10-0 Tulane Out of BCS Mix

Tulane is out of the running for a spot in the bowl championship series, even though the Green Wave is one of only four undefeated teams.

In a BCS release Tuesday listing the teams still in contention for the Fiesta, Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls, No. 11 Tulane (10-0) and No. 23 Penn State (7-3) were “released for consideration by other bowls.”

Tulane, which plays Louisiana Tech in its regular-season finale Thursday, now goes to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Dec. 31 as the Conference USA champion. It will play Brigham Young.

Six conference champions--from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southeastern conferences--receive automatic BCS berths. Two at-large teams also are selected.

So far, only No. 3 UCLA (10-0), the Pac-10 winner, and No. 4 Florida State (11-1), the ACC winner, have clinched BCS spots.

Wisconsin (10-1) has won the Big Ten, and is guaranteed a spot in the Rose Bowl unless Ohio State finishes in the top two in the BCS standings and plays in the Fiesta Bowl. Even then, the Badgers are still likely to go to the Rose Bowl.

The winner of Saturday’s Miami-Syracuse game wins the Big East; the Big 12 spot goes to the winner of No. 2 Kansas State (11-0) vs. No. 6 Texas A&M; on Dec. 5; and the SEC spot goes to the winner of the No. 1 Tennessee (10-0) vs. Arkansas or Mississippi State game Dec. 5.