Dawn broke Sunday in the bowl championship series, and let's just say it wasn't pretty.
The euphoria over Utah's becoming the first "coalition" school to make a BCS game gave way to yet another potential disaster scenario that could shatter what credibility the BCS has left.
A series of Saturday results set up the potential for two non-BCS schools to earn major-bowl berths and for No. 4 California to get shut out of the Rose Bowl.
Reached at his home Sunday, Pacific 10 Conference Commissioner Tom Hansen pored over the BCS rule book to confirm the possibility of this peril, paused for a moment, and sighed, "Oh boy."
Reaction from the Rose Bowl was tense but measured.
"We will play the hand of cards that we get," Executive Director Mitch Dorger said.
Here's what happened and what can happen next.
Michigan, No. 7 in the BCS last week, lost. So did No. 8 Florida State.
If you reason that Boise State, which was No. 9 in the BCS, would move into the No. 7 spot today when the BCS standings are released, that would leave the Broncos only one spot removed from reaching No. 6 and earning an automatic BCS berth. (Note: The fight for today's No. 7 spot figures to be close among Boise State, Miami, Georgia and Louisville).
If Utah and Boise State finish in the top six of the BCS, both schools get into a major bowl and the Rose Bowl couldn't take Cal, which is 9-1 with one game remaining, Dec. 4 at Southern Mississippi.
In fact, the future of the BCS and perhaps the Rose Bowl's participation in it might boil down to Friday's game involving BCS No. 5 Texas and Texas A&M in Austin.
If Texas wins, everything is fine for the BCS because the Longhorns would keep Boise State out of the No. 6 spot.
If Texas A&M wins, though, Boise State (or even another non-BCS school, Louisville) could move into the No. 6 position and make life miserable for BCS creators.
In carving out an access spot for non-BCS teams, officials never thought of a scenario in which two non-BCS teams make the top six.
"No way, nohow would anyone have dreamed of that one," Hansen said.
Suffice to say, Hansen, Rose Bowl officials and everyone else with a stake in the BCS will be rooting like the dickens for Texas to beat Texas A&M.
There are other ways out of this mess: USC could still lose to Notre Dame or UCLA, which would knock the Trojans into the Rose Bowl.
