Defense was optional in Pasadena on Monday as Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas and a combination of running backs LaMichael James and De’Anthony Thomas led the Ducks over Wisconsin in the 2012 Rose Bowl, 45-38.

The game got out to a fast start as both offense clicked early, setting Rose Bowl records in the first half for scoring and single play from scrimmage (DeAnthony Thomas’s 91-yard first-quarter touchdown scamper). Wisconsin hung in with every Oregon score, as senior quarterback Russell Wilson and running back Montee Ball had performances reflective of their impressive 2011 campaigns. The Badgers’ first three touchdowns were the result of a beautiful Wilson play-action pass, a Wilson run and a Ball 3-yard score.

Through the first half, the Badgers had far outpaced the Ducks in terms of time of possession, but James — who finished with 161 rushing yards — and Oregon were quick to score, including James’s first-ever touchdown rush in a BCS bowl game.

The second half was not quite as offense heavy as the first, as the defenses began to adjust. A key fumble by Wisconsin reciever Jared Abbrederis — who earlier scored the game’s first touchdown — with Wisconsin driving for the potential game-tying touchdown gave Oregon the chance to put the game away.

For Wisconsin, the result was all too familiar, as the Badgers have now lost two straight Rose Bowls, after falling to TCU in last year’s granddaddy of them all.

For Oregon, the victory snapped a three-game losing streak in the Rose Bowl that spanned more than 90 years, with the Ducks’ last victory in the game coming in 1917 Rose Bowl, when they topped the Pennsylvania 14-0.

The 83 total points scored by the Ducks and Badgers also set an all-time Rose Bowl record.

The 2012 BCS bowl matchups have been announced, with the rematch of the century, Alabama-LSU highlighting the slate in the BCS national championship game.

The BCS will begin with the Rose Bowl, this year held on Jan. 2, followed by the Sugar Bowl that night.

The Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl will played on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 respectively, with the title game not coming our way until Jan. 9.

Represented are the champions of all six BCS conferences, teams that missed the Pac-12, SEC and Big Ten conference championship games, and the ACC’s runner up.

2012 BCS Schedule

	Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. January 2, 2012 5 p.m. EST
	Wisconsin Badgers
vs.
	Oregon Ducks
	Comment: The champions of the Big Ten and Pac-12, coming off victories in each conference’s first-ever conference championship game, will face off in the single BCS bowl with the most history. And the Oregon-Wisconsin meeting might just have the most intrigue and interest among the five BCS bowls, too. Offense runs both teams’ attacks with weapons like Oregon stable of athletes (Darron Thomas, LaMichael James, De’Anthony Thomas among many others) and the Badgers’ two-headed monster in Monte Ball and Russell Wilson.
	–
	Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La. January 3, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	Michigan Wolverines
vs.
	Virginia Tech Hokies
	Comment: Somewhat surprise bids for both Michigan and Virginia Tech will give this Sugar Bowl a distinctively un-Sugar Bowl like feel, as no SEC team was available for the bowl to take to replace a lost team to the title game as they have in years past. Of course, the player in this game that everyone knows is Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, but Virginia Tech comes ready with a strong offensive attack and of course a Frank Beamer coached defense and special teams. Should be a good one in the bayou as they ready for the title game a week later.
	–
	Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. January 4, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	Clemson Tigers
vs.
	West Virginia Mountaineers
	Comment: The champions of the Big East and ACC meet in the Orange Bowl yet again, this time pitting West Virginia against a revitalized Clemson squad. West Virginia was the beneficiary of a three-way tiebreaker in the Big East. The Mountaineers shared the regular season crown with Louisville and Cincinnati, but by finishing highest in the final BCS standings, the Mountaineers were assured of the conference’s automatic BCS bid. Clemson topped Virginia Tech in the ACC title game, somewhat of a surprise, and got an automatic bid to the Orange Bowl in the process.
	–
	Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona January 5, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	Oklahoma State Cowboys
vs.
	Stanford Cardinal
	Comment: Just missing out on the BCS title game leaves Oklahoma State to take the Big 12′s rightful place in the Fiesta Bowl, where the Cowboys will be faced with Stanford and Heisman candidate Andrew Luck in the desert. The Cowboys have a strong duo at the top of their offensive attack as well, as quarterback Brandon Weeden and wide receiver Justin Blackmon are among the best in the nation at their positions. Expect nothing less than a shootout.
	–
	BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans, La. January 9, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	LSU Tigers
vs.
	Alabama Crimson Tide
	Comment: The matchup everyone wanted to see has turned into the rematch that most of the country clamored for. A 9-6 victory for LSU over Alabama earlier this season was obviously not enough for many of the voters, and we’ll get another chance to see the best two teams in the country go at it again. Both have world-class defenses and feature some great offensive weapons, such as Alabama running back Trent Richardson and LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson. Could we be in for another low scoring affair? Or will the offenses break out this time?

Everything is came up roses for Wisconsin, as the Badgers’ 42-39 victory over Michigan State will send quarterback Russell Wilson and the Badgers to Pasadena to take on Oregon in the Jan. 2 edition of the “granddady of them all.”

Wisconsin was victorious in the first-even Big Ten Conference Championship Game late Saturday night, going blow for blow with Michigan State before getting out ahead of the Spartans in the second half and never looking back.

Wilson and running back Monte Ball are two of the most explosive offensive weapons in the FBS, and will be matched score for score, undoubtedly, by Oregon in Pasadena.

Wisconsin was in the midst of the national title conversation until two straight losses dropped the Badgers out of the title chase. A resurgent team, however, kept at it, and made the most of the games it had remaining to get to the conference title game and now to the Rose Bowl.

With its 49-31 victory over UCLA in Friday’s Pac-12 Championship Game, the Oregon Ducks have clinched the Pac-12′s automatic bid to a BCS bowl.

After a season in which the Ducks were among the nation’s top-ranked teams, losses to LSU and USC stopped the Ducks from making a return appearance in the BCS National Championship Game.

The Ducks, in all likelihood, are headed to the Jan. 2 Rose Bowl to play the Big Ten champion. The Pac-12 champion is automatically slated to play in the game unless the team is headed to the BCS title game. Michigan State and Wisconsin will play Saturday night in the Big Ten championship game to determine the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the BCS.

LaMichael James rushed for 219 yards and three touchdowns to help the Pac-12 North division champion Ducks beat the South division champion Bruins.

More information can be found at the BCS Bowls page.

As it acts today, the BCS facilitates matchups in five bowl games — the BCS National Championship Game along with the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose bowls.

In the 2011-12 season as in past years, there is a specific selection process for each of the five bowls, with slight changes year-to-year.

On Sunday December 4th, “Selection Sunday” if you will, representatives from the conferences, bowl games and schools meet to decide the matchups in the five bowl games in the following fashion:

Creating the BCS Selection Pool

• The champions of the six automatically qualifying BCS conferences — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Pac-12 and SEC — all receive guaranteed bids to BCS games.
• The highest-ranking conference champion among the five non-AQ conferences — C-USA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, and the WAC — in the final BCS rankings will also be assured of a bid to a BCS bowl if they rank within the top 12 or within the top 16 and rank higher than any BCS conference champion.
• Any teams which wins nine games and finishes within the top 18 of the final BCS standings will be BCS bowl-eligible, although a team within the top-14 will have priority on eligibility over a team ranked 15th-18th.
• Though more than two teams from a single conference can be BCS bowl eligible, no more than two teams from a single conference can be selected to play in the five BCS bowls.

–

BCS National Championship Game Participants

• The teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS standings — regardless of conference affiliation or own-conference finish — will be placed in the BCS National Championship Game to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana in January 2012 as the selection committee’s first measure.

–

Filling Conference Affiliation

• After the National Title Game is filled, the remaining BCS bowls will fill their bowls with their traditional “anchor host” conference champions as follows:
  • Rose Bowl: Big Ten and Pac-12
  • Fiesta Bowl: Big 12
  • Orange Bowl: ACC
  • Sugar Bowl: SEC

–

Championship Replacement

• If any of the bowls’ traditional anchor hosts have been lost to the BCS National Championship Game, that bowl will be allowed to select a replacement team from the eligible pool before any other picks are made.
• If more than one bowl loses a host conference champion, the bowl which lost the BCS No. 1 will choose its replacement from the pool first, followed by the bowl that lost the BCS No. 2.

–

Filling the Rest of the Bowls

• Once all of the affiliation and replacement selections have been made, the Sugar, Fiesta and Orange will select from among the remaining members of the eligibility pool in the following order:
  • Fiesta, Sugar, Orange.
• One of the three bowls will be required to select the Big East champion and the automatically qualifying non-AQ champion if one exists.
• If not selected previously, a team which finishes third in the final BCS standings will automatically be awarded a spot in a BCS bowl if they are an at-large team and not an AQ BCS conference champion. If the third team is a conference champion, the fourth-place team will also be afforded this automatic eligibility if not selected previously.
• The three bowls will also be able to select among the rest of the pool if no other teams automatically qualify for inclusion among the five bowls.

The first week of the college football season rarely reveals much to illuminate the season to come. Blowout victories and third-stringers playing in the fourth quarter is the norm.

In 2011, however, quite a bit was revealed during college football’s first week. Some preseason favorites looked great, (Alabama, Oklahoma, Stanford, Wisconsin) while others (Oregon, Notre Dame) didn’t quite pass muster on their first go ’round.

How will that change the projected BCS bowls? Well not too much in the first week of play, but there is definitely a different feeling in the air after one week of play.

The dominoes seem ready to start falling, the question — as it always is — will be which one goes first?

For reference, the at-large selection order for the 2012 bowl slate (after hosting contracts have been filled and the NCG is filled) is: Fiesta, Sugar, Orange.

–

BCS National Championship Game: Oklahoma Sooners (BCS No. 1) vs. LSU Tigers (BCS No. 2)

Comment: Oklahoma looked like the preseason favorite it was meant to be against Tulsa, easily dispatching the Golden Hurricane. The Sooners will have a far tougher test come Sept. 17, the next time they hit the field, when they play Florida State. A win there, however, would give the Sooners a firm position very early in the year.

Drama surrounded the final days of LSU’s offseason, but now, could the possibility of a national championship surround the final days of its actual season? LSU showed just the kind of power and effectiveness that could get them all the way to the BCS title game. Of course, standing in their way is a daunting schedule, but the Tigers impressed more than any Saturday.

Rose Bowl: Stanford Cardinal (Pac-12 Champion) vs. Wisconsin Badgers (Big Ten Champion)

Comment: Two teams looking to return to BCS bowls this season showed the same power and finesse during week one that got the Cardinal and the Badgers to the Orange and Rose bowls respectively. Stanford and Andrew Luck plastered San Jose State, while Wisconsin had no trouble filling up the scoreboard against UNLV. Expect more of the same moving forward from both.

Sugar Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide (At-large selection) vs. Boise State Broncos (At-large selection)

Comment: Alabama likely has higher aspirations than the Sugar Bowl, but if LSU is to win the SEC and take the BCS NCG bid away from the Tide, don’t be surprised to find their explosive offense in New Orleans anyways.

Boise State proved once again that they’re a legitimate contender, no matter the flack they receive in the press. Taking down yet another ranked opponent on national television during the first weekend, the Broncos are once again in the chase for the title. But if they still can’t become the ultimate BCS buster, then a Sugar Bowl could be in the cards.

Orange Bowl: Florida State Seminoles (ACC Champion) vs. South Florida Bulls (Big East Champion)

Comment: Florida State breezed by the competition on its opening weekend, easily topping Louisiana-Monroe. Of course, playing the Sun Belt doesn’t reveal much about the Seminoles potential as ACC champions, but it did show a strength in the team early. Next week should be just as easy a breeze, as FSU takes on Charleston Southern, but after that, the Sooners await.

South Florida showed a surprising amount of fight against Notre Dame and shocked much of the country by posting a victory in South Bend. That’s good enough to see the Bulls as having a real shot at the Big East crown.

Fiesta Bowl: Oregon Ducks (At-large selection) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (At-large selection)

Comment: Two teams whose weekends didn’t go quite as planned, but both have plenty of time to recover and reconstitute a run at a BCS bowl. The matchup here is still too inciting for any bowl to pass up, and the Fiesta Bowl would certainly love to see it.

A wide open college football landscape gives us another year of a nearly impossible-to-predict BCS bowl slate. Will we see yet another SEC champion or is it time for another conference to rise to the top of the pack?

Ten spots, five bowls and one national champion. The chase starts Thursday, but these teams seem best suited for a BCS bowl run today.

Two weeks from now? Could be a whole different picture.

For reference, the at-large selection order for the 2012 bowl slate (after hosting contracts have been filled and the NCG is filled) is: Fiesta, Sugar, Orange.

The college football season begins today. Are you ready?

–

BCS National Championship Game: Oklahoma Sooners (BCS No. 1) vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (BCS No. 2)

Comment: Oklahoma has once again claimed the spot as a preseason darling of the pollsters around the country. The question, as it always seems to be, is can coach Bob Stoops deliver on yet another team filled with NFL-caliber talent and all kinds of potential with a BCS bowl victory and — more importantly a BCS national championship?

Alabama, who seem ready to go once again after missing out on its shot at a repeat crown in 2010, seem to be the de facto favorite in the SEC, especially considering the drama surrounding the LSU program. ‘Bama has a favorable schedule all things considered in the tough SEC West, but could very easily claim that crystal ball once again.

Rose Bowl: Stanford Cardinal (Pac-12 Champion) vs. Wisconsin Badgers (Big Ten Champion)

Comment: Stanford spent much of 2010 playing second fiddle to Oregon, but in 2011, all that could be different. With the Heisman favorite behind center in Andrew Luck and skill to fill nearly every position, the time is right for the Cardinal to take advantage of a relatively weak Pac-12 top-to-bottom.

Wisconsin claimed the Big Ten’s automatic BCS bid last season on the strength of its BCS ranking. No tiebreaker will be necessary this season, as the Big Ten’s new 12-team format allows the conference to hold its own conference championship game, but there’s plenty of reason to believe Wisconsin could once again claim the conference’s automatic bid.

Sugar Bowl: LSU Tigers (At-large selection) vs. Boise State Broncos (At-large selection)

Comment: The Sugar Bowl has had the luxury these past few years of having first choice of the eligible at-large BCS teams as it has lost the SEC champion to the BCS National Championship Game every year during the BCS’s double-hosting format. There’s no reason to think this year will be any different, and with LSU likely prepping for a high-flying season, the Tigers would be a perfect fit for the Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans locale.

After they take their replacement, the Sugar Bowl will have to wait for the Fiesta Bowl to pick twice (once to replace the Big 12 champion Oklahoma and once as the first at-large pick). We’ll project that Boise State, yet again eligible, will be waiting with an attractive record and a consistency in BCS bowls that the Sugar Bowl will have to respect.

Orange Bowl: Florida State Seminoles (ACC Champion) vs. South Florida Bulls (Big East Champion)

Comment: The Seminoles fell just short of an ACC title last season and an automatic berth to the Orange Bowl. But with a weakened ACC (especially a weakened Virgina Tech) the time is right for the Seminoles to rise to the top of the conference yet again, and a Orange Bowl berth will be their reward.

South Florida (yes South Florida) could join the Seminoles in an all-Florida Orange Bowl by taking the Big East’s bid from a conference that is truly without a 2011 favorite. Skip Holtz and the Bulls might just have what it takes in this toss up Big East year and saddled with the final at-large pick the Orange Bowl will likely see the Big East champ — whoever that might be — fall to it.

Fiesta Bowl: Oregon Ducks (At-large selection) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (At-large selection)

Comment: If the Fiesta Bowl does in fact lose Oklahoma (or any Big 12 champion) to the national championship game, the bowl would have two of the first three choices among the bowl for at-large teams. The strategy is always unpredictable, but bowls often go for the best available teams and the teams they hope can attract the largest national interest.

With Oregon likely providing a top-ten team and Notre Dame the kind of national fan base every bowl hopes to attract, the Ducks-Fighting Irish matchup looks about as juicy as any bowl could hope for, and for now at least, that’s what we’ll project.

Welcome to the 2011 college football season! BCS Know How will be taking you through the six automatic-qualifying BCS conferences and five non-AQ conferences with profiles of each conference. We continue with the Pac-12. Scroll down to see our profiles of the other 10 conferences.

Conference: Pacific 12 Conference (Pac-12)

Active Since: 1915

Current Member Schools:

North Division: California Golden Bears, Oregon Ducks, Oregon State Beavers, Stanford Cardinal, Washington Huskies, Washington State Cougars.
South Division: Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, UCLA Bruins, Southern California (USC) Trojans, Colorado Buffaloes, Utah Utes.  (12)

Bowl Affiliations: Rose Bowl (BCS), New Mexico Bowl, MAACO Las Vegas Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Sun Bowl. (6)

2010 Results:
Conference Champion – Oregon
Conference Runner-up – Stanford
BCS Bowl Results: BCS National Championship Game – Auburn 22 vs. Oregon 19; Orange Bowl – Stanford 40 vs. Virginia Tech 12
Overall Bowl Record: 2-2
Heisman Vote Recipients: Andrew Luck (Second Overall); LaMichael James (Third Overall); Stanford FB/LB Owen Marecic (10th Overall).

2011 Outlook: While controversy may swirl around some sidelines in the newly expanded and renamed Pac-12, there is more than enough skill in this rejuvenated and powerful conference to take people’s minds off of any NCAA infractions or controversies very quickly.

Led by Heisman hopefuls Andrew Luck and LaMichael James (who finished second and third respectively in last year’s Heisman balloting), the firepower in the conference is at an all-time high, and not just because there are more teams than ever before.

Winners of the newly created North and South divisions will face off in the inaugural Pac-12 Conference Championship Game, to be hosted at the participant who has the better record’s own stadium — an unusual and intriguing circumstance. The winner of the game will be named the first-ever Pac-12 champion and be awarded the conference’s automatic BCS bowl bid.

2011 Heisman Hopefuls: Stanford QB Andrew Luck, Oregon RB LaMichael James, USC QB Matt Barkley, Washington RB Chris Polk.

BCS Know How’s 2011 Predictions:
Conference Champion – Stanford Cardinal
Conference Runner-up – Arizona State Sun Devils
BCS bids – Two: Stanford Cardinal – Rose Bowl; Oregon Ducks – Sugar Bowl
Heisman Finalists – Stanford QB Andrew Luck, Oregon RB LaMichael James

Welcome to the 2011 college football season! BCS Know How will be taking you through the six automatic-qualifying BCS conferences and five non-AQ conferences with profiles of each conference. We continue with the Big Ten. Scroll down to see our profiles of the other 10 conferences.

Conference: Big Ten Conference (Big Ten)

Active Since: 1896

Current Member Schools:

Leaders Division: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Michigan Wolverines, Iowa Hawkeyes, Northwestern Wildcats, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Golden Gophers
Legends Division: Illinois Fighting Illini, Indiana Hoosiers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions, Purdue Boilermakers, Wisconsin Badgers.

Bowl Affiliations: Rose Bowl (BCS), Little Caesars Bowl, Insight Bowl, Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl, TicketCity Bowl, Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Gator Bowl. (8)

2010 Results:
Conference Champion – Wisconsin
Conference Runner-up – Ohio State/Michigan State
BCS Bowl Results: 2011 Rose Bowl – TCU 21 vs. Wisconsin 19; 2011 Sugar Bowl – Ohio State 31 vs. Arkansas 26 (Vacated)
Overall Bowl Record: 3-5 (Ohio State’s victory was later vacated)
Heisman Vote Recipients: Michigan QB Denard Robinson (Sixth Overall)

2011 Outlook: If you were to ask a college football pundit to describe the Big Ten’s offseason in a single word, some variation of the word “tumultuous” would likely come up.

That’s what conference realignment, NCAA violations and coaching changes will bring you.

But with a newly redesigned conference (and logo) the 12-team Big Ten seems ready to move on, and move on with what they know how to do best — play some hard-nosed football.

Wisconsin, who surprised some with their Rose Bowl run last season, returns with an opportunity to stake their claim as a true power in the new conference, while teams like Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Penn State look to return to BCS glory of the past.

Ohio State will look to move past the off-season turmoil, and work toward the new Big Ten Conference Championship Game — possible because of the conference’s expansion to 12 teams.

The conference’s new power, Nebraska, will look to make a big statement in its first year in the conference while trying to fight off the best the “Leaders” and “Legends” have to offer to the Huskers.

2011 Heisman Hopefuls: Michigan QB Denard Robinson, Wisconsin RB James White, Wisconsin RB Monte Ball, Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins

BCS Know How’s 2011 Predictions:
Conference Champion – Wisconsin Badgers
Conference Runner-up – Michigan State Spartans
BCS bids – One: Wisconsin – Rose Bowl
Heisman Finalists – None

The 2012 BCS Bowls matchups have been announced. Check them out HERE.

Ten teams will have a chance to participate in the Bowl Championship Series at the end of the 2011 college football season, but only two will play for a national title.

Months still separate those 10 teams from their BCS destinies and trips to Glendale, Pasadena, New Orleans and Miami, but for those squads with high aspirations, a trip to those locations is the goal.

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 New Orleans on January 9, 2012.

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.

2012 BCS Schedule

	Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. January 2, 2012 5 p.m. EST
	Big Ten Conference
vs.
	Pacific 12 Conference
	–
	Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona January 2, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	Big 12 Conference
vs.
	BCS At-large
	–
	Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La. January 3, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	Southeastern Conference
vs.
	BCS At-large
	–
	Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. January 4, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	Atlantic Coast Conference
vs.
	BCS At-large
	–
	BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans, La. January 9, 2012 8:30 p.m. EST
	BCS No. 1
vs.
	BCS No. 2