Orlando bowl forced to wait.(The Orlando Sentinel)

Byline: Alan Schmadtke

ORLANDO, Fla. _The Capital One Bowl will wait until the conclusion of the Southeastern Conference Championship Game before settling on that half of its New Year's Day game. Then bowl officials will wait until Sunday to see whether Ohio State is swept up by the Bowl Championship Series.

The bowl's selection committee Monday released Ole Miss from consideration, then voted to wait until after the LSU-Georgia title game is played Saturday night in Atlanta to choose an SEC team. Bowl officials could have selected Tennessee or declared themselves ready to pick the SEC title-game loser.

"We're in a holding pattern," Florida Citrus Sports Executive Director Tom Mickle said. "The uncertainty about the BCS picks and whether a second team from the SEC could go up into the BCS could cause us to reconsider, so the committee decided to wait."

LSU (11-1), Georgia (10-2) and Tennessee (10-2) are the only schools being considered.

"All three are ranked in the top eight, so we really can't lose," Mickle said.

Florida (8-4) played itself out of the mix by losing Saturday to Florida State. Because the Gators have two fewer victories than LSU, Georgia and Tennessee, they contractually were eliminated.