It's official: No Iowa in the BCS this year

Like most of us didn't know it already, but Iowa won't compete in the Bowl Championship Series this year. The word came straight from the BCS itself (you know, the man behind the curtain).

Don't believe it? Read the letter here yourself.

BCS ANNOUNCES TEAMS STILL UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR BCS SLOTS

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences and bowls today announced those teams which remain under consideration to participate in the five games that comprise the BCS. 

The teams were identified during a teleconference among the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners, the Notre Dame athletics director, and representatives from the Discover Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO.  The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the final BCS standings will meet in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game January 10 in Glendale, Arizona.

The champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conferences automatically qualify for a BCS game.  In addition, the highest-ranked conference champion from among Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conferences earns automatic qualification to one of the BCS games if that champion is ranked No. 12 or better in the final BCS standings.

Finally, given the seven automatic qualifiers described above, three at-large berths will be available.  The bowls will fill those berths from teams ranked in the top 14 of the final BCS Standings.  No conference may place more than two teams in the BCS games, unless the conference has two teams in the National Championship Game, and neither team is its champion. 

The final BCS standings will be compiled Sunday, December 5. The BCS bowl pairings will be announced at 7:15 p.m. that day, on ESPN television.

The champions from the six conferences which receive automatic spots in the BCS games have not been determined.  The following is a list of teams still contending for their conferences' championships:

ACC:  Florida State, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech

Big East: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia

Big Ten: Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin

Big 12:  Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Pac-10:  Oregon, Stanford

SEC:  Auburn, South Carolina

In addition to those teams, the pool of teams remaining under consideration also includes (in alphabetical order):  

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Boise State, LSU, Nevada, Utah, and TCU 

Following is the schedule of the BCS games.  All games will be televised on ESPN.

January 1 – Rose Bowl Presented by VIZIO

January 1 – Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

January 3 – Discover Orange Bowl

January 4 – Allstate Sugar Bowl

January 10 – Tostitos BCS National Championship Game

[NOTE:  a copy of the Bowl Championship Series Automatic Qualification, At-Large Eligibility and Selection Procedures is attached.  If you have any questions, please contact either of the individuals listed below.]

About the Bowl Championship Series

The BCS is a five-game arrangement for post-season college football that is managed by the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame.  Its purpose is to match the two top-ranked teams in the final BCS standings in a national championship game and to create competitive match-ups in the four other BCS bowl games.  For more information, visit

http://www.bcsfootball.org.