Iowa among 20 under BCS consideration

Before the BCS selection Sunday (Dec. 6), the conference commissioners and bowl representatives will meet twice by teleconference twice to identify teams that remain under consideration for berths in the BCS bowl games. The teleconferences will be Nov. 24 and Dec. 1. After each teleconference, a release will be distributed detailing the teams which have been held.

That's what this release from the BCS is all about. Basically, Iowa is officially under BCS consideration.

20 teams remain under consideration for BCS slots

From BCSFootball.org

Twenty teams remain under consideration to participate in the five games that comprise the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), it was announced today. Ohio State, as Big Ten co-Champion, has already earned an automatic berth to 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 FedEx Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, as well as Fox and ABC. The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the final BCS standings will meet in the Citi BCS National Championship Game January 7 in Pasadena, Calif.

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, four at-large berths are available. The highest-ranked conference champion from among Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conferences earns a guaranteed berth in one of the BCS games if that champion is ranked No. 12 or better in the final BCS standings or is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS standings and its ranking is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth. 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.

Other than as set forth above, to be eligible for at-large selection by a bowl, a team must have nine regular-season victories and must be ranked in the top 14 of the final BCS standings, which will be compiled on December 6. The BCS bowl pairings will be announced at 8 p.m. Eastern time that day, on Fox television.

The champions from the five other 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: Clemson, Georgia Tech

Big East: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

Big 12: Nebraska, Texas

Pac-10: Oregon, Oregon State

SEC: Alabama, Florida

In addition to those 10 teams and Ohio State, the pool of teams remaining under consideration also includes (in alphabetical order): Boise State, Brigham Young, Iowa, LSU, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma State, Penn State, Southern California, Texas Christian, Virginia Tech.

Following is the schedule of the BCS games (television network in parenthesis):

January 1 - Rose Bowl Presented by Citi (ABC )

January 1 - All State Sugar Bowl (Fox)

January 4 - Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Fox)

January 5 - FedEx Orange Bowl (Fox)

January 7 - Citi BCS National Championship Game (ABC)