How do bowl games work?

[Rebel]

I don't really follow college football. But I always wondered how teams get into certain bowl games. Do you have to be in a certain conference? So if someone could explain it to me that would be great.

[Oeo]

this is a toughie and i'm doing it off the top of my head, so help me out if i get part of this wrong, guys.....each conference is guaranteed a certain amount of bowl games, depending upon the strength of that conference.....for example, the Big 12 conference is guaranteed that there will be six teams with bowl bids.....i can't give you the specific bowls, but they are guaranteed six bowls.....

the BCS also puts a crimp in where the guaranteed bowls are.....for example, the Big Ten champ and the Pac 10 champ are supposed to play in the Rose Bowl.....however, if either of them are in the top two of the BCS, they play in the championship game, and the Rose Bowl gets a wild card pick of the top ten from the BCS.....here is where it gets really confusing.....if the Championship game is the Orange Bowl, the Big 12 is guaranteed a spot in any of the big four bowls except the Orange Bowl, (Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, Rose).....

there are conferences that are guaranteed a BCS bowl (Big Ten, Pac 10, Big Twelve, SEC, Big East) and then there are conferences that aren't guaranteed anything from the BCS (Conference USA, Mountain West, etc.....).....the only way these schools get into a BCS bowl game is to finish in the top 12 in the BCS poll at the end of the year.....out of the top 12 in the BCS poll, there are only eight that go to BCS games.....the top six are guaranteed, and the rest have to vie for the final two spots.....after the BCS bowls, there are 24 other bowl games available to be distributed out over the remaining 120 NCAA Division 1 schools that play football.....

this is where the contracts with each conference come in.....for example, TCU will finish the year 10-1, a lock for a bowl bid, right?.....but they would be the only team from their conference that would go to a bowl had they won the conference title, because the only guaranteed bowl bid is for their conference champion......whereas, the Big Twelve can have a team go 6-6 and they will go to a bowl game, because the Big Twelve is considered a superconference, and they have the six guaranteed spots......hopefully, that will not confuse you too badly man.....

[Rebel]

lol well that is confusing. Thanks.

[Oeo]

it's a big, long confusing process, bro.....the end result is that 56 teams get to go to a bowl game.....how they get there is a mystery sometimes.....

[Exo]

There are way too many bowl games. It gets down to like the piggly wiggly snort bowl game and shit. Craziness.

[error402]

I always wondered myself how that worked.

I have been tryin to get myself in college football but I never have time to watch it.

And oeo you should try breaking up long posts into paragraphs. It makes it easier to read. Just advice, that's all.

[Oeo]

sorry error.....i'll work on it, i just get to typing and forget

.....you should get into college football man.....it rocks......

[sugarcube]

They should probably add a couple more bowl games. For teams that are left out of the bowl games that deserved to go.

[The_One]

alright here we go,a team from a major confrence that does not win it's confrence is still assured of a bcs bowl if it finishes in the top 4,the fact is that TCU had poor strength of schedule which took them out of the mix,the teams that have already locked up a bcs spot are FSU,Michigan,and Oklahoma,Texas and Ohio State are almost shoe in's for the at large bids,and LSU looks good right now for the fiesta,oh and USC has also clinched a BCS berth,leaving the final slot to the winner of the miami pitt game saturday..P.S put your money on pitt.

[Just Drew]

The ACC gets a gauranteed BCS bid too, but it hasn't been anyone but FSU in like ten years. Maryland got an at-large bid not long ago, but other than that its been all Semenholes. That oughta change with the additions of Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College to the ACC. What the BCS will do with the Big East's bid (there's now way they'll let them keep it) is anyone's guess.

[The_One]

a lot of people say the big east's bid should go to the Mac,my opinon,Hell no.

[Just Drew]

No, I wouldn't think so either. On a stage as huge as that, I'd rather see an additional at-large bid, perhaps for the Big 12, SEC, or ACC runner-up