So far, 20 teams from BCS conferences are bowl-eligible via scheduling

Forty-eight teams of the 66 teams in BCS conferences (counting Notre Dame) will be bowl-eligible for certain counting the winner of Saturday's Syracuse-Pittsburgh game.  Three more teams can get eligible with wins this week. They are UCLA, Connecticut and South Florida.

USC had enough wins to be bowl-eligible, but can't attend one under NCAA sanctions.

Twenty-seven teams from the other FBS conferences (Sun Belt, Conference USA, Mid-American, Western Athletic, Mountain West) and independent Brigham Young give the NCAA more than enough teams to fill its 70 bowl slots. Yes, 70.

I count 20 teams that have needed wins over FCS (I-AA) teams or teams from the three lowest-regarded FBS leagues, the WAC, MAC and Sun Belt, to be bowl-eligible. That includes Miami (Fla.), though the school has decided not to participate in a bowl this season.

Each of the games listed, by the way, was a home game for the winner except for Cincinnati-Miami (Ohio).

Wake Forest (6-6): Beat FCS Gardner-Webb.

North Carolina State (7-5): Beat FCS Liberty and FCS South Alabama.

Missouri (7-5): Beat FCS Western Illlinois and MAC Miami (Ohio).

Texas A&M: (6-6) Beat WAC Idaho.

Northwestern (6-6): Beat FCS Eastern Illinois.

Purdue (6-6): Beat FCS Southeast Missouri State and Sun Belt Middle Tennessee State.

Illinois (6-6): Beat FCS South Dakota State, Sun Belt Arkansas State, and MAC Western Michigan.

Iowa (7-5): Beat FCS Tennessee Tech and Sun Belt Louisiana Monroe.

Ohio State (6-6). Beat MAC Akron and MAC Toledo.

Washington (7-5). Beat FCS Eastern Washington and WAC Hawaii.

California (7-5). Beat FCS Presbyterian and WAC Fresno State.

Arizona State (6-6). Beat FCS UC-Davis.

Florida (6-6). Beat FCS Furman and Sun Belt Florida Atlantic.

Vanderbilt (6-6). Beat FCS Elon.

Auburn (7-5): Beat FCS Samford, Sun Belt Florida Atlantic and WAC Utah State.

Mississippi State (6-6). Beat FCS Tennessee-Martin.

Cincinnati (8-3). Beat FCS Austin Peay, MAC Akron, and MAC Miami (Ohio). If the Bearcats beat Connecticut Saturday, they can be removed from this list.

Iowa State (6-5): Beat FCS Northern Iowa. If they beat Kansas State Saturday, the Cyclones can be removed from this list.

The winner of Saturday's Syracuse-Pittsburgh game: (6-6). Will have either beaten FCS Rhode Island or FCS Maine.

Miami Fla. (6-6). Beat FCS Bethune-Cookman. Miami has graciously decided not to accept a bowl bid this season.

UCLA (6-6). Beat WAC San Jose State. If the Bruins lose to Oregon in the Pac-12 title game Friday night, they will be 6-7 and ineligible for a bowl. UCLA and the Pac-12 could request a waiver to allow UCLA to play in a bowl if the Pac-12 is otherwise unable to fulfill its seven bowl affiliations. The only way that can now happen is if two Pac-12 teams get BCS bowl bids.