Months still separate ten teams from the Bowl Championship Series, but trips to Pasadena, Miami, Glendale and New Orleans in 2011 are ultimate goals for teams already preparing for the upcoming college football season.

Once again, the Bowl Championship Series will be comprised of five bowl games — the traditional Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta Bowls, along with the “double hosting” format BCS National Championship Game to be played in Glendale, Ariz. on January 10, 2011.

All five BCS bowls are listed with conference affiliations. If the conference is unable to fulfill an affiliation, the bowl can choose any BCS-eligible at-large team. For more information on the selection process, head over to the BCS Bowls page.

2011 BCS Schedule

	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California. January 1st
	Big 10 Conference
vs.
	Pacific 10 Conference
	–
	Fiesta Bowl Glendale, Arizona. January 1st
	Big 12 Conference
vs.
	BCS At-Large
	–
	Orange Bowl Miami, Florida. January 3rd
	Atlantic Coast Conference
vs.
	BCS At-Large
	–
	Sugar Bowl New Orleans, Louisiana. January 4th
	Southeastern Conference
vs.
	BCS At-Large
	–
	2011 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game Glendale, Arizona. January 10th
	Bowl Championship Series #1
vs.
	Bowl Championship Series #2

The Ohio State defense contained the explosive Oregon Duck offensive attack and Jeremiah Masoli, while Terrelle Pryor had a career day as the Buckeyes captured the Big 10’s first Rose Bowl win in a decade, 26-17.

Leading up to the matchup in the “Granddaddy of Them All” analysts wondered if the strong Big 10-style defense of the Buckeyes could handle the spread option of the Ducks, but from kickoff it was obvious that OSU coach Jim Tressell and the defense had come well prepared.

In fact, after a surprisingly spring Ohio State offense scored the first ten points of the game, it wasn’t until the second quarter that Masoli and the Ducks mustered enough offense for a touchdown.

Duck running back Kenjon Barner, not expected to feature highly in the Duck attack, was actually crucial to the Ducks early success, as he rushed for key first downs and got the Ducks into scoring range on both of their first-half scores.

Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeye’s leader on the field, had been a storyline heading into the game, as his torn PCL was a potential problem area for the mobile quarterback.

However, after coming up lame early in the game, Pryor settled down and shook off his injury, leading the Buckeyes to convincing scoring drives in all four quarters.

Pryor, who had struggled in his career in bowl games had a successful first half and the Buckeyes held a 16-10 edge going into the break.

The Ducks scored the first touchdown of the second half to take their only lead of the game on a Jeremiah Masoli rush from the one-yard line, but the Buckeyes answered quickly, posting a field goal to retake the lead, one which they wouldn’t give back.

After a series of turnovers and missed opportunities in the fourth quarter, Pryor led the Buckeyes down the field for a game-clinching touchdown pass, finding receiver DeVier Poseyin the front corner of the endzone to put the Buckeyes up 26-17 and capturing the Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes.

Pryor finished the game with 266 yards passing and two touchdowns to go along with his 72 yards rushing, possibly setting the stage for Pryor to finally find his grove next season.

Texas Longhorns (13-0) vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0)

The storyline of this BCS National Title game has been building since the beginning of the season, when it seemed — even then — a foregone conclusion that the SEC champs would face off against Texas for the BCS title. And all these weeks later, after Alabama and Texas finished their regular season just the way they hoped to when the season began, the two will meet up in Pasadena for the BCS national title.

Mark Ingram and Colt McCoy, two Heisman finalists, will once again continue a long trend of Heisman finalists featuring prominently in the national championship game.

Most importantly, since these storylines have been building all season, lets get into the meat of the preview, because you’ve heard anything else that could be said already.

Offense: Colt McCoy has proven time and again that he is a winner during his career. However, this will be his first opportunity to win a national title. McCoy leads one of the nation’s most prolific offenses as one of the nation’s most prolific passers. McCoy’s senior season took a cue from the rest of his seasons, high completion percentage, tons of yards and he kept the turnovers down. McCoy didn’t even need to play entire games for most of this season, as the Longhorn offense was good enough to carry games without him.

Mark Ingram and Greg McElroy picked apart the Florida Gator defense in the SEC Championship Game, and come into the BCS National Title game as one of the most explosive offensive units in the country. Obviously Ingram’s statistical marvel of a season has helped to key the Tide’s success this year, but that is not to say that other pieces are equally important as the team scored a strong 31 points per game.

Defense: The Longhorn defense certainly looked strong in the Big 12 Championship Game against Nebraska, but the Cornhusker offense doesn’t really hold a candle to what the Tide bring to the table in terms of sheer offensive power. Ingram, McElroy, Julio Jones, and even return man Javier Arenas will be tough to stop like the Longhorns stopped the Huskers. The Longhorn defense did struggle to stop some mediocre opponents this season, giving up 39 to Texas A&M and 24 to Texas Tech. Performances like that will doom the Longhorns early.

Alabama, for all its strength on offense, may actually be strongest on the defensive side of the ball. The unit ranked first in the nation in scoring defense and second in total defense and rushing defense. However, the challenge will be stopping Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley and the Longhorn passing offense. Not to worry, however, the Tide also led the nation in pass efficiency defense.

Prediction: Alabama 32 vs. Texas 21. This is being cast as a David vs. Goliath-type matchup between the favorite Tide and “underdog” Longhorns. It’s certainly not that. However, Alabama is just better enough than the Longhorns on both sides of the ball and even on special teams to warrant the favorite status, one which they’ll live up to. McCoy, for all his winning in college, will leave without a national title.

Iowa Hawkeyes (10-2) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-2)

Many might take this matchup between the ACC champion Yellow Jackets and the Big 10 runner-up Iowa Hawkeyes as the forgotten BCS bowl, but there is certainly a lot to be interested about in this match up.

For a while there, it looked like Iowa was the class of the Big 10, as the Hawkeyes crept into the BCS top-five during a string of close victories earlier in the season. However, the Hawkeyes were unable to complete an undefeated season, falling to Northwestern and Ohio State down the stretch to finish second in the conference.

The Hawkeyes also had lost their quarterback Ricky Stanzi along the way, but he will return for the bowl.

For the Yellow Jackets, the ACC seemed a cinch after losing to Miami to open their ACC schedule, and after holding off a scare from Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, Georgia Tech claimed the conference’s automatic BCS bowl bid.

Offense: Yellow Jacket quarterback Josh Nesbitt runs the triple option unlike any other quarterback in the nation, and the confusing offense scheme has done wonders for the Tech offense this season, as they finished the season with the 11th best scoring offense in the nation. Running back Jonathan Dwyer, who rushed for 1,346 yards on the season, also contributes to the offensive firepower that the ACC had to deal with this season.

The Iowa offense, although not nearly as flashy as the Yellow Jacket attack, was still very productive on the season, and was especially good at driving late in games under the watch of Stanzi for game winning drives. The Hawkeyes never really plastered any opponent this season, but in their victories Stanzi and the offense did just enough to pull out wins.

Defense: Iowa’s main task here will be how they can react to the Georgia Tech triple-option. So far this season when its working, the triple option has been nearly unstoppable as Paul Johnson’s scheme has been run to perfection at times under the watch of Nesbitt. However, the Iowa defense was tenth nationally in scoring defense, giving up just 10.5 points per game, which the Yellow Jackets cannot hope to score if they want to win this game.

Georgia Tech’s defense will have the opportunity to take advantage of the sometimes reckless Stanzi, who threw plenty of interceptions to go along with his game-winning drives this season. Iowa wide receivers Marvin McNutt and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos must be stopped if the Yellow Jackets hope to contain the Hawkeye offense. Both receivers had more than 650 yards on the season and both are capable of breaking big plays down the field.

Prediction: Georgia Tech 33 vs. Iowa 17. Iowa’s offense always needed extra help from their defense in order to win earlier this season, and this time the defense is faced with a completely foreign offensive package that even an entire month of preparation can not completely prepare for. Nesbitt and the Yellow Jackets will run away with this one early, and forced to throw the rest of the game, the rusty Stanzi will likely make mistakes.

TCU (12-0) vs. Boise State (12-0)

In some alternate universe, unbeaten D-1 college football teams get a chance to play for the national title. Sadly, this universe doesn’t afford that opportunity, especially not to non-BCS conference contenders, so for the Horned Frogs of TCU and the Broncos of Boise State, the reward they received this year for an unblemished record was a bid to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, a rematch of last year’s Poinsettia Bowl.

Both teams rode streaks of convincing wins to secure two bids for members of the non-automatic qualifying conferences, the first time in the history of the BCS that that has occured.

However, instead of the chance that the non-BCS conference schools could get a chance to make their strength known against BCS schools, they will instead face each other in what promises to be the most interesting BCS bowl of the season — mostly for its BCS-buster undertones and implications and the gripes both teams will have with whomever is eventually named National Champion by the BCS.

Offense: Kellen Moore of Boise State was a bona fide Heisman candidate throughout the season until the favorites took over, but the quarterback of the Bronco offense is still among the nation’s best in passer efficiency and passer rating. The Broncos had the nation’s leading scoring offense, scoring more than 44 points per game during their romp to the WAC title and an undefeated season.

The Horned Frogs offense isn’t half bad either, dropping more than 50 points four times this season. Led by quarterback Andy Dalton, the Horned Frog offense picked apart defenses around the country, including ranked opponents including BYU and Utah and BCS conference member Virginia. The Horned Frogs also rushed for more than 250 yards per game, led by running backs Joseph Turner and Matthew Tucker.

Defense: Boise State’s defense had a little trouble with the WAC competition this season, giving up more than 30 points three times during their eight game conference schedule, but also managed to hold four opponents under 10 points during their undefeated season.

TCU is the only school in the country that was in the top four for both defense and offense, and this game may very well come down to the drives where the Frogs are up against the strong Boise State attack. Led by defensive end Jerry Hughes and linebacker Daryl Washington, the Horned Frog defense gave up more than 21 points just once, to Utah, and that was after TCU had put the game away early against the outmatched Utes.

Prediction: Boise State 28 vs. TCU 17. However much the TCU defense destroyed other offenses this season, the Boise State offense is going to be a whole new type of attack for the Horned Frogs, one which led by Kellen Moore, will do just enough to stop the Horned Frogs from beating the Broncos two straight years in bowl games.

Cincinnati Bearcats (12-0) vs. Florida Gators (12-1)

A couple of votes here or there earlier in the season, or more help from the computers, and we could have easily been talking about Cincinnati playing in the National Championship Game. But the BCS conspired against those hopes for the undefeated Bearcats and the Big East champs were instead rewarded with a Sugar Bowl bid against an equally disappointed Florida Gators squad.

On a 22-game winning streak, the Gators faltered in the most important game of their season — the SEC Championship Game — and were unable to continue their run at back-to-back championships. However, Tim Tebow and the senior class will want to end their season on a high note in New Orleans.

The Big East isn’t supposed to be a power conference, but the Bearcats were about as powerful as they came this season in terms of offensive output, and a victory here might do wonders for the Big East moving forward. Lets get into the meat of the preview:

Offense: The quarterback duo of Zach Collaros and Tony Pike together headed the Big East’s most productive offense — their output was so prolific that many suggested the two be entered for Heisman contention as on entity, saying that Collaros and Pike together were more productive than any other quarterback in the nation, which isn’t far from the truth. Cincinnati can strike at any time, at any place on the field, and that quick-strike ability helped them avoid an upset on the final day of the season when they had to come back from a six-point deficit with time running out. Wide receiver/kick returner Mardy Gilyard contributes to firepower of the offense, in the mold of former Gator Percy Harvin.

Without Harvin, the Gator offense struggled a bit this season, but once again senior quarterback Tim Tebow led one of the SEC’s most prolific offensive teams. scoring less than 20 only twice. Tebow broke a bevy of SEC records in his final season including the career rushing touchdown mark. Tebow’s favorite mark, tight-end Aaron Hernandez, also helped lead the team’s offense, which averaged 442 yards per game.

Defense: Florida prides itself on its defense, led by coordinator Charlie Strong. Strong’s apparent ascension to the head coaching spot at Louisville may be a distraction for a squad that let up more than 20 points just once — in that SEC Championship Game to Alabama’s offense. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who was last season’s BCS National Title Game defensive MVP was suspended for that game, and his status for the Sugar Bowl remains to be seen. The Gators certainly missed his presence against Mark Ingram, Greg McElroy and the Tide offense last weekend.

Defensive was certainly a weak spot for the Bearcats in their final regular season game, where they let freshman Pitt running back Dion Lewis run all over them as they were seemingly unable to stop the Panthers at any point during the game. In their last four games, the Bearcats have given up 44, 36, 41 and 45 points to their opponents, something they cannot do against Florida and still hope to win.

Prediction: Florida 42 vs. Cincinnati 21. Despite the fact that the Gators will be disappointed to be at the Sugar Bowl and not in the National Championship Game, coach Urban Meyer will have them fired up to face his alma mater. Tim Tebow and the Gator offense will tear up the Bearcat D, and Tony Pike’s offensive efficiency will not be enough to match the Gators score for score.

Oregon Ducks (10-2) vs. Ohio State (10-2)

If you want to talk about up and down seasons, the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes might be your exhibit 1 and 1A.

Both teams had high hopes coming into the season, but both faltered at some point in the season.

For the Ducks, the Byron Hout-LeGarrette Blount incident speaks for itself in terms of the media and team firestorm it created.

For the Buckeyes, midway through the season, the team was at risk of not winning the Big 10 for the first time since 2004 after loses to USC and Purdue.

Yet both teams, led by athletic and dynamic quarterbacks, turned their seasons around and won their respective conferences. As a reward for their resiliency, the teams received bids to the “Granddaddy of Them All”, the Rose Bowl, in what promises to be among the best bowl matchups of the bowl season.

Offenses: Both offenses start with their quarterbacks, Jeremiah Masoli and Terrelle Pryor, both of whom have set the tone for the offenses all season. As Pryor has gone, so too have the Buckeyes, and his inconsistency has been a problem all season. Masoli runs the spread option to perfection for the Ducks, but when the run has been bottled up by the opposition, the Ducks have struggled to win with a one-sided attack.

Ohio State also features a strong running attack, having averaged 199 yards per game this season using a power running game under coach Jim Tressel’s proven system.

Defenses: This discussion has to start with Ohio State’s defense, which held its opponents to a mere 12.8 points per game, including three shutouts and two Big 10 conference games in which they let their opponents score just seven points. Many times this season, it’s been the defense that has carried the Buckeyes, especially in light of their 33 takeaways — good enough for third in the nation in that category. Against the Duck rush attack, a unit which surrendered less than 90 yards per game on the ground is sure to be tested.

The Ducks image may be all about their offense, but their defense isn’t half bad, only allowing 329 yards per game to opponents this season, which came most against the fiery Pac-10 offenses this season. That was good enough to rank in the top 40 in the nation, but the Ducks were hit hard multiple times this season, most notably against Stanford, where they surrendered 51 points to the Cardinal.

Prediction: Oregon 35 vs. Ohio State 27. The bottom line will be about Oregon’s offense vs. Ohio State defense, a matchup which Masoli and the Ducks can certainly win, and if they do, the uneven Buckeye offense will not be enough to make up the difference.

An entire season passed us by we waited for an upset, some kind of drama.

Finally we got a dramatic weekend, and an upset of the No. 1 team in the nation in the final weekend of the season, and the BCS bowls were finally announced after weeks of prognostication.

After upsetting the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship Game, the Alabama Crimson Tide secured a berth in the BCS National Title game, where they will meet the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns needed a last-second field goal to clinch the Big 12 title and spot in the National Title game.

The two teams finish a convincing 1-2 in the final BCS rankings, with Cincinnati finishing third, but outside of striking distance.

The rest of the BCS bowl bids were filled rather predictably, in fact the ten teams that received BCS bowl bids were the teams that finished 1-10 in the final BCS rankings.

Falling to No. 5 after their loss in the SEC Championship Game, the Florida Gators were rewarded for an undefeated regular season with a Sugar Bowl bid where they will meet those Bearcats.

No. 4 TCU and No. 6 Boise State will meet in the Fiesta Bowl, a first for the non-BCS conferences – not only to play each other in a BCS bowl game – but also the first time ever that more than one non-BCS school was invited to the BCS party.

No. 7 Oregon and No. 8 Ohio State have known their fates for quite some time, and when the BCS rankings were released, it mattered little where they finished – the Rose Bowl will likely provide one of the best matchups of the bowl season.

No. 9 Georgia Tech will find themselves rewarded for their ACC Championship with a matchup with Big 10 resurgent Iowa, who finish tenth in the final BCS standings.

So the regular season is done, and now we enter what ESPN calls the most wonderful time of the year. Stay tuned to BCS Know How as we will provide previews and analysis in the coming days for all the bowl games.

Final BCS Rankings – December 6th

Projected 2010 BCS Bowls

	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California. January 1st
	Ohio State Buckeyes
vs.
	Oregon Ducks
	Comment: Oregon made this matchup official on Thursday by clinching the Pac-10 Championship by defeated Oregon State. Ohio State clinched a spot in the Rose Bowl weeks ago, and now will prepare for the talented Duck attack
	Sugar Bowl New Orleans, Louisiana. January 1st
	Florida Gators
vs.
	TCU Horned Frogs
	Comment: TCU is assured a BCS bowl with their final BCS ranking as the highest ranked non-BCS school. Florida, after losing the SEC Championship Game will likely still receive a BCS bowl bid, and the Sugar Bowl will be happy to take a replacement SEC team after losing Alabama to the National Championship Game.
	Fiesta Bowl Glendale, Arizona. January 4th
	Boise State Broncos
vs.
	Iowa Hawkeyes
	Comment: Boise State continues to be the most attractive candidate for a BCS at-large selection that hasn’t already been assumed, and the Fiesta Bowl, after losing Big 12 Champ Texas to the National Title game, will want an attractive game. Boise State put together one of the greatest games in college football history at the Fiesta Bowl just a few years ago, and the Fiesta Bowl remembers it and will want more excitement. The Hawkeyes are the next most attractive candidates for at-large selection, and will likely land here.
	Orange Bowl Miami, Florida. January 5th
	Cincinnati Bearcats
vs.
	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
	Comment: Both teams need late comeback victories to clinch their respective conference championships, but pulled out victories late. The ACC and Big East Champs have met here many times before, and could easily be doing it again this year. Georgia Tech is assured of this bid as the ACC Champion.
	2009 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game Pasadena, California. January 7th
	Alabama Crimson Tide
vs.
	Texas Longhorns
	Comment: While its not what we expected, this Alabama vs. Texas matchup has been in the cards for quite some time. After Alabama clinched the SEC championship earlier in the day, they replaced the Gators in this slot. The Longhorns followed suit in the Big 12, although had a bit more trouble, but won all the same. Therefore this matchup is basically in the books. Its gonna be a good one.

By beating Nebraska 13-12 in the Big 12 Championship Game, the Texas Longhorns have clinched the Big 12 crown and a berth in the National Title Game.

The Longhorns will face the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 7th for the BCS National Title Game.

Colt McCoy and the Longhorn offense struggled all night, but did just enough to complete Texas’s undefeated run through the Big 12 season.