re: Is the SEC such an NFL pump that bowl games really don't mean anything anymore?

Well, early on the bowl games were merely a reward for the teams to go play in a different part of the country and experience new places play new OOC teams. Then, they decided to include the bowls in the "polls" and they meant something dir the MNC.

I could see it revert back to that for the teams not in the playoff. Plus one of the biggest reasons for making a bowl is the extra practice the team gets.