Bowl Projections: Arkansas and Best Teams That Won't Reach BCS

For all the griping and moaning surrounding the BCS, the fact is that only 10 teams can make it to college football's Big Dance in any given year.

As such, there are bound to be plenty of top-flight teams left out to be picked up rather joyfully by a host of second-tier bowl games, with these three among them.

Arkansas

It doesn't matter how high Arkansas finishes in the BCS standings, it cannot possibly play in a big-money bowl. The Razorbacks recorded yet another fine season under Bobby Petrino's stewardship, losing only to likely BCS title combatants LSU and Alabama, though by a 24-point margin each time.

Thanks to the successes of the Tigers and the Crimson Tide along with the BCS' built-in rules about conference parity, the only other SEC team with any chance of receiving such a coveted invitation is Georgia, which would only be able to do so if it defeated LSU on Saturday to earn the conference's automatic bid.

Either way, Tyler Wilson and company will still have the opportunity to play in a post-New Year's Day game, with the Capital One Bowl and the Cotton Bowl likely lining up to receive them.

Kansas State

Should the Hogs hop onto the Cotton Bowl, they'll probably find themselves lining up across from fellow BCS snub Kansas State. The Wildcats can only hope to sneak into the party if Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Game, and even then Bill Snyder's squad may well be passed over in favor of Michigan.

That should come as no surprise, seeing as how the Wolverines boast a much richer football tradition—and a more fervent national following—for the BCS to exploit for corporate profit.

Regardless, the 'Cats will still play in a quality bowl game for a shot at their seventh 11-win season in school history.

Boise State

Boise State's one-point home loss to TCU may prove to be more costly than anyone could've expected. That slightest of disparities is shaping up to be the difference between a $17 million BCS payday and a chance to play for $500 thousand in the Poinsettia Bowl for the Broncos.

A dramatic dropoff, to say the least, though not exactly one that Kellen Moore and his teammates aren't already familiar with. They spent the 2010 holiday season beating up on Utah in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas for $1.1 million after suffering a similarly heartbreaking, late-season defeat to Nevada.

The Broncos can thank Heisman Trophy contender Case Keenum and No. 6 Houston, destined for an undefeated run through Conference USA, for stealing what little of their non-AQ thunder remained this time around.