The Big East Conference gets to send one team to a BCS bowl automatically, but the standings are extremely jumbled, and we won't know which team gets that spot until all of the games are played on Saturday. For an attempt at simplifying the scenarios, we turn to Andrea Adelson of ESPN.
The Big East will not know its BCS representative until the games end on Saturday, which is fitting for a conference that has prided itself on competitiveness from top to bottom. Louisville, West Virginia and Cincinnati all have a chance to get into the BCS game. Louisville needs Cincinnati to lose to UConn; Cincinnati needs to win AND for West Virginia to lose to South Florida; and West Virginia needs to win AND have Cincinnati win, then finish as the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings.
So I guess it isn't very simple, no matter how you put it. West Virginia can get into a BCS Bowl game with a win, but they need some help. Not just from the Bearcats of Cincinnati, but also the voters who help shape the final outcome of the BCS. For the Mountaineers and their supporters, Saturday will be a very stressful day, even though they play on Thursday.