Someone explain the new BCS to me please

[GoingUp]

They added the extra bowl this year. Who gets automatic bids and who gets at large ones? What are the BCS rankings youre going to have to have?

 

[sciencewhiz]

The only real changes are that there are 2 extra at large bids, and that it's easier for an non-bcs team to get an at large bid.

Wisconsin has no chance of being in a BCS bowl, because you can only have 2 teams from the same conference. The OSU/Michigan winner will be the automatic bid from the Big 10 and the loser is virtually guaranteed to be picked as an at-large team over Wisconsin.

Any other questions?

 

[chuckywang]

Ah, hell...I'll just copy-paste from the official BCS website.

Automatic qualification

1. The top two teams in the final BCS Standings will play in the national championship game.

2. The champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conferences automatically qualify for BCS games each year.

3. One team from among the champions of Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, or the Western Athletic Conference automatically qualify for a BCS game if either: A. Such team is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS Standings, or, B. Such team is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS Standings and its ranking in the final BCS Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in one of the BCS bowls.

4. Notre Dame will automatically qualify for a BCS bowl if it is in the top eight of the final BCS Standings.

5. If any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 4, and an at-large team from a conference with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 3 in the final BCS Standings, that team shall become an automatic qualifier.

6. If any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 5, and if Step No. 5 has not been applied and an at-large team from a conference with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 4 in the final BCS Standings, that team shall become an automatic qualifier.

7. If any slots remain unfilled after the placement of all teams qualifying for an automatic berth, then the bowls shall choose their participants from the "pool of eligible teams" (see below.)

Pool of Eligible Teams

If berths are available after the automatic qualifiers have been identified, then the bowls shall select at-large participants from the "pool of eligible teams," which shall include any Division I-A team that is bowl-eligible and meets the following requirements:
A. Has won at least nine regular-season games, not including exempted games, and
B. Is among the top 14 teams in the final BCS Standings

 

[chuckywang]

Hmm...reading those rules, it seems that Wisconsin does have a shot at the BCS.

 

[nycxandy]

From those rules, Wisconsin can still be picked for a BCS bowl game.

Edit: Bah, got beaten to it.

 

[JasonCoder]

Wow that would be a first. Has to really piss off the SEC fans who were supposed to have the best conference.