USC vs. Texas in Rose
Florida State vs. Penn State in Orange
Georgia vs. West Virginia in Sugar
ND vs. Ohio State in Fiesta
Wisconsin vs. Auburn in Capital One
Miami vs. Louisville in Gator
Virginia Tech vs. LSU in Peach
Northwestern vs. UCLA in Sun
Oregon vs. Oklahoma in Holiday
Nebraska vs. Iowa in Alamo

Georgia vs. West Virginia in Sugar


Yeeyuh!

Wisconsin-Auburn in Orlando in a rematch of '03 Music City Bowl?

Doesn't look promising....

my boss is a Penn St alum and he HATES Bowden, so this one will be fun



this one is diappointing, I wish GA was playing someone a little more substantive...why does the Big East still have an auto-bid?

I think West Virginia is a little bit better than what you're giving them credit for. I think it will be a good game. Dawgs betta reprazent.

NC State's playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl here in Charlotte against South Florida.

They only lost to Virginia Tech. Rich Rodriguez has done a good job over there in Morgantown.

On another topic...is there anyone worse in a televised interview than Joe Paterno?

I wish LSU would hire Rich Rodriguez. The SEC's supposedly #2 ends up in the Peach. What a joke.

I'm looking forward to ND taking on Ohio State. My thinking is the winner of this game should be given #2, as both are in the top five and were clearly the closest calls in the regular season for USC and Texas, respectively. Here's how the final Top 5 should shake out, once the bowls have been played...

1. Rose Bowl winner.
2. Fiesta Bowl winner.
3. Penn State (if they win the Orange Bowl), or Rose Bowl loser (if Florida State wins the Orange Bowl).
4. Rose Bowl loser (if Penn St. wins), or Fiesta Bowl loser (if Fla. St. wins).
5. Fiesta Bowl loser (if Penn St. wins), or highest-ranking non-Oregon team to win bowl (Holiday Bowl and Top 5 can never be uttered in the same sentence).

Ordinarily, Penn State would move up by winning their bowl, but their opponent is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY weaker than either of the Fiesta Bowl teams, so the best they can do is maintain their current ranking. (Sorry, Sketch.)

Florida State may not be great, but I wouldn't count them out just yet. They've got some guys banged up, though I don't know how many will be healthy by gameday.

I'm not saying they won't win -- I'm just saying beating them won't be as impressive as beating someone in the Top 5.

No need to apologize, Bob. I agree. Also, we don't have the best history against FSU in bowls, so I'm a bit more wary on this one. Looks like the Fiesta should be the next best game after the Rose.

If Ohio State beats ND, there is no way they pass up Texas in the final rankings. The only way that would happen is if the Buckeyes take ND to the woodshed and Texas would get waxed and shutout by USC. Texas beat OSU early on and would only have one loss to SC in what is essentially a home game for the Trojans. Penn State could pass up the Horns with only one loss, but with the Buckeyes and Irish having more than one loss, they won't finish 2nd.

Excellent point. In fact, OSU would need a convincing argument to jump both teams who beat them, especially when they have one loss a piece compared to OSU's two. If both Big Ten teams win, Penn State has the better record and wins the head-to-head matchup. That doesn't mean I think PSU deserves the #2 slot by beating Florida State, but they would get it by default. If the Rose Bowl comes down to the last play, Texas might not drop.

LSU vs. Miami in the Peach.

That's better than the Sugar Bowl matchup for me. Little short on the $$ cash side, though. Non-issue for me on that front.

So, fightingliberal, what are our Huskers' chances of beating Michigan? I think we can pull it out. Michigan fans are so pissed off about being in such a "lowly" bowl game (according to some Wolverine message boards).

Our fans should travel well, so it will be almost like a home game.

I gotta say I'm a little meh on the matchups over all.


But I'll still watch EVERY one.

GO DAWGS!

Is this a not so subtle jab?

I'm with Busty. For the most part the matchups are kinda gar with OSU vs Notre Dame probably being the least meh-inducing.

Florida State has no business whatsoever playing Penn State. I'd be pissed if I was a Nittnay Lion. I don't care if they won the ACC or not. This is another flaw in the BCS.

Santa, I've always liked the Peach bowl. I would have been happy going to it. It's a bit different now that it's been moved to the 30th because it used to have it's own day (2nd or the 31st). The matchups are usually pretty damn good.

I will not be overlooking West Virginia and that spread offense.

Georgia Tech fans are pissed about their Emerald Bowl bid (rightfully so). They want Tech to leave the ACC and their Athletics Director fired. Pretty funny reads on their message board if you have time:

http://mb8.scout.com/fthehivefrm1

Yeah, how does this work? Are the conferences pre-defined to bowls after the championship game? If you at least ordered them by BCS standings barring rematches you'd have:

Notre Dame vs. Penn State - Huge draws. Lots of history. Everybody wins.
OSU vs. Georgia - Well it's not Wisconsin...
Florida State vs. West Virginia - The yawner that it should be.

<--- not so much pissed as mildly disappointed, and still afraid of the upset

Absolutely not. Just saying that for me, Miami is a more attractive matchup than West Virginia (read, the U is a team I love to hate). I want to see you guys clean their clocks in the sugar bowl. I will always root SEC in bowls.

Notre Dame - worst BCS team ever?

I think Nebraska has a decent shot, only due to our recent success against the Big 10 in the Alamo Bowl, extra weeks for Callahan and Co. to prepare and most likely a partisan Nebraska crowd.

Nebraska has been unbelievably successful this year when they have had an extra week to prepare for the game. Iowa State and Colorado are the two primary examples of this.

I think it all depends on how healthy the Husker O-Line is for the game and what sort of scheme Cosgrove goes with on Defense. He used to be the Coordinator at Wisconsin, so he definitely has experience against the Big 10. Callahan was also at Illinois, but that probably doesn't help us that much.

Michigan might be a big favorite in the game, but if Nebraska starts off well, which they haven't done too often this year, the Wolverines are going down.

P.S.
Pittsburgh was the worst BCS team ever last year when they played Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. It could also be argued that the Notre Dame team that played Oregon State in 2001 is worse.