It was a day of thrilling and impressive finishes and some of them had huge BCS bowl implications. The day began with Temple nearly upsetting UCF. Knights receiver J.J. Worton made an amazing touchdown catch with 1:06 remaining to tie the game. UCF then knocked through a clutch field goal to win 39-36. Northern Illinois and Fresno State are closely watching UCF as they are the likely BCS champion that could finish lower than the mid-major programs in the final BCS rankings. This week College Sports Madness moved Northern Illinois into a BCS bowl due to their mid-week win over Ball State. Fresno State may be ranked higher, but they will face a tougher opponent in the MW conference title game. Northwestern almost got back into the bowl picture, but a very impressive last second field goal by Michigan eventually led to the Wildcat’s sixth straight loss. Northwestern has to win their last two games to reach bowl eligibility, but that probably won’t happen with Michigan State on the schedule. But, of course, the best finish to a game on Saturday, and perhaps the entire season to date, was the 73 yard touchdown pass from Auburn’s Nick Marshall to Ricardo Louis with just 25 seconds remaining. With Auburn’s win, they moved into the BCS. The Tigers may still lose to Alabama, but the Sugar Bowl may choose Auburn over Missouri and South Carolina if Alabama is in the national championship game and Texas A&M suffers a third loss in the regular season.
See The Projected Bowl Matchups
American: Cincinnati, Houston, Louisville, Rutgers, UCF
ACC: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
Big 12: Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
Big Ten: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Wisconsin
C-USA: East Carolina, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Rice, Tulane
Independent: BYU, Navy, Notre Dame
MAC: Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Toledo
MWC: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State
Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Sun Belt: Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe
See The Projected Bowl Matchups
