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OK. So to start, you have conferences. THe BCS or 'bigtime' conferences are the SEC, ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten, Big East and Big 12. I might have missed one but I don't think so. Then there are a ton of other 'mid-major' conferences such as C-USA, WAC, ETC
I will give you an example. Say you are Clemson. (Where I go to school). You are in the ACC (atlantic coast conference). Most of your schedule is going to consist of other ACC teams. (florida st., BC, virginia, ETC). The BCS conferences are usually split into two divisions anyway but that is not as important. So the schedule is about 6-8 games within your conference. Based on your IN-CONFERENCE record is what decides who wins the conference or who will play in the conference championship game. I think Big Ten and Big East don't play conference championships, can't be certain.
Anyway, in addition to your in-conference record, you will play out of conference games. For instance last night Clemson (ACC) played Alabama (SEC). And they got their asses whooped. Anyway, your whole schedule is what counts towards the BCS. So Clemson getting their ass beat by an SEC team cripples their national championship hope, but doesn't affect their chances of winning the ACC at all.
So basically at the end of the year there are bowls. The major bowls are
Rose Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
Sugar Bowl
Orange Bowl
and now they have a seperate National Champuionship Bowl. The #1 and 2 teams in the country as per the BCS play in the National Championship. I am not entirely sure how they decide the other major bowls anymore, but traditionally the Big-10 champ would play the PAc-10 champ in the Rose Bowl and so on and so forth. But now you can play a major bowl as a BCS AT-LARGE bid. As in if you won a mid-major conference and went undefeated or something. Or a BCS conference team that only had 1 loss to the National champions or something.
Aside from the major bowls there are seriously like 20 other bowls like the Capital One Bowl, Liberty bowl, Insurance.com bwol. It is ridiculous really. But if you are a D-1 school with a .500 or better record you will go to a bowl
Maybe stima or something can explain better. There aren't playoffs, the 'BCS' decides everything and gives you one postseason matchup. So, in college football, EVERY game counts. Because usually the two teams in the national championship are the only two teams who went undefeated or had 1 loss.
Also the BCS doesn't do the non-major bowls, the actual bowls do the invites and such, but you want a good BCS ranking. bleh, hard to explain if you didn't grow up with it
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