive invitations to the game on Dec. 31.

The game, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, will be at 2:45 p.m. on ESPN. Although Memphis played in last year's Liberty Bowl against Iowa State, Liberty Bowl executive chairman Steve Ehrhart said he expects to have a traditional matchup with a Big 12 team pitted against an SEC team.

Ehrhart added that Liberty Bowl reps were present at four games last weekend. Vanderbilt-Tennessee, MissouriArkansas, TCU-Oklahoma State and Baylor-Texas Tech.

SEC candidates

For the past five seasons, the SEC has decided which teams go to the bowl games even after the bowls have ranked the conference's bowl eligible teams.

The most likely candidates based on projections are South Carolina, Missouri, Mississippi State, Auburn and Texas A&M.

Big 12 candidates

As for the Big 12, the Liberty Bowl has more say on who it would prefer, but the game is fourth in the conference's pecking order behind the Alamo, Camping World and Texas bowls.

The Liberty Bowl most likely could choose from TCU, Baylor or Oklahoma State.

Bowl projections

CBS Sports: Baylor vs. South Carolina

SBNation: Oklahoma State vs. Auburn

Sports Illustrated: Oklahoma State vs. Missouri

Sporting News: West Virginia vs. Mississippi State

Baylor vs. South Carolina/ Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M NBC Sports: Baylor vs. Auburn Bleacher Report: Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi State

ESPN: