Clemson beats Georgia 2013 Week One

Clemson finished 10-2 in the ACC, with losses to Florida State and South Carolina, and looks to be Ohio State's bowl opponent now, likely facing off with the Buckeyes in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.

(Richard Shiro, Associated Press)

INDIANAPOLIS - Ohio State's 34-24 loss to Michigan State on Saturday night knocked the Buckeyes about 2,700 miles off course for bowl season.

Instead of landing in Pasadena, Calif., to play in the BCS National Championship on Jan. 6, or even in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champ in Pasadena on Jan. 1, Ohio State almost certainly will play in its first Orange Bowl since beating Colorado 27-10 on Jan. 1, 1977.

That is the Buckeyes' only trip to the game. The Orange Bowl this season will be played on Friday, Jan. 3, at 8:30 p.m.

The Buckeyes' opponent? Probably 10-2 Clemson from the ACC. Ohio State and Clemson have played just once, in the 1978 Gator Bowl. You know what happened in that game.

How will Ohio State wind up there? It's not that complicated.



No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Auburn, which is how the BCS standings will fall when released Sunday night, will play for the national title on Jan. 6.

Florida State, as the champion of the ACC, would be headed to the Orange Bowl as part of the BCS bowl agreements, except the Seminoles are headed for the big game.

The first at-large selections every BCS season go to the bowls that are losing teams to the national title game. And the bowl losing No. 1 gets to pick first.

The following conference champs are locked into bowl spots: Michigan State (Big Ten) and Stanford (Pac-12) in the Rose Bowl, and Baylor (Big 12) in the Fiesta Bowl.

The only other team that must get a BCS bid is Central Florida, as the champ of the American Athletic Conference. That conference is not linked to a bowl.

That means the following spots must be filled by UCF and four at-large teams: two in the Orange, two in the Sugar and one in the Fiesta.

The order of selection changes every year, and this year the order is Orange, Sugar, Fiesta.

But first, the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl will get to replace their champs.

So the overall order of selection is Orange, Sugar, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta.

An at-large team must be in the top 14 of the BCS standings to be eligible. And no conference can have more than two BCS teams. Among the at-large teams in the top 14 will be Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Clemson and probably Oklahoma.

Alabama just played in Miami last year because the Orange Bowl hosted the national title game. Plus, the Sugar Bowl is linked with the SEC and would probably like to replace Auburn with another SEC team. Given that Ohio State has a huge fan base that didn't go to a bowl last year, and that the Orange Bowl went through the entire Earle Bruce, John Cooper and Jim Tressel eras without snagging the Buckeyes, it seems likely that the Orange Bowl would grab Urban Meyer's Buckeyes.

That would leave Alabama to the Sugar Bowl with the No. 2 pick, no doubt.

The No. 3 pick for the Orange Bowl would come down to Clemson, Oregon or Oklahoma. Given that the bowl has a relationship with the ACC, the Orange Bowl would almost certainly grab Clemson.