ESPN College Football

ATLANTA -- As the dominoes started to fall late Saturday, as LSU won, Oklahoma lost and everybody tried to figure out just how far the trickle-down effect would run, Jack Rogers' cell phone rang.

It was the Alamo Bowl chairman's son John, a Texas student, who had pressed the numbers, figured the scenarios and was certain his Longhorns were headed to San Antonio.

"He goes, 'I've got all the guys here, Dad. I'm going to need at least 80 tickets. The good ones,' " Jack said. "I'm like, 'John, we'll work on it when I get back to town on Monday. Let's see how this all turns out first.' "

Smart thinking. As it played out, the Holiday Bowl swooped up the Longhorns. The Alamo Bowl will instead feature a Michigan State-Nebraska matchup. But it just goes to show how nobody -- from the bowl directors to athletic directors to head coaches to fans -- truly has an idea how all the chips are going to fall until the 11th hour on Selection Sunday.

	“	Every year, something like this seems to happen. Oklahoma losing to Kansas State wasn't a very big probability on our board, but you aren't doing your job if you don't figure out every possible outcome. ”
		— Dan Petty, chairman of the Cotton Bowl's team selection committee

This year, in a secluded room inside the Atlanta ESPN Zone, 10 bowl directors paced back and forth, cell phones in hand, waiting for the word on how everything would come together. When one bowl made its mind up, essentially taking a team off the board, it narrowed the options for the next bowl in line.

It was a stressful, nerve-racking process. Television ratings, ticket sales, bowl credibility -- it all hinges on the two teams that are selected. Pick right and a bowl could feature a pair of top 20 teams. Pick wrong and the game will be rendered irrelevant. And everything revolves around which eight teams play in the BCS.

"The BCS is great, but it really presents problems for the rest of the bowls," Rogers said. "We've been sitting around. The Big Ten season has been over for two weeks, but we can't do anything. You've got fans that want to travel, people that want to make plans, and they can't do anything."

Despite the craziness that ensued Saturday night, the BCS had its eight teams -- Oklahoma, LSU, USC, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, Kansas State and Miami -- by about 1 p.m. ET Sunday. The word then went out to the Citrus Bowl that the Buckeyes were not available.

The Citrus, with ties to the Big Ten and SEC, then chose Georgia over Tennessee, based on its on-field victory over the Vols and Purdue over Iowa, for the same reason.

"We've always made a point to take the best team on the field," said Steve Hogan, director of Florida Citrus Bowl properties. "And we couldn't get past the fact that Purdue had beaten Iowa rather convincingly on the field. But I can tell you -- it was really, really close. It was extremely tight."

Once that was decided, the Outback Bowl quickly grabbed the Hawkeyes to face Florida, who they picked earlier this week. The Alamo Bowl then picked the Spartans, the Sun took Minnesota, and the Music City Bowl took Wisconsin.

From the Big 12 side of things, the Cotton Bowl had the first pick, but had no interest in Texas, which had played there three of the last five years. Nebraska was out there, but the Cotton instead went for Oklahoma State to match up with Ole Miss.

"It was just a logical choice," said Dan Petty, Chairman of the Cotton Bowl's team selection committee. "This is a game that will certainly be a sellout."

The Holiday Bowl was up next. It was all set to take Nebraska, whose fans had been snatching up tickets for some two weeks. But when Kansas State took Texas' spot in the BCS, leaving the 10-2, sixth-ranked Longhorns available, the Holiday Bowl changed plans. Even if it meant selling fewer tickets.

"I had Nebraska fans tracking down my number and asking for tips on hotels," said Eric Graves, Chairman of the Holiday Bowl's selection committee. "But when a 10-2 Texas is out there, you can't pass them up. Our bowl has always prided itself on taking the best two teams."

So how does it all come together so quickly? Well, as crazy as Saturday night's conference championships turned out to be, each of the bowls had planned for such a shocking scenario.

"Every year, something like this seems to happen," Petty said. "Oklahoma losing to Kansas State wasn't a very big probability on our board, but you aren't doing your job if you don't figure out every possible outcome."

Bowl directors and their selection committees spend the final month of the season evaluating each and every scenario. They put together a list of every possible team -- sometimes as many as 10. When the decisions start to be made on Sunday, each bowl knows who the top team on its list is, almost like a pro sports franchise would do in an amateur draft.

Criteria include on-field success, willingness of fans to travel, potential television ratings and local fan interest.

"There are a lot of factors," Rogers said. "But first and foremost, you want a good game."

On Sunday, once the BCS released its teams, the rest of the bowls played a mad game of matchup chaos for three hours. In that period, the teams were decided, the schools were invited, the invitations were accepted, and plans were formally put together. At 6 p.m. the official announcements were made.

"After you've made your decision and announced it to everyone, it's both a relief that it's over with, but there's sort of this nervous reaction as well," Hogan said. "You just hope that it will all work out."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn3.com.