CFN on potential BCS mess

[sdgukhsdgl]

Memo to the leaders of college football: establish a contingency plan NOW to arrange for an extra bowl game between the Rose Bowl winner and a third unbeaten team if the situation demands it. If Virginia Tech has to play in the Orange Bowl against Big East champion South Florida while USC plays Texas in Pasadena, you can imagine the outcry that will come from Blacksburg, not to mention the justifiable stink that will drift through the entire college football community.

while we are mentioned really in a negative connotation, it still kinda made my day to read that from a neutral source

[Guest]

If USF wins the Big East, then I would expect that we would play in either the Sugar Bowl or Fiesta Bowl...

The Orange Bowl would get to pick a team to replace Texas... which would probably be the Big Ten champ...

Imagine South Florida vs Florida in the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta??...

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Or... what about this scenario...

USF finishes 2nd in the Big East and gets a Gator Bowl game against the ACC 3rd place team ... the University of Miami Hurricanes. :-)

(ACC runner up [FSU] will probably go to the Peach Bowl, as the ACC game and Gator Bowl are both in Jacksonville)...

[Bishop of Bulltown]

Can someone give me the scoop on the BCS bowls please? I thought we could only go to the Orange Bowl this year, what's this talk of the Sugar Bowl?

[BigEastBeasts]

Can someone give me the scoop on the BCS bowls please? I thought we could only go to the Orange Bowl this year, what's this talk of the Sugar Bowl?

At this point its all basically a matter of speculation based on how the polls sit right now.

This is from the BCS website:

The BCS also notes the importance of traditional and regional considerations regarding team selection. Specifically, the four BCS Bowls will host the following conference champions in the years the national championship game is not played at their site.

These consideration tie-ins include the ACC or Big East champion in the FedEx Orange Bowl, the SEC champion in the Nokia Sugar Bowl, the Big Ten and the Pac-10 champions in the Rose Bowl and the Big 12 champion in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Should a BCS Bowl's host champion be ranked number one or two in the final BCS standings, when such bowl is not hosting the national championship game, the number one- or two-ranked team shall move to the national championship game and the Bowl shall select a replacement team from the BCS pool of eligible teams. The pool will consist of any Division I-A team that is ranked among the Top 12 in the final BCS standings and has achieved at least nine wins during the regular season (excluding NCAA-exempted contests).  

[BullDoug]

I'm sorry to say, if USF wins the BE, they will not go to the BCS bowl.  If I'm not mistaken USF would havta be ranked Top 12 to have that autobid.  There is no way in the world USF could climb to No. 12 if the Footbulls run the table unless UL wins out and WVU wins all but the USF game.

Imagine South Florida vs Florida in the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta??...

The would scare the snodgrass out of Urbie Meyer to see our D coming at him again.

[BigEastBeasts]

I'm sorry to say, if USF wins the BE, they will not go to the BCS bowl.  If I'm not mistaken USF would havta be ranked Top 12 to have that autobid.

Nope, if we win the BE we go to a BCS game. Last year Pitt was ranked #21 in the final BCS standings, but because they won the Big East they went on to get rolled by Utah in the Fiesta Bowl.

[GarySJ]

No, we don't have to be #12. An autobid is an autobid. But the poll position of each autobid earner is being tracked, and the Big East needs to keep its average winner above a certain point or risk losing the autobid.

[GarySJ]

First of all, the intentionally vague rule explanation can be found at http://www.bcsfootball.org/index.cfm?page=eligibility

Here's what the selection order would be if the national title game is USC vs Texas:

1. Rose (BCS #1)

2. Rose (BCS #2)

3. Fiesta (since they lost their "anchor team" Texas to the national title game)

4. Orange (next on the priority list) vs "anchor" ACC champ

5. Sugar (next on the priority list) vs "anchor" SEC champ

6. Fiesta

I see one of two things happening re the Big East:

- Most likely scenario: the Sugar Bowl bites the bullet and volunteers to take the Big East champ, since their bowl is already messed up with the Superdome being unusable. BE champ faces the SEC champ in Atlanta or Baton Rouge.

- Less likely, but possible: the Fiesta Bowl draws the short straw in the pecking order, so the other bowls stick the Fiesta Bowl with the Big East champ. BE champ faces the Big Ten champ, a Pac-10 runner up, a Big XII runnerup, or 9-2 Notre Dame.

- I don't see the Big East champ playing in the Orange Bowl. They have the right to keep the ACC champ, and then pick the second at-large team to face them.

However, if the ACC champ gets plucked by the national title game instead of Texas, it becomes a possibility. The BE champ would face 9-2 Notre Dame (the Orange Bowl loves Notre Dame), or the Big Ten champ, since they would have first pick of a replacement for the ACC champ.

[BigEastBeasts]

I would see the Fiesta Bowl actually being the most likely (unfortunately) just because of the way the Big East is viewed.

Any bowl with options is going to go with a name school first, especially if they'll travel well.

[BullDoug]

Question...can Notre Dame knock the BE out of the BCS?  Is the BE tie-in include Notre Dame?  If it is that's another speed bump to overcome.  BTW after I posted above I remembered Pitt not being Top 12.   Anyway if our Bulls do get a chance to go, you gotta hope USC, TX & VPI or FSU go undefeated to throw the BCS into this big mess hopefully moving the D1 closer to a playoff.