Florida State Ends BCS Era With Title Game Victory

Undefeated and No. 1, Florida State came through in the clutch late to capture the final title of the BCS era, topping Auburn, 34-31.

After giving up a late lead to Tre Mason and the Tigers, Jameis Winston and the Seminoles marched quickly back up the field for a game-winning touchdown with just 13 seconds left.

With help from a costly pass interference penalty and a 7-play, 80-drive where Winston was 6-of-7, Florida State ended the SEC’s lengthy title streak and closed the BCS era out with style.

Florida State ends the era as the only non-SEC team to win multiple BCS titles.

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2014 BCS Bowls

We take one more trip to the BCS this season, with five BCS bowls, 10 teams — fittingly all of which are from the “original” power six conferences that formed the basis for this change in championship crowning all those years ago. These pairings are according to multiple reports from early Sunday.

For more information on how the teams were selected, head over to the BCS Bowls page.

2014 BCS Schedule

	Rose Bowl January 1, 2014 5 p.m. ET
	Michigan State Spartans
vs.
	Stanford Cardinal
	—
	Fiesta Bowl January 1, 2014 8:30 p.m. ET
	Baylor Bears
vs.
	UCF Knights
	—
	Sugar Bowl January 2, 2014 8:30 p.m. ET
	Alabama Crimson Tide
vs.
	Oklahoma Sooners
	—
	Orange Bowl January 3, 2014 8:30 p.m. ET
	Clemson Tigers
vs.
	Ohio State Buckeyes
	—
	BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena, Calif. January 6, 2014 8:30 p.m. ET
	Florida State Seminoles
vs.
	Auburn Tigers

Final Projected 2014 BCS Bowls — December 8

The BCS — at least the part that everyone hated with an undying passion — ends Sunday. But the bowl games, which could range anywhere from epic showdowns to embarrassing blowouts, will stretch into January.

BCS Bowl Projections
Bowl	Matchup
Title Game	Florida State vs. Auburn
Rose Bowl	Stanford vs. Michigan State
Sugar Bowl	Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Orange Bowl	Clemson vs. Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl	Baylor vs. UCF
Scroll down for more

When a BCS season ends like this one did, though, there isn’t much to say other than to just try as best as you can to relive the great games that filled the final week of the season.

It’s clear now that Auburn’s victory in the SEC championship game added to Ohio State’s loss to Michigan State will send the Tigers to the BCS title game. But where is everyone else headed? We project here:

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BCS National Championship Game: Florida State Seminoles (BCS No. 1) vs. Auburn Tigers (BCS No. 2)

Comment: Auburn waited all day to see if they’d either have to bite their fingernails or be a little less frazzled come Sunday when it came to their national title hopes. It turned out that Michigan State was ready to help the Tigers out, so Auburn will be walking into Pasadena with a chance to close out the BCS era with another SEC national championship. They’ll meet No. 1 Florida State, the only team to finish the year undefeated in regular season play.

Rose Bowl: Stanford Cardinal (Pac-12 champion) vs. Michigan State Spartans (Big Ten champion)

Comment: Stanford certainly looked the part of Pac-12 champion against Arizona State in the conference title game, and for that the Cardinal will be on their way to the Rose Bowl as Pac-12 champs. They’ll get the chance to take on Big Ten champions Michigan State, who closed out its season with a huge victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, clinching their spot here.

Sugar Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide (At-large selection) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (At-large selection)

Comment: Alabama will get the first look from the Sugar Bowl when it tries to replace its lost SEC champion in Auburn. Sure, the Orange Bowl will have a first shot to replace Florida State, but knowing the way the BCS bowls work, the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl are sure to work out a way to share the responsibility of getting their fans what they want. Oklahoma would be a nice pairing for the Sugar Bowl’s final BCS bow.

Orange Bowl: Clemson Tigers (At-large selection) vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (At-large selection)

Comment: Clemson will be the first place the Orange Bowl will look when trying to replace Florida State, but the real question and big story here will be how the bowls treat Ohio State. The once-beaten Buckeyes looked ready for a trip to the BCS title game, but instead will be missing out on the chance to close out the BCS with a title. Instead, the Orange Bowl will have a chance to pick first and third, and could pick a variety of teams to square off with Clemson, but Ohio State looks like the pick.

Fiesta Bowl: Baylor Bears (Big 12 champion) vs. UCF Knights (AAC champion)

Comment: A final weekend of classic BCS football played right into Baylor hands. First, Northern Illinois dropped its final chance to secure a BCS bowl bid, opening up the door slightly for the Bears to get an at-large bid. But come Saturday night, Baylor was playing for it all — a Big 12 title opportunity after Oklahoma State faltered. And with a victory over Texas, Baylor is BCS bowl bound. They’ll likely get AAC champion UCF as the Fiesta Bowl will be saddled with the last pool choice pick, which in all likelihood will be the Knights.

Michigan State Stuns Ohio State To Claim Big Ten Automatic BCS Bid

Michigan State ended Ohio State’s 24-game winning streak in the Big Ten Championship Game and in turn clinch a spot in the Rose Bowl.

This will be Michigan State’s first-ever appearance in a BCS bowl and first appearance in the Rose Bowl since 1988. Michigan State knocks Ohio State out of a potential spot in the BCS title game, giving the Auburn Tigers the inside track on keeping the title in the SEC.

In the meantime, Michigan State will likely be on its way to Pasadena to face off against Stanford, which punched its ticket earlier Saturday night.

Florida State Clinches Spot In BCS Title Game

With a dominant showing in the ACC Championship Game, Florida State clinches a spot in the BCS title game and finishes an undefeated 2013 season.

Florida State took care of Duke easily and will remain the No. 1 team when the final BCS standings of the year come out Sunday night. The Seminoles will await an opponent — either Ohio State or Auburn will be on the opposite sideline when the title game kicks off from Pasadena on Jan. 6.

Led by Heisman favorite Jameis Winston, the Seminoles will be headed to their eighth BCS bowl, and second straight after topping Northern Illinois in last year’s Orange Bowl.

Stanford Grabs Rose Bowl Berth

Stanford is headed back to the Rose Bowl for its 100th edition after topping Arizona State in the Pac-12 title game on Saturday. With the victory Stanford caps another strong 11-win season, despite losses to Utah and USC.

Stanford heads to Pasadena for the third time in the BCS era, where they’ve split their appearances — winning last season’s meeting with Wisconsin and losing to the Badgers in 2000.

Stanford can expect to see the Big 10 champion or a Big 10 replacement team if that team is still BCS eligible. As of the end of the Pac-12 title game, Michigan State and Ohio State were locked in a battle for the title.

Auburn Captures SEC Crown, Is BCS Title Game Berth Next?

With a high-powered win over Missouri in the SEC Championship Game, Auburn claimed its second SEC title in four years and automatically qualifies for a BCS bowl bid.

But sitting at No. 3 in the next to the last BCS standings from last Sunday, could the Tigers be on their way to the BCS title game instead of just representing the SEC in the Sugar Bowl? That will be left, at least partly, up to the way that Ohio State and Florida State answer the call on Saturday night in their respective conference championship games.

The Tigers will wait with bated breath to see if they can jump the Buckeyes in tomorrow’s BCS standings if the top teams are all victorious on Saturday night. Such a leap — a one-loss team jumping an undefeated team for a BCS title game bid — would be a fascinating turn of events. But we’ll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Auburn can celebrate its SEC title and at the very least can expect a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

Baylor Claims Big 12 Title, Fiesta Bowl Bid

With a fun, ice-foggy 30-10 victory over Texas, Baylor took advantage of Oklahoma State’s early Saturday loss and a home crowd to claim the Big 12’s automatic BCS bowl bid. They’ll likely be headed to the Fiesta Bowl as the host of the traditional Big 12 bowl.

The Bears spent all season impressing the country, going well beyond what preseason expectations had expected in Waco. Led by quarterback Bryce Petty and an offense that wouldn’t stop, the Bears challenged for a national title bid up until just weeks before the end of the year when a loss to Oklahoma State dealt the Bears their only loss.

When Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State in Saturday’s Bedlam, it opened up the Texas-Baylor game as a de facto Big 12 title game, and the Bears were victorious. The Bears will now wait until Sunday night to find out who they will play in the Fiesta Bowl, which would likely be AAC champion UCF.

2013-14 BCS Bowl Selection Process Explained

More information can be found at the BCS Bowls page.

The BCS was created (by its own admission) to facilitate the meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 team in the country in the BCS national title game. As we’ve figured out in the years since its creation, it does much, much more than that. The system also pairs the teams in its four bowls — the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta. But how exactly does that happen?

In the 2013 season as in past years, there is a specific selection process for the five games with slight changes year-to-year.

On Sunday, Dec. 8, representatives from the conferences, bowl games and schools meet to decide the matchups in the five bowl games in the following fashion. (We’ve added some context for this season):

Creating the BCS Selection Pool

• The champions of the six automatically qualifying BCS conferences — the ACC, AAC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — all receive guaranteed bids to BCS games.
• The highest-ranking conference champion among the four non-AQ conferences — the C-USA, MAC, MWC and Sun Belt — in the final BCS rankings will 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 AQ conference champion.
  • Northern Illinois is in play here
• Notre Dame will automatically qualify for a BCS bowl if it finishes among the top eight in the final BCS standings.
  • Not happening this year.
• Any team to win nine games and finish within the top 14 of the final BCS standings will be BCS bowl-eligible. Teams in the top 18 with nine wins may also be eligible if there are not enough eligible teams in the top 14.
• 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 Pasadena, California in January 2014 as the selection committee’s first measure.

—

Filling Conference Affiliation

• After the BCS 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 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 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:
  • Orange, Sugar, Fiesta
• One of these three bowls will be required to select the AAC 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 given this automatic eligibility if not selected previously.
• The three bowls will then select among the rest of the pool if no other teams automatically qualify for inclusion among the five bowls.

Projected 2014 BCS Bowls — December 1

The BCS always did cause lively debates, most of which were reliant upon projections. That’s why a site like this could even exist. What would happen if a team won out? Or if a top team lost?

BCS Bowl Projections
Bowl	Matchup
Title Game	Florida State vs. Ohio State
Rose Bowl	Stanford vs. Michigan State
Sugar Bowl	Auburn vs. UCF
Orange Bowl	Clemson vs. Alabama
Fiesta Bowl	Oklahoma State vs. NIU
Scroll down for more

As the season comes to an end and the unexpected does happen — Florida State is the No. 1 team in the country, Auburn beats Alabama on a returned field goal with no time remaining — things begin to become less about the projection and more about the on-field performance.

Prove your team is better. The BCS bowls give teams the last chance to do that. Where do these great squads belong when the season ends?

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BCS National Championship Game: Florida State Seminoles (BCS No. 1) vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (BCS No. 2)

Comment: When the season plays out like it has, traditional powers like Ohio State and Florida State seem to often take advantage. Sure, if Auburn is to win the SEC next weekend they’ll feel like the BCS was created specifically to leave the Tigers out, having already been left cold in 2004. For now it seems like these two teams — save for the conference title games they’re still yet to play — have done all they can to earn these spots.

Rose Bowl: Stanford Cardinal (Pac-12 champion) vs. Michigan State Spartans (At-large selection)

Comment: With Ohio State BCS title game bound, the Rose Bowl would normally look to the Big Ten’s roster of highly ranked teams for a replacement. The problem, especially after Wisconsin dropped its best shot at securing a at-large bid against Penn State, is that there aren’t many of those around this year. Michigan State has a shot to remain in at-large contention, but they’ll have to make a strong statement against Ohio State in the conference title game to keep these hopes alive and stay in the top 14 at season’s end if they lose.

Sugar Bowl: Auburn Tigers (SEC champion) vs. UCF Knights (AAC champion)

Comment: Amazing to see the ‘SEC champ’ title go next to the Sugar Bowl selection, isn’t it? For years we’ve seen the SEC champion head straight to the BCS title game, no questions asked. Of course, the Sugar Bowl turned around each year and took a replacement pick from the conference to fulfill its regional preference. But if Auburn misses out on the title game, they’re slotted here automatically. And with the second ‘draft’ pick among at-large picks, the Sugar will have to give AAC champ UCF a serious look so as to not select Northern Illinois.

Orange Bowl: Clemson Tigers (At-large selection) vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (At-large selection)

Comment: Does the Orange Bowl actually have the guts to bypass the ACC? Clemson’s loss to South Carolina might allow the bowl to do that, and select somewhat underwhelming, but powerful, Oregon. The chance to pair the Ducks with Alabama might present itself if ACC champ Florida State is title game bound as expected. But can the Orange Bowl really afford it? For now, a two-loss Tigers team probably gets the choice over two-loss Oregon and once-beaten Baylor.

Fiesta Bowl: Northern Illinois Huskies (At-large selection) vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Big 12 champion)

Comment: A Big 12 that has been unpredictable and a whole lot of fun to watch is finally winding down with Oklahoma State holding poll position. All the Cowboys need to do is top Oklahoma in Bedlam next weekend to grab this spot. Though facing Northern Illinois might not be the reward the Cowboys are looking for, the Huskies have played a strong followup season after making a BCS bowl last year and a win next week all but assures them of a return trip.