Ya and thats a crock of S**t too... that ND get an automatic bid with a paltry 9 win season.
Earle Bruce gets fired for 9 wins seasons and ND gets an automatic bid to the BCS games, regardless if they are any good or not.
Jimbo
Well....here are the rules from Jerry Palm's website:
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Which teams are eligible for BCS bowls?
The automatic qualification standards are not the same for all teams. The teams are divided into four groups: automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Pac Ten, SEC), non-automatic qualifying conferences (C-USA, MAC, Mtn West, Sun Belt, WAC), Notre Dame, and other independents.
There are ten spots in the five BCS bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and the title game). Under no circumstance may a conference place more than two teams in the BCS games. With that in mind, the following teams automatically qualify for one of those spots. (In order of preference. All ranking criteria refer to the final BCS standings unless otherwise noted.)
1) The top two teams in the rankings. Those teams are assigned to the title game.
AQ conference champions, regardless of ranking. Exception: If the #1 and #2 teams are from the same conference and neither is the champion, then the champion of that conference will not participate in the BCS.
2) The highest-rated champion of a non-AQ conference if it either ranks in the top 12 or is ranked in the top 16 and also ranked ahead of one of the champions of an AQ conference.
3) Notre Dame, if it finishes in the top eight.
4) The #3 team, if it is a member of an AQ conference and there is still an open spot.
5) The #4 team, if it is a member of an AQ conference and there is still an open spot.
If there are still open spots after all that, then any team can be selected by a BCS bowl if it:
-Has 9 wins against I-A opponents, and is rated in the top 14 of the BCS standings, or
-Is a non-AQ conference champion and meets the qualification standard in #3, but was not the highest-rated team to do so.
Once every four years, a team may count a win against a I-AA opponent toward the nine needed for BCS-eligibility. So far, no one has used that exception.
Note that for independents not named Notre Dame, the only way to automatically qualify is to finish #1 or #2.
Also, the #3 provision only applies to the champions of the non-AQ leagues. That means, for example, if TCU were to finish 11-1, but have that loss be to Utah, which is 8-4 overall, but 8-0 in Mtn West play, then TCU could not automatically qualify under rule #3 no matter how high it is ranked.
:up
