BCS gives berth: NCAA football bowl games announced

Fiesta Bowl: No. 1 Miami vs. No. 2 Ohio State will face off in the BCS national title game matching major college football's only undefeated teams.

The final Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday were just a formality in determining the title game since the Hurricanes (12-0) and Buckeyes (13-0) had already accepted bids to the Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl.

Orange Bowl: No. 3 Iowa fans and No. 5 Southern California fans will fill the streets of Miami on Jan. 2.

Rose Bowl: Pasadena, Calif. will welcome Washington State, the Pac-10 champion and Big 12 champion Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

Sugar Bowl: SEC champion Georgia will square off against ACC champion Florida State, a game that will pair up Bulldogs coach Mark Richt against his former boss, Bobby Bowden.

Each BCS game team receives about $13 million, which is split among conference members.

Miami has a chance for even more national attention as it is led by Heisman Trophy contenders Ken Dorsey and Willis McGahee.

Ohio State, led by running back Maurice Clarett and a solid defense, goes after its first national crown since 1968.

While each of the BCS games has regional tie-ins, the selection rules allowed the Orange Bowl to end up without one of six conference champions.

In the final BCS standings, Miami was first with 2.93 points, with Ohio State second at 3.97 points.

Georgia (12-1), which won its first SEC title in 20 years with a 30-3 victory over Arkansas on Saturday, was third at 8.37 points. USC finished with 10.51 points, and Iowa had 10.79 points.

By finishing fourth in the BCS standings, USC was guaranteed a BCS game, while Iowa was the only one-loss team available since Georgia was tied to the Sugar Bowl.

The Orange Bowl landed Iowa-USC thanks to a BCS rule concerning payouts. Since the Orange has a slightly higher payout than the Sugar, it got to pick the Trojans.

Here's how: After the Fiesta Bowl match up was made, the Orange had the next pick because its anchor team -- Big East champion Miami -- wasn't available. It chose Iowa.

The Rose Bowl, which lost Big Ten champion Ohio State, went for Oklahoma (11-2) to play Pac-10 champion Washington State (10-2). The Sugar, which had its anchor team in Georgia, then wanted USC. But so did the Orange.

In that case, according to BCS rules, the bowl with the higher payoff gets first preference. So the Orange went for USC and Iowa.

-- Information compiled by Jenny Dial, Daily Sports Editor
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