1. If both the number one and number two teams in the BCS standings are from independent institutions, Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conferences, those two teams shall play in the national championship game regardless of conference affiliation, and will fill both at-large slots. If one of the top two ranked teams is from an independent institution, Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conference, that team shall play in the national championship game and fill one of the at-large slots and one at-large slot will remain available.
2. Any team from an independent institution Conference, USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conference that is ranked three through six shall qualify for automatic selection.
A. If one or more teams other than Notre Dame qualify for automatic selection under this provision, Notre Dame shall also qualify provided it is ranked in the top ten or has won at least nine games.
B. If more than one at-large team qualifies for automatic selection under this provision and there are insufficient at-large slots available to accommodate all of them, the BCS bowls will select from those that qualify.
3. After application of the previous provisions, if any at-large slots remain unfilled and the team ranked either three or four is from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10, or Southeastern Conference but is not its representative, that team shall automatically fill one at-large slot and shall be selected to play in one of the BCS bowls. If both the third and fourth ranked teams meet these criteria, then only the third ranked team shall qualify automatically. The third and fourth ranked teams cannot both qualify automatically under this provision.
4.If any at-large slots remain unfilled after application of all previous provisions, then the BCS bowls shall fill such slot(s) by selecting from among the pool of all eligible at-large teams.