The Stanford Cardinal remained at No. 4 in the final BCS rankings of the year, guaranteeing the Cardinal a spot in a BCS bowl. The No. 4 ranking, coupled with Oregon’s No. 2 ranking, ensures two Pac-10 teams will play in BCS bowls this season. With only two other bowl-eligible teams in the Pac-10 — Washington and Arizona — the Pac-10 will still be represented, with Oregon playing for the national championship and Stanford in another high-profile BCS bowl.
Where the Cardinal land is still up in the air. With bowl announcements coming later tonight, projections have the Cardinal in the Orange Bowl, facing-off against the ACC representative Virginia Tech. The Rose Bowl will forgo the traditional Pac-10/Big Ten match-up, it appears, choosing instead to take the highest ranked BCS at-large team, TCU.
A second BCS bowl team gives all 10 Pac-10 schools a hefty financial windfall. Last year, the difference between one BCS team and two was $7 million. Divided evenly across the conference, each school would take home a cool $700,000 if the numbers remain the same in 2010.