Following yesterday's 16-teams-with-consolation-bowls approach, it's time to dive in.
Again, the rules: all conference champions get a seat at the table, which leaves five at-large bids. They will go to the top five remaining teams in the BCS standings. Teams are then seeded by BCS standings. No rematches in the first round. Losers in the first or second rounds end up in a bowl game.
Automatic Bids
#1 Alabama (SEC Champ*)
#2 Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ)
#5 USC (Pac-10 Champ)
#6 Utah (Mountain West Champ)
#8 Penn State (Big Ten Champ)
#9 Boise State (WAC Champ)
#12 Ball State (MAC Champ*)
#13 Cincinnati (Big East Champ)
#15 Georgia Tech (ACC Champ**)
Tulsa (Conference USA Champ***)
Troy (Sun Belt Champ)
* Remember, no title games. Alabama and Ball State were undefeated in conference; therefore, they are both conference champions.
** It was a 4-way tie at 5-3 between Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Florida State. As luck would have it, they all played each other. GT and BC went 2-1, VT and FSU went 1-2. GT beat BC, therefore GT wins the tie-breaker.
*** Tie at 7-1 between Tulsa and Rice (??). Tulsa beat Rice...Tulsa = champ.
At-Large Bids (as decided by BCS standings)
#3 Texas
#4 Florida
#7 Texas Tech
#10 Ohio State
#11 TCU
So...
National Championship Tournament
16 Troy at 1 Alabama
9 Boise State at 8 Penn State
12 TCU* at 5 USC
13 Cincinnati at 4 Florida
11 Ball State at 6 Utah
14 Georgia Tech at 3 Texas
10 Ohio State at 7 Texas Tech
15 Tulsa at 2 Oklahoma
* Tulsa and TCU were flipped to avoid a first-round rematch (in this case, Utah vs TCU).
So let's get started with the first matchup...each poll will be open for 24 hours...if there's a tie after 24 hours, the tying scores will be averaged together for the final score...