Oklahoma's victory over Nebraska on Saturday for the Big 12 championship clinched the last automatic BCS bowl bid of the 2010 college football season. The Sooners, with their Big 12 title, will head to Arizona to participate in the Fiesta Bowl. Two other automatic bids were clinched on Saturday: the Virginia Tech Hokies defeated Florida State to clinch the ACC title and an Orange Bowl appearance while the UConn Huskies defeated the University of South Florida Bulls to claim the Big East title and the Big East's BCS bid.
With the BCS Championship set between Auburn and Oregon, that removes the Ducks from the Rose Bowl and the Tigers from the Sugar Bowl. The Rose Bowl will take TCU and their perfect record to play against Wisconsin - the Big 10's representative in Pasadena. The Badgers by virtue of the highest BCS ranking between them, Ohio State and Michigan State will earn the Rose Bowl nod.
The other three BCS games all involve at-large bids - and that's where things could get complicated.
The Sugar Bowl, which usually has the SEC champion participating in it, will likely select Arkansas, who are currently ranked seventh in the BCS standings, to participate. The Razorbacks make sense from a conference and geographical perspective. The Razorbacks opponent will come from one of the other three at-large teams available, and it will likely be Ohio State. The Buckeyes make more sense than the Connecticut Huskies and Stanford Cardinal from a geographical perspective. Further, Ohio State hasn't played in the Sugar Bowl since 1999.
The Orange Bowl will have the next selection of the at-large qualifies. Virginia Tech, as ACC champions, will participate in the Orange Bowl and will likely face off against the Big East champion UConn Huskies. The Orange Bowl will likely get to choose between Stanford and UConn. The Huskies make much more sense from a geographical perspective. The Hokies also used to be members of the Big East so there is some small sense of rivalry that can be built up. Surely, the Big East has some pent up resentment from Virginia Tech leaving for the ACC.
That leaves the Fiesta Bowl, who have the last of the at-large qualifiers. The Sooners will likely face off against the Stanford Cardinal, which also makes sense geographically. Stanford is the second Pac-10 school this year earning a BCS bid with Oregon participating in the title game.