GO IRISH.
As for Ohio MAC school fans, I tend to disagree with you. Even though Ohio State sports tends to soak up all the oxygen in the room, and all the funding from the state board of regents, many Ohio MAC students and fans prefer their school team over THE Buckeyes. Many go to the MAC school because they prefer a smaller campus to the scarlet-clad goliath in Columbus. 
Sorry zamboniracer. Now all my Sooners have to do is not blow it against TCU.
A more deserving team is going. 
No sympathy needed, Nars. My Golden Flashes lost to a better team, the Northern Illinois Huskies.
Anybody else think these BCS selection rules are about seven ways of screwed up? I mean, I get the bone they toss to the MWC/MAC/CUSA mid-majors, where if they have a team ranked in the top 16 AND ahead of an auto qualifier conference champ, they get a BCS slot. But if that’s the case, why in the name of Knute Rockne does the lower-ranked Big East school still get their spot in the BCS? Let’s face it, I don’t care if you win your conference, if you’re ranked below Northern Illinois, you don’t deserve a New Years Day bowl.
Yes, I know what “auto-qualifier” means, and I know the big conferences made the rules for the BCS, but it still stinks. Because the Big East is terrible, they might cost the Big 12 a second BCS slot. Shouldn’t the Big East pay for that instead?
On the third hand, it’s not a huge deal. It might be fun to see NIU in the Orange Bowl (for about six minutes, maybe). And the BCS is only designed to match the top two teams, everything else is a mishmash. It just doesn’t seem quite right that one AQ conference ends up paying the price because another AQ conference sucks pond scum.
BCS fever - catch it! Then see your doctor …
Various outlets are reporting that NIU is going to the Orange Bowl. Oh well, them’s the rules. I agree that if an AQ conference can’t get a team in the top 16, they should probably lose their spot. I’d petition for them to be “Preferred Conferences” if everything weren’t changing in two years.
Jeez, talk about BCS buster. Other than the National Championship game and the K-State vs Oregon game, I’m not very interested in any of the other BCS matchups.
BCS National Championship: Notre Dame v. Alabama
Sugar Bowl: Florida v. Louisville
Fiesta Bowl: Kansas State v. Oregon
Rose Bowl: Stanford v. Wisconsin
Orange Bowl: Northern Illinois v. Florida State
Yeah, aside from the BCS and Fiesta games, those are pretty bad matchups.
I don’t follow college football (though Elroy Hirsh did say “Hi!” to my mom), so I’m not clear why the other teams are ineligible for postseason play so that is why the Badgers are going to the Rose Bowl.
Brian
I’m surprised they didn’t set up the FSU v. New ACC Member matchup in the Orange.
The Big Ten went to two divisions (the “Leaders” and “Legends” divisions) when they added Nebraska, and went to 12 teams. When they did this, they also added a championship game, played between the winners of the two divisions.
Wisconsin (4-4 in their Big Ten games) finished third in the Leaders division, behind Ohio State (which went 8-0 in the Big Ten), and Penn State (6-2). However, Ohio State was banned from postseason play this season due to an issue with several players selling team memorabilia for cash (and the coach apparently being aware of this). Penn State was banned due to the apparent cover-up by school staffers of the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.
So, Wisconsin, with its four losses in the Big Ten (and five overall losses, when you count non-conference games) was the default “winner” of the Leaders division, which thus put it into the championship game against Nebraska (which won the Legends division). Despite the fact that Nebraska was pretty substantially favored, Wisconsin thumped Nebraska, and so, they’re going to the Rose Bowl.
The Sugar got to choose ahead of Orange this year. Since their choice was the less crappy of Louisville or NIU, they picked Louisville.
FSU is opening as 13.5 point favorite over NIU. I think I’ll bet my house on FSU. Of course, I’m usually wrong.
Don’t forget that FSU will be operating under a temp Def Coordinator. Plus, we didn’t look that great against GT. Is NIU an option team?
Pro-style two back formation and spread formation are the ones they primarily use.
NIU isn’t strictly speaking an option team, but it has a quarterback who is good at running the ball. He’s not a bad passer either.
Over 1700 yards rushing and 2900 yards passing, along with being responsible for 43 touchdowns this year…yeah, I’d say he’s a pretty good quarterback. 
Florida State will have their hands full, and I believe that while Florida State will likely win the game, the 13.5 point margin may be a bit too big (yes, an NIU grad here).
No doubt Lynch is a good QB but when NIU played one of the worst teams in the Big 10, he threw for 54 yards and ran for 119. I think FSU will be able to handle him. How will the Huskies be able to stop EJ Manuel?
Ah yes, the scheduling mavens have done it again. Despite 30-odd bowl games spanning four weeks over the holiday season, they’ve managed to schedule four Big Ten teams not merely on the same day, but at the same time.
So on the one hand, we have to throw 100 years of tradition out the window so we can add eastern teams and get more TV money. But on the other hand, we’ll schedule all the games at the same time to ensure that they carve up the midwestern audience and get crappy ratings.
Fucking idiots.
Only being able to watch one Big Ten team out of four should be considered a feature, not a bug.