Story courtesy of the Bowl Championship Series
Associated Press Photo
The 11 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences and four bowls today announced that 21 teams remain under consideration to participate in the five games that comprise the BCS.
The teams were identified during a teleconference among the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners, the Notre Dame athletics director, and representatives from the Discover Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO. The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the final BCS Standings will meet in the Discover BCS National Championship Game January 7 in South Florida.
The champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern conferences automatically qualify for a BCS game. In addition, the highest-ranked conference champion from among Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conferences earns automatic qualification to one of the BCS games if that champion is ranked No. 12 or better in the final BCS Standings, or No. 16 or better if it is ranked higher than any champion from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or Southeastern conferences. Notre Dame qualifies automatically if it is ranked No. 8 or better.
At-large berths also will be available. The bowls will fill those berths from teams ranked in the top 14 of the final BCS Standings. No conference may place more than two teams in the BCS games, unless the conference has two teams in the National Championship Game, and neither team is its champion.
The final BCS Standings will be compiled Sunday, December 2. The BCS bowl pairings will be announced at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time that day, on ESPN television.
The champions from the six conferences which receive automatic spots in the BCS games have not been determined. The following is a list of teams still contending for their conferences’ automatic berths:
ACC: Florida State, Georgia Tech
Big East: Louisville, Rutgers
Big Ten: Nebraska, Wisconsin
Big 12: Kansas State, Oklahoma
Pac-12: Stanford, UCLA
SEC: Alabama, Georgia
In addition to those teams, the pool of teams remaining under consideration also includes (in alphabetical order): Boise State, Clemson, Florida, Kent State, LSU, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Texas.
Following is the schedule of the BCS games. All games will be televised on ESPN.
January 1 – Rose Bowl Presented by VIZIO
January 1 – Discover Orange Bowl
January 2 – Allstate Sugar Bowl
January 3 – Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
January 7 – Discover BCS National Championship Game
About the Bowl Championship Series
The BCS is a five-game arrangement for post-season college football that is managed by the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and independent institutions. Its purpose is to match the two top-ranked teams in the final BCS Standings in a national championship game and to create competitive match-ups in the four other BCS bowl games. For more information, visit http://www.bcsfootball.org.