Unless their champion is involved in the BCS National Championship game, the conference tie-ins are:

The problem is that the Bulldogs are an independent and have no conference tie-in with a bowl.

The Mid-American Conference was the other conference tie-in.

It also featured the Orange Bowl's first conference tie-in between the Big Seven and the ACC.

The other conference tie-in was with the WAC, which has generally fielded its champion in the game.

The bowl can do it because it has an at-large berth available, while most other bowls have conference tie-ins.

These conference tie-ins led to situations where the top-ranked teams in the country could not play each other in a bowl game.

First, each bowl will honor its commitments to its conference tie-ins on the years the bowl is not playing host to the championship game.

It gets murkier still when four bowl selection committees, conference tie-ins and the wishes of ABC Sports are added to the equation.

Participants in non-BCS bowls are selected on the basis of conference tie-ins.