Central Florida earns school's first BCS bowl berth

Central Florida clinched the American Athletic Conference's BCS bid Thursday night with Louisville's 31-24 win at Cincinnati.

Central Florida, unbeaten in the AAC, would win the league outright with a win Saturday at SMU and should share the league title with Louisville with a loss. However, the Knights' 38-35 win against Louisville on Oct. 18 would still assure them the league's automatic BCS berth.

Central Florida (10-1, 7-0 AAC), which prior this season had only once been ranked in the BCS top 25, is No. 16 in this week's standings. The BCS pairings are scheduled to be announced at 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday. Central Florida appears most likely to be invited to the Fiesta or Sugar Bowls.

This is the only season the AAC will have an automatic berth to college football's premier postseason event. Next season the highest-ranked team of the AAC, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt will at least earn an automatic bid to a Host Bowl and consideration for one of four College Football Playoff spots.