As for the Bowl game issue, NO, the current BCS Awards those who fall into the top 16 with a "Chance" to play for a BCS bowl...
NOW top 4 get in, and the other bowls in the top tier (Orange, Rose, Fiesta and many others) have already negotiated deals with other conferences for those who don't qualify for the playoffs.
Soooo to sum it up, if we DON'T get into the playoffs, we will end up in a crap bowl most likely, because NOBODY wants to take the BE teams first...
We have no good Bowl tie-ins, and are left hoping for a good place to land if we don't FINISH top 4...