Teams, BCS bowls getting set

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences and bowls announced those teams which remain under consideration to participate in the five games that comprise the BCS.

The University of Oregon has become the first automatic qualifier. The Ducks will be at least co-champions of the Pac-10, and own the tie-breaker with the other possible co-champion, Stanford.

Nineteen other teams remain under consideration. 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 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game January 10 in Glendale, Arizona.

The champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 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.

Finally, given the seven automatic qualifiers described above, three at-large berths 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 5. The BCS bowl pairings will be announced at 8:15 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’ championships:

In the ACC, Florida State, Virginia Tech, in the Big East, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, the Big Ten, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, the Big 12: Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the SEC, Auburn, South Carolina.

In addition to those teams, the pool of teams remaining under consideration also includes Arkansas, Boise State, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Stanford, and TCU.