The first BCS bowl spot of the 2013 -14 season has officially been secured.
Central Florida, a team that was in Conference USA this time last year, will be the American Athletic Conference representative in the final edition of the BCS and it has Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to thank.
It was Bridgewater who put the Cardinals on his back in the fourth quarter and ultimately led them to a 31-24 overtime victory over Cincinnati. The win gave the Knights the outright conference title. Otherwise they would have needed a win against SMU to secure the BCS berth. UCF can lose that game and tie for the AAC title with Louisville but own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
So, the first piece of what could be a very interesting BCS bowl puzzle has now been placed, but we still don’t know where the Knights will ultimately end up. Obviously their preference would probably be home-state advantage in the Orange Bowl, but Dr. Saturday’s Chris Wilson projects the Knights against Auburn in the Sugar Bowl.
All will be sorted out as we move through the weekend. Northern Illinois could lock up a BCS at-large bid Friday with a win against Bowling Green in the Mid-America Conference Championship.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!Follow @YahooDrSaturday