A total of 34 team-competitive games were played. While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the fourth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games. To fill the 68 available bowl slots, a total of eight teams (12% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—all eight had a .500 (6-6) season.
NCAA by-laws state that a school with a record of 6–6 in regular season play is eligible only if conferences cannot fill out available positions for bowl games with teams possessing seven (or more) wins (excluding games played in Hawaii and conference championship games in the ACC, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference and the SEC). An example was in 2008 when the Big Ten, the Big 12 and SEC each had two teams selected for the Bowl Championship Series games – Ohio State and Penn State from the Big Ten, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Alabama and Florida from the SEC. With each conference sending two teams to the BCS, these three conferences forfeited several bowl game slots due to a lack of teams with a winning record.
As with the 2006 and 2008 seasons, all eligible teams with at least 7 wins made it in to a bowl game. Of the 71 eligible teams, only 68 could play in a game, and all three eligible teams that sat out bowl season were 6-6: Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, and Notre Dame, who opted not to play in a bowl game themselves after the firing of head coach Charlie Weis.
For the first time in BCS history, every participant in a BCS bowl was ranked in the top 10 of the final BCS standings.
Fox Sports no longer broadcast the Bowl Championship Series following the conclusion of the Orange Bowl on January 5; the network had carried the first three BCS National Championship stand-alone games. ABC telecast this season's contest because of their separate agreement with the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the organizers of the Rose Bowl Game and the hosts of the 2010 national championship. Beginning in 2011, ABC sibling company ESPN will begin carrying all of the BCS bowls, in an agreement that will last through 2014. Fox has signed a long-term contract extension with the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic through 2014, with a new prime-time Friday night date starting in 2011.
As a result of head coaching changes between the regular season and the bowl season, the following teams played their postseason contests with interim head coaches:
Kelly left Cincinnati to take the same job at Notre Dame.
Jones left Central Michigan to fill the Cincinnati vacancy.
Leach was suspended by Texas Tech on December 28 when redshirt sophomore wide receiver Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, and his family filed a complaint alleging mistreatment by Leach after the younger James had suffered a concussion.[2] Two days later, Leach was fired.[3]
On December 26, Florida head coach Urban Meyer announced his resignation due to health concerns, effective after the Gators'Sugar Bowl appearance.[4] However, Meyer had a change of heart and announced the following day that he would instead take an indefinite leave of absence, and expected to be back coaching by the start of the 2010 season. Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio took over Meyer's duties during his leave.[5] Meyer returned to his job in time to lead the Gators' 2010 spring practice.[6]
All dates and game times for the 34 2009–10 season bowl games were announced on April 30, 2009, and are subject to change. They received licenses from the NCAA Football Issues Committee.[7][8] NOTE: Rankings from final BCS Standings of December 6, 2009.
^Troy finished their regular season with a perfect 8–0 conference record, earning the Sun Belt title and the conference's lone automatic bowl bid; however, the New Orleans Bowl opted for Middle Tennessee, a Sun Belt team guaranteed an at-large, because Troy and Southern Miss had played each other in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl.
^Hawaii played a 13-game schedule this season, and lost to Wisconsin on December 5 to finish the season at 6–7, rendering them ineligible for a bowl game. As a result, the berth passed to another WAC team, Nevada.
^Because the Big Ten received two bids into the BCS, the spot normally filled by the #7 Big Ten team was instead be filled by the at-large Thundering Herd.
^Army, had to defeat Navy in its final game to be bowl-eligible, but lost 17–3 December 12. Conference USA has a contingency contract for this slot if Army fails to beat Navy; however, all bowl-eligible C-USA teams were already in bowls.
^The ACC had only seven bowl-eligible teams this season. The MAC has a contingency slot with this bowl if the ACC does not produce eight bowl-eligible teams, and all five of its bowl-eligible teams have at least 7 wins, so Temple received this berth.
^The MWC did not qualify enough teams to fill all of its bowl bids as a result of TCU receiving a BCS bid.
^Navy won seven games to be bowl-eligible, as they are playing a 13-game schedule. They secured the bid on November 7 with a 23–21 win over Notre Dame.
^This slot became an at-large slot after the ACC produced only seven bowl-eligible teams.
