The Bowl Championship Series

College Football’s National Championship

2013 BCS Schedule

	Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. January 1, 2013 5 p.m. EST
	Wisconsin Badgers 14
vs.
	Stanford Cardinal 20
	Comment: The Badgers will be making a third straight appearance in the Rose Bowl, but they’ve lost their last two attempts in Pasadena. Stanford is also working on a three-peat — a third trip to the BCS. But this is their first Rose Bowl in that stretch. Can Stanford win in Pasadena again?
	–
	Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. January 1, 2013 8:30 p.m. EST
	Florida State Seminoles 31
vs.
	Northern Illinois Huskies 10
	Comment: They weren’t supposed to make it. They weren’t supposed to be able to bust the BCS this year. But Northern Illinois did just that. And they did it spectacularly, blasting six spots in one week to clinch a BCS bowl. They’ll get their reward against ACC champion Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
	–
	Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La. January 2, 2013 8:30 p.m. EST
	Florida Gators 23
vs.
	Louisville Cardinals 33
	Comment: Florida returns to the BCS picture by finishing as the highest-ranked, AQ-conference member to not win its own division in the top four. Louisville, the Big East’s BCS representative after coming out ahead on all of the conference’s tiebreakers, is back in the BCS for just the second time. What could be in store for a Big East-SEC meeting between two schools full of talent?
	–
	Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona January 3, 2013 8:30 p.m. EST
	Kansas State Wildcats 17
vs.
	Oregon Ducks 35
	Comment: Oregon and Kansas State were set to face off in the BCS title game not too long ago. But shocking losses in short order doomed any shot the Ducks or Wildcats had at the title game. Instead we’ll get what looks like one of the best Fiesta Bowls in recent memory as the Pac-12′s longtime powerhouse Oregon takes on the Big 12 champ Kansas State.
	–
	BCS National Championship Game in Miami, Fla. January 7, 2013 8:30 p.m. EST
	Notre Dame Fighting Irish 14
vs.
	Alabama Crimson Tide 42
	Comment: It’s what we’ve been waiting for. Alabama, the SEC champ, gets to take on undefeated and heralded Notre Dame in a BCS title game that will definitely have the attention of the nation. Alabama will try to do the as-of-yet impossible, repeat as BCS champions. Notre Dame, appearing in its first BCS title game, will try to ruin the SEC’s six-year iron grip on the BCS title.

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Explanation of the BCS Bowls

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is a collective of five bowl games held in January. The Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl continue long traditions of holding important college football match ups, and a fifth BCS National Championship Game is held between the two teams the BCS rankings elect as top in the country.

Every year the championship game rotates between four traditional bowl sites in a “double hosting” format — one of the sites hosting its traditional bowl and the National Championship Game. The sites are; the Orange Bowl, held in Florida; the Rose Bowl, held in Pasadena, California; the Fiesta Bowl, held in Glendale, Arizona, and the Sugar Bowl, normally held in New Orleans.

During the 2012-12 season, Sun Life Stadium in Miami will hold both the traditional Orange Bowl and the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.

2013 Bowl Championship Series Schedule

January 1 — Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
January 1 — Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla.
January 2 — Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La.
January 3 — Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
January 7 — BCS National Championship Game in Miami, Fla.

With five BCS bowl games scheduled, 10 spots are available for teams wishing to compete in BCS bowls. As in prior years, the champions of the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC shall receive automatic bids to one BCS bowl.

The four original BCS bowls hold contracts with certain BCS conferences to choose that conference’s champion. If those contracts cannot be honored, and the bowl loses its first pick to the National Championship Game, that bowl will receive first choice when picking from among other BCS bowl eligible teams. The contracts are as follows:

Orange Bowl — Atlantic Coast Conference
Rose Bowl — Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Fiesta Bowl — Big 12
Sugar Bowl — Southeastern Conference

Six teams receive automatic bids as conference champions, leaving four “at-large” bids for the BCS bowls to fill, which are chosen in a “draft” format. Teams will be eligible for selection if they finish the season ranked in the top 14 in the final BCS standings and have at least nine victories.

The order of selection for the BCS Bowls after host contracts are filled are as follows:

January 2013 games: Fiesta, Sugar, Orange
January 2014 games: Orange, Sugar, Fiesta

Teams meeting certain criteria will be guaranteed spots as “at-large” selections:

One champion from the mid-major conferences (not of the original six automatically qualifying conferences) will automatically be selected as an at-large if they are ranked in the top 12 in the final BCS standings, released in early December, or if a champion from a mid-major conference is ranked higher than any BCS conference champion ranked among the top 16.

The mid major conferences are: Conference USA (C-USA), the Mountain West Conference (MWC), the Sun Belt Conference, the Mid-American Conference (MAC), and the Western Athletic Conferences (WAC).

Though ten spots are opened for BCS bowls, no conference will send more than two teams to any of the five BCS bowl games.

Notre Dame, an independent team not associated with any conference shall receive an automatic BCS bowl bid if they are to finish in the top eight in the final BCS standings.

A team which is ranked third in the final BCS standings, but did not win its own conference will automatically receive one of the remaining at-large bids. If the third place team is a conference champion, the fourth place team will be rewarded with a bid if they are not a conference champion.

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