Every year, the bowls participating in the BCS go through a selection process, which allows them to offer an invitation to qualifying teams. To read up on what a team needs to do to qualify, check out my extensive explanation. Once it is determined who is automatically receiving bids and who is eligible for at-large bids, the selection process begins.

Participating Bowls

Rose Bowl: Pasadena, CA
Fiesta Bowl: Tempe, AZ
Sugar Bowl: New Orleans, LA
Orange Bowl: Miami, FL

Every year the site of the National Championship Game is rotated amongst the four participating bowl sites. In 2009 the National Championship will be played at the site of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The rotation is Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and then Orange. After the Orange Bowl it cycles back to the Rose Bowl. The National Championship Game is usually played about a week after the regular bowl at the site.

Conference Affiliations

Five of the six BCS conferences are affiliated with a BCS bowl game. All this means is that when available, that conference’s champion will be invited to the affiliated bowl.

The current conference affiliations are as follows:

Rose Bowl: PAC-10 and Big Ten
Fiesta Bowl: Big 12
Sugar Bowl: SEC
Orange Bowl: ACC

The Big East is without a bowl affiliation. They are required to be chosen to fill a slot in one of the other bowls.

Replacing Affiliated Teams

In most cases, the National Championship Game will be between two BCS conference champions. If any bowl loses its affiliated team to the National Championship Game, they will receive an additional selection prior the standard selection process. If there are two bowls losing their team, the bowl losing the #1 ranked team will choose before the bowl losing the #2 ranked team.

For example, if Florida is #1 and USC is #2 in the final BCS rankings and they are both conference champions, then the Sugar Bowl will get to replace Florida with any of the available teams. After the Sugar Bowl has chosen it’s replacement, the Rose Bowl will get to chose USC’s replacement from the remaining available teams.

Usually if a bowl needs to replace a team, it will attempt to choose a team from the same conference as the team it lost. If there are no other eligible teams from that conference, they are forced to choose outside their conference affiliation.

During replacement picks, the bowl losing the #1 team can not select a team from the same conference as the #2 team without the other bowl’s permission. In the above example, the Sugar Bowl would not be able to select California as it’s replacement unless the Rose Bowl consents. This is because no more than two teams from one conference can play in a BCS game, so the Sugar Bowl, by picking a PAC 10 team would be assuring that the Rose Bowl would be unable to replace USC with a third PAC 10 team.

Selection Order

After any replacement picks are made, the standard selection process begins. At this point there are only three open slots. One for each of the Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta. The bowl played on the last will pick first. The bowl played in between the two other bowls picks second. And finally the bowl played first will pick third.

In 2009 the selection order is: Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange.

It is advantageous to pick earlier rather than later. The earlier a bowl makes a selection, the less likely the bowl will be stuck with a match up it would rather not have.  As long as there are more available slots left than their are automatic qualifiers, bowls are free to choose from any of the eligible teams. As soon as the number of slots becomes equal to the number of automatic bids left, the bowls have much less choice because the at-large eligible teams become unavailable.

No more than two teams from any one conference may receive bids to BCS games.

Example Scenario

This is the same scenario from my article on BCS Eligibility.

BCS Rankings

1. Florida (13-0)
2. Texas (12-1)
3. Penn State (12-1)
4. Oklahoma (11-1)
5. LSU (10-3)
6. USC (11-1)
7. Alabama (10-3)
8. TCU (12-0)
9. Notre Dame (9-3)
10. Ohio State (9-3)
11. Virginia Tech (11-2)
12. Texas Tech (8-4)
13. Michigan (9-3)
14. California (8-4)
15. West Virginia (8-4)
16. Clemson (9-3)

BCS Conference Champions

ACC: Clemson
Big East: West Virginia
Big 10: Penn State
Big 12: Texas
PAC 10: USC
SEC: Florida

Picks

Sugar Bowl Replacement Pick: LSU (At Large) (Replaces Florida)
Fiesta Bowl Replacement Pick: Oklahoma (Automatic Bid) (Replaces Texas)

Fiesta Bowl Standard Pick: Notre Dame (At Large)
Sugar Bowl Standard Pick: West Virginia (Automatic Bid)
Orange Bowl standard Pick: TCU (Automatic Bid)

Final Matchups

National Championship: Florida vs Texas
Rose Bowl: Penn State vs USC
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs Notre Dame
Sugar Bowl: LSU vs West Virginia
Orange Bowl: Clemson vs TCU