Notre Dame will earn one of the at-large bids if it beats host Stanford this weekend. Officials for the Fiesta Bowl, to be played Jan. 2 in Tempe, Ariz., might have wanted to match Notre Dame against one-loss Alabama or perhaps one-loss Virginia Tech, but those plans have fizzled.

Alabama has two losses after losing to Auburn on Saturday. Virginia Tech, thanks to Miami's loss to Georgia Tech, is back in the race for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. If Virginia Tech beats North Carolina on Saturday, it will play Florida State on Dec. 3 for the ACC title. If Virginia Tech wins there, it will head to the Jan. 3 Orange Bowl in Miami rather than the Fiesta Bowl.

Therefore, the Fiesta might be staring down a choice between Oregon and Ohio State to match against Notre Dame — and Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen is ready to fight.

In 2001, Hansen threatened to pull out of the BCS if Oregon State didn't get a Fiesta Bowl bid, which it did, but he doesn't have the same leverage this time.

BCS predictions

Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 2)

Notre Dame vs. Ohio State

Sugar Bowl (Jan. 2)

Louisiana State vs. West Virginia

Orange Bowl (Jan. 3)

Penn State vs. Virginia Tech

Rose Bowl (Jan. 4)

USC vs. Texas

The Orlando Sentinel

"I can't say that today. We just signed a new, four-year contract," Hansen said of the BCS's deal with Fox, which starts next year.

Oregon would have been a virtual cinch for a BCS game had Ohio State not rallied to defeat Michigan 25-21 on Antonio Pittman's winning 3-yard run with 24 seconds left Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Some Pac-10 schools do not "travel" well to bowls — an important factor in bowl decisions — but Hansen said that wouldn't be the case with Oregon.

"Oregon will buy every ticket made available to it," Hansen said. "They cannot use that on us."

Hansen described Notre Dame-Ohio State as a "regional" game and noted Oregon has a better record than Ohio State. "Why take a 9-2 team over a 10-1 team?" Hansen said. "That's not what bowls do."

Fans in Eugene, Ore., were chanting, "B-C-S!" in the waning minutes of Oregon's 56-14 rout of Oregon State on Saturday.

If the Ducks are not selected for a BCS berth, they are expected to go to the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 29 in San Diego.

"It's all politics from here on out," said Oregon defensive end Devan Long, a former standout at Anacortes High School. "If people like us, they'll put us in the BCS. If not, we'll go to the Holiday Bowl. It doesn't matter. We did our part."

Last year, California finished the regular season 10-1, was second in the Pac-10 to unbeaten USC and played in the Holiday Bowl. Big 12 team Texas passed the Golden Bears to take fourth in the final BCS standings and beat Michigan 38-37 in the Rose Bowl.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said, "Our motto this year was 'focus and finish,' and we've done that. They've done what they needed to do to be in the best bowl game possible. Obviously that's out of our hands now, but our players have done whatever we've asked them to do all year long."

Notes

• The Associated Press media poll and the USA Today coaches poll each have the same top five: USC, Texas, Louisiana State, Penn State and Virginia Tech.

The BCS formula includes the coaches poll and the Harris Interactive poll. The Harris poll's top five teams are USC, Texas, Louisiana State, Penn State and Notre Dame. Virginia Tech is sixth in the Harris poll.

• Columbia fired coach Bob Shoop, who was 7-23 in three seasons.

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