"Welcome to the BCS College Football Tournament Selection Show"

And now live from the ESPN studios, it's the BCS College Football Tournament Selection Show, with Reece Davis, Lou Holtz, and Mark May:



Reece, "Well, we started this weekend with sixteen teams with a chance to play in the 2010-2011 BCS College Football Tournament, and we will find out in moments which ten made the field, and who and where they will play. Coach Holtz, the big game that would have shook things up yesterday was Auburn against South Carolina in the SEC championship game, but Auburn quickly put an end to the drama."

Lou, "Yes, my old Arkansas team was hoping SO much for an Auburn win, because my other old team, South Carolina, could have made the tourney with a win, and then, Auburn probably would have taken Arkansas' at-large spot. But Auburn was ready, and I think the Razorbacks are going to be in the tournament this year; congratulations to Bobby Petrino on a great season! My old friends at the University of Arkansas will be celebrating an opportunity to play in the post-season tournament"

Mark, "But coach, Arkansas had a great season, but Michigan State is Big Ten co-champion with one loss, they really should be in the tournament over the Razorbacks. But let's give credit to Cam Newton and Auburn for a dominating performance. Auburn will probably be the number one seed, and with the allegations over Cam Newton's eligibility behind him, I think the Tigers are poised to run to the national title in Glendale this January."

Lou, "Mark, come on, its your Big East conference, you played at Pitt, that is taking Michigan State's slot, not Arkansas. The Big East just did not deserve a chance to be in the tournament this year."

Reece, "Well, certainly the question of whether the Big East has deserved to be in the tournament has been all over talk radio and the internet for months, but I think when all is said and done, Michigan State's decisive loss at Iowa, 37-6, in a season where Iowa finished 7 and 5, put in people's minds that they were a very good team, but just not a threat to win the national championship this season. And the fact that they needed overtime to win over your other school, coach, Notre Dame, probably also solidified this perception."

Lou, "Well, I think the tournament needs to go to twelve or sixteen teams, there are so many good teams in this country, a ten team tournament just is not enough."

Mark, "Coach, I think the tournament committee will say, the ten team tournament maintains the week to week importance of games that we had during the previous bowl era. And the Big East championship went down the the last minute of of the last game of the last night of the regular season, providing a lot of drama, and both the conference, and the University of Connecticut, deserve to be part of the tournament."

Reece, "So let's recap yesterday's action. We started with sixteen teams with a shot at the tournament, and we started to shave that down right away.

"Early in the day, West Virginia easily handed Rutgers, despite some early turnovers, winning 35 to 14, keeping their Big East dream alive, and eliminated pre-season conference favorite Pittsburgh, who did what they need to do, and beat Cincinnati 28 to 10. But the Panthers were eliminated, sorry Mark, and we were down to 15 teams."

"Then the SEC championship, a huge win for the Auburn Tigers. Auburn takes the SEC automatic bid, and South Carolina, sorry coach, is eliminated, and we were down to fourteen teams. Of course Oregon was already in the tournament, but winning the Civil War over in-state rival Oregon State keeps the Ducks in line for a top two seed in the tournament."

"In the ACC championship game, Florida State was game, but Virginia Tech just had too many big plays, and won pretty easily. The Hokies make it back to the tournament after losing their first two games of the season. The Seminoles appear to be on their way back to prominence, but they are eliminated and we are down to thirteen teams that have a chance to be in the tournament."

"So things have gone pretty much to form up to this point in the games of Saturday. But things heat up in Tampa, as late in the game South Florida ties it up against Connecticut. The Huskies respond with a 52-yard field goal with 17 seconds to play, and hold onto the victory. UConn will make the tournament for the first time, and West Virginia is eliminated, and we are down to twelve teams in the race for Glendale."

"The night ends with the Big XII championship. Nebraska lost on a last second field goal last year to Texas, and missed their chance for a tournament return, but the Huskers hoped to close out their Big XII football era with a conference championship. Things looked good early for Nebraska, but Oklahoma stormed back, and held onto to win another conference championship, eliminating Nebraska, leaving eleven teams that are left for the ten team tournament."

"So here are the teams that are left, six conference champions: Auburn, Oregon, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, and Connecticut. And there is one likely automatic bid to a non-BCS conference, that being undefeated Texas Christian. That leaves three at-large births, with Stanford, Ohio State, Arkansas, and Michigan State vying for those spots. Who will be in and who is out, we are about to find out."

Reece continues, "And now, it is time to learn the which ten teams made the 2010-2011 BCS college football tournament, so we go to Brent Musberger in Glendale Arizona. Brent..."

Brent, "You are looking...LIVE at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale Arizona. Ten teams will play to win here, and take home win the BCS championship trophy. Let's go the tourney Commissioner Nelson, who will reveal this year's tournament. Commissioner..."

Commissioner, "Thank you Brent. It is my pleasure to announce the teams that will be playing in the 2010-2011 BCS college football tournament."

"In the first round, in Arlington, Texas, the seventh seed and champion of the Big XII conference, the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma, will take on the tenth seed, and champion of the Big East conference, the University of Connecticut Huskies."

"The other first round game will be played in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the eighth seed, Razorbacks of the University of Arkansas, at-large from the Southeastern Conference, will play the ninth seeded Virginia Tech University Hokies, champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference."

"So let's move onto the BCS bowl quarterfinals. If Virginia Tech wins their first round game, they will move on to the Sugar Bowl, to play the top seed, the Auburn University Tigers, champions of the Southeastern Conference. If Arkansas wins, then the Sugar Bowl opponent for Auburn will be the winner of Oklahoma and Connecticut."

"The winner of the Sugar Bowl, will take on the winner of the Rose Bowl, which will feature the fourth seed, an at-large team from the Pacific Ten conference, the Cardinal of Stanford University, who will take on the champion of the Big Ten conference, the fifth seeded University of Wisconsin Badgers."

"If Arkansas is victorious in their first round game, they will move on to the Fiesta Bowl, to play the number two seed, and champion of the Pacific Ten conference, the Ducks of the University of Oregon. If Virginia Tech wins, then the Fiesta Bowl opponent for Oregon will be the winner of the Oklahoma and Connecticut match-up."

"The Fiesta Bowl winner will take on the winner of the remaining quarterfinal game, the Orange Bowl, which will feature the third seed, automatic qualifier from the Mountain West Conference, the Horned Frogs from Texas Christian University, who will play the sixth seed, and at-large qualifier from the Big Ten conference, the Buckeyes of the Ohio State University."

"The winners of the BCS quarterfinals will meet in St Petersburg, Florida for Football's Final Four, and the winner of the semi-finals will play for the BCS championship, right here, in Glendale Arizona."

Brent, "Thank you Commissioner, it shapes up to be yet another exciting tournament. Of course, Michigan State fans are going to be very disappointed that their team did not make the tournament."

Commissioner, "Brent, we know there will be disappointment in East Lansing and the great fans of Michigan State across the country. But this was a unique season with three 11-1 teams from the same conference, and the perception was that Wisconsin and Ohio State finished stronger down the stretch, and I am certain they will prove to be tough foes, representing ALL of the Big Ten very well."

Brent, "Thank you Commissioner, and now back to Reece."

Reece, "Thank you Brent and thank you Commissioner. Well, as we expected Michigan State is out, Arkansas grabbed the last at-large slot. And looking at the BCS final results, it was the computer rankings that did in the Spartans. They finished eleventh in the consensus of the computer rankings, and Arkansas finished sixth. Coach, what about the pairings do you notice at first look."

Lou, "Well, Oklahoma jumped in the last weekend to seventh seed, so rather than taking on Virginia Tech in the first round, they get to play Connecticut, so that is a big change for them. I think Arkansas-Virginia Tech is going to be a heck of a first round game. Whoever wins that game will be a tough opponent for Auburn or Oregon."

Reece, "As coach mentioned, the rules stipulate avoiding re-matches from the regular season in the first round or BCS Bowls, so if Arkansas wins, they cannot play Auburn again, and they would play Oregon. Mark, as coach said, Oklahoma moving up to seventh appears huge, not only to play in Dallas again, where they have spent more time than Larry Hagman, but also to be big favorites over Connecticut."

Mark, "Yes, and coach Bob Stoops, if he feels his team will not take Connecticut seriously only has to say two words; Boise State. The Broncos shocked the Sooners the last time they played in a first round game, so I think they will be prepared. Another part of the brackets I noticed is that the Rose Bowl had the rights to the Oregon game, but passed to select the Wisconsin-Stanford match-up. Remember, the Rose Bowl also passed on number two seed Ohio State in 2003 for their game against Florida State so they could select a game between two at-large teams, USC and Iowa, also in the 4/5 seed slot. USC won easily, and Stanford will hope to do the same."

Reece, "Looking at the teams in the brackets, only three were in the tournament last season, TCU, Oregon, and Ohio State. None of last year's Final Four, Alabama, Texas, Florida, and Boise State made it back this season. Of the pre-season rankings, five of the teams did make it: Oregon, TCU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech. The five that did not: Alabama, Texas, Boise State, Pittsburgh, and Florida, so some overlap there."

Reece, "Coach, let's look at the teams have have made the tournament during the ten-team era over the past five seasons"

Lou, "Well, you'll see Ohio State and Oklahoma at the top, four times in the tournament over the past five years. I know some times people criticize coach Tressel and coach Stoops, but hey, this is incredible, and really tough to do now in college football."

Ohio State	4	2006, 2007, 2009, 2010
Oklahoma	4	2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
Florida	3	2006, 2008, 2009
USC	3	2006, 2007, 2008
Virginia Tech	3	2007, 2008, 2010
Alabama	2	2008, 2009
Boise State	2	2006, 2009
Cincinnati	2	2008, 2009
LSU	2	2006, 2007
Oregon	2	2009, 2010
TCU	2	2009, 2010
Texas	2	2008, 2009
Wisconsin	2	2006, 2010
Arkansas	1	2010
Auburn	1	2010
Connecticut	1	2010
Georgia	1	2007
Georgia Tech	1	2009
Hawaii	1	2007
Iowa	1	2009
Kansas	1	2007
Louisville	1	2006
Michigan	1	2006
Missouri	1	2007
Penn State	1	2008
Stanford	1	2010
Texas Tech	1	2008
Utah	1	2008
Wake Forest	1	2006
West Virginia	1	2007

Reece, "And one consequence of going to ten teams was the advent of the first round games, which cities love to get, and has really taken the tournament across the country. You can see over the last five seasons, Charlotte now has had three first round games, with Wake Forest-Wisconsin, and Virginia Tech-Texas Tech, and this season, because Virginia Tech had a geographic advantage over Arkansas since the Hokies are automatic qualifiers whereas the Razorbacks are an at-large team, Charlotte gets to see Tech one more time this season."

First Round Games Hosted in the Ten Team Era:

Charlotte	3
Pittsburgh	2
Boise	1
San Diego	1
Seattle	1
Cincinnati	1
Dallas	1

Reece, "Well, that's it for an exciting regular season of college football. But all of the exciting results of the tournament, game by game, up to the championship will be right here, and also on mycollegefootballtourney.blogspot.com. For Lou Holtz and Mark May, good night everybody!"