College football's annually controversial Bowl Championship Series received a gift-wrapped ending Sunday. The two lone undefeated Division I-A teams, No. 1-ranked Southern California and No. 2-ranked Texas, will meet in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.
The consensus top teams from beginning to end this season, USC and Texas cemented their spots in the national championship game with blowout victories Saturday.
The only surprise on Sunday was the apparent lack of controversy. Griping about the system has become as much an end-of-season rite as the Rose Bowl parade.
The biggest winner outside Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, was Notre Dame. The Irish, who will play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, earned a full BCS share, expected to be worth more than US$14 million.
All teams earn a similar amount by qualifying for a BCS slot, but the other teams receive a fraction of the money because it is used to defray bowl expenses, then divided among conference members.
Because of Notre Dame's independent status, the Irish don't have to share their allotment.
"It's fair to say that the resources will be utilized exclusively for academic purposes," the Notre Dame athletic director, Kevin White, said in a telephone interview. "That's just how we've always done it. That's nothing new."
The BCS berth caps an improbable season for the Irish, who could have played for the national title if USC hadn't beaten them in the final seconds earlier this season.
Under their new coach, Charlie Weis, the Irish have averaged two more touchdowns a game and have re-emerged as a national player, with better play on the field and with much bigger television ratings.
This will be the last season, however, that the Irish can earn such a BCS windfall. Starting next year, Notre Dame will earn about $1 million annually if it doesn't qualify for a BCS bowl and $4.5 million if it does, similar to the amount a conference gets for placing a second team in the BCS.
The BCS coordinator, Kevin Weiberg, said at the time that the idea was to treat Notre Dame as if it were a conference member who has annual automatic qualification.
White said, "We're really excited about the future of the BCS."
Penn State (10-1), which finished third in the BCS rankings, will meet 22nd-ranked Florida State (8-4) in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3
The only team with a gripe is Oregon. The Ducks finished the season 10-1, with their only loss to USC, and they have a better record than Notre Dame and Ohio State.
Oregon, at No. 5, finished one spot ahead of Notre Dame (9-2) in the final BCS rankings. The Irish's losses came against USC and Michigan State, a team that started slipping and bottomed out at 5-6.
But the way the BCS dominoes fell, the Ducks really didn't have a chance. The two at-large berths were taken by Ohio State and Notre Dame, each qualifying automatically via BCS provisions.
Notre Dame qualifies if it reaches nine victories and is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS rankings. And Ohio State finished No. 4 in the BCS standings, giving it automatic entry, just as Texas qualified last year when it jumped California for the fourth spot in the final ranking.
There did not seem to be too much dissent in Oregon on Sunday. The Ducks did not reach a bowl last season, and they have a marquee matchup with Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl.
"Every year, there are teams that are deserving teams that do not make it," Weiberg said.
Weiberg did not take the opportunity to boast about the neat and tidy way things wrapped up Sunday, but he did address the congressional hearing that will take place this week to discuss the BCS.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, called the hearing to discuss a system he called deeply flawed.
But his timing could have been better. This year, there seems to be less hand-wringing than there has been since the BCS's debut, in 1999.
"I don't really know precisely why we're having this hearing," Weiberg said.
OTHER WINNERS
The oft-maligned Big East Conference has avoided controversy this year by sending West Virginia to the Sugar Bowl to play Georgia. The Mountaineers' 10-1 record makes them a much better BCS team than Pittsburgh (8-3) was last season.
This season will also help the Big East's case when it comes under review to keep its automatic bid with the BCS. West Virginia finished No. 11, well ahead of the Atlantic Coast Conference's representative, Florida State at No. 22.
"Clearly it has always been beneficial for any conference, whether it is mine or the Big East, to have its champions as highly rated as possible," said Weiberg, who is also the Big 12 commissioner.
BEST OF THE REST
Outside the BCS, there is a buffet of intriguing bowl matchups. The best non-BCS games include Oregon-Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 29, Texas Tech-Alabama in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2 and Miami-LSU in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30.
The best pre-Christmas bowl appears likely to be Texas-El Paso against Toledo on Dec. 21 in the GMAC Bowl.
No bowl games will be played on New Year's Day, which falls on an NFL Sunday.
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