The Tiers

Since this tournament is triple elimination - double in the case of the non-BCS schools - we'll need to have brackets to place the remaining 67 teams.

The first bracket will contain undefeated teams. Would an undefeated non-BCS team make the championship game over a pair of high-profile, one-loss BCS schools? Probably not, so we'll only put the undefeated BCS schools in the first bracket, which we'll call Perfect Health.

The second bracket - Alive and Kicking - will contain BCS schools with one loss and non-BCS schools that are undefeated. These teams will have a strike against them, either a loss or their schedule, but will still be in the hunt for the NC game.

The third bracket - Life Support - will contain BCS schools with two losses and non-BCS schools with one loss. All these teams know they are extinct with one more loss.

Here's how the brackets break down after five weeks of action:

PERFECT HEALTH (13)
Oklahoma, Alabama, Penn St., Missouri, Oklahoma St., LSU, UCONN, Northwestern, South Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas and Texas Tech.

ALIVE AND KICKING (31)
BYU, Boise St., Utah, Ball St., Tulsa, USC, Georgia Tech, Florida St., Florida, Georgia, California, Oregon, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Michigan St., Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Colorado, North Carolina, Duke, Ohio St., Maryland, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Arizona, Cincinnati, Kansas St., Wisconsin, Kansas, Boston College, Minnesota.

LIFE SUPPORT (23)
Louisiana Tech, Fresno St., TCU, Western Michigan, Air Force, Miami, Iowa, Clemson, West Virginia, Illinois, Baylor, Louisville, Purdue, Iowa St., Mississippi, Oregon St., Arizona St., Stanford, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Michigan, Arkansas, Indiana.

DEAD AND BURIED (57)
UCLA, Tennessee, North Carolina St., Washington, Washington St., Mississippi St., Virginia, Rutgers, Syracuse, Akron, Utah St., New Mexico, Middle Tennessee St., Buffalo, Florida International, Toledo, Memphis, Houston, Louisiana-Lafayette, Wyoming, UTEP, Temple, Florida Atlantic, Ohio, Central Florida, Eastern Michigan, UAB, Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas, Kent St., Idaho, SMU, Army, San Diego St., Marshall, East Carolina, Tulane, Rice, Southern Miss., Arkansas St., Navy, Central Michigan, Colorado St., Troy, San Jose St., Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, New Mexico St., Nevada, UNLV, Miami (Oh.), Hawaii.