No matter how hard everyone tries, you just can’t keep the SEC out of the Big Game. It took Ohio State’s first loss in 25 games to secure it (and two miracle finishes in the last month by Auburn), but once again an SEC school will play for all the marbles in the National Championship Game on Jan. 6 in Pasadena. When it comes to counting BCS $s, the conferences that have hit the proverbial jackpot ($17 Million per team per BCS Bowl game, $18 million per team for the Championship game) are the Big 10 (2 teams), the Big 12 (2 teams), the SEC (2 teams) and the ACC (2 teams). The conferences of these teams will split the payouts equally among the members. No. 8 Missouri and No. 9 South Carolina are the two highest ranked teams not making the BCS Bowl cut, both victims of the numbers game and being in the powerhouse SEC (only two teams are from each conference can go to BCS Bowl games, and Auburn and Alabama are the SEC representatives). No. 10 Oregon had their streak of 4 straight BCS games broken when they were passed over by schools with closer proximity to the games by the Orange Bowl (Miami) with Clemson, and the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans) with Oklahoma.
Who: No. 4 Michigan State (11-1) vs. No. 5 Stanford (11-2)
When: January 1, 2014
Where: Pasadena
On: ESPN
Who: No. 6 Baylor (11-1) vs. No. 15 UCF (11-1)
When: January 1, 2014
Where, Glendale , AZ
On: ESPN
Who: No. 3 Alabama (11-1) vs. No. 11 Oklahoma (10-2)
When: January 2, 2014
Where: New Orleans
On: ESPN
Who: No. 12 Clemson (10-2) vs. No. 7 Ohio State (12-1)
When: January 3, 2014
Where: Miami
On: ESPN
Vizio BCS National Championship Game
Who: No. 2 Auburn (12-1) vs. No. 1 Florida State (13-0)
When: January 6, 2014
Where: Pasadena
On: ESPN