The race for important bowl berths involving rag-tag independents out of South Bend, Ind., and lesser-known conference schools with cool nicknames, such as Red Wolves and Horned Frogs, could be the second-most exciting campaign this fall.

All the little guys ever asked for was a fair shake in a rigged system.

Now look:

East Carolina, Rice, Tulsa, Utah, Fresno State, Brigham Young, Ball State, Air Force, Texas Christian, Arkansas State, Troy and mighty-mite Notre Dame are a combined 22-0 out of the tunnel.

The champions of the six major conferences get automatic bids to the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar or Orange bowls, and it doesn't matter if the Atlantic Coast Conference champion this year is 7-6 Duke.

Champions of the five "other" conferences earn an automatic bid only if they finish in the top 12 of the final BCS standings, or if said champions finish in the top 16 ahead of major conference champion.

There is no margin for error for these schools -- one loss and you're out.

Remember, too, only one at-large berth per non-BCS customer, so if BYU finishes No. 9 to East Carolina's No. 10, the Pirates walk the plank.

This year, Conference USA has a soap-box derby entry in East Carolina, which rose to No. 14 in Sunday's Associated Press poll after consecutive wins against Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

The problem is the AP isn't involved in the BCS anymore, and the dunderhead coaches saw fit to rank East Carolina only No. 19, four spots behind No. 15 BYU.

This could lead to poll acrimony should both schools keep winning.

Even the Mid-American and Sun Belt have long-shot hopefuls.

And as hide-the-kids horrible as Notre Dame looked in victory against San Diego State, the Irish can get to the BCS at 9-3.

Did we say the game is rigged?

Notre Dame actually must go to a major bowl it finishes in the BCS top eight and is a likely at-large pick if it wins nine games.

Gentlemen, start your at-large engines:

Conference USA (East Carolina, Rice, Tulsa). The 2-0 Pirates, led by Skip Holtz, son of Lou, have defeated three consecutive ranked opponents dating to last year's Hawaii Bowl win against Boise State.

Mountain West (BYU, Utah, Air Force, TCU). The shame is only one team will emerge from this scrum. It might come down to BYU at Utah on Nov. 22.

Western Athletic (Fresno State, Boise State). No. 21 Fresno State, if it can beat Wisconsin at home Saturday after already winning at Rutgers, might leapfrog both East Carolina and BYU in the coaches' poll. Boise State enters the fray if it beats No. 16 Oregon in Eugene on Sept. 20.

Mid-American (Ball State). Don't laugh! The Muncie (Ind.) munchkins are 2-0 after Friday's win over Navy and have the easiest rout to 12-0. The Cardinals don't have much schedule strength, though, so they'll need help.

Sun Belt (Arkansas State, Troy). Don't laugh II. Arkansas State already has defeated Texas A&M and plays at Alabama on Nov. 1. Troy got an elimination deferment when its game against Louisiana State was postponed, because of Hurricane Gustav, until Nov. 15.

Independents (Notre Dame). The Irish own, perhaps, the worst three-game winning streak in history.

Notre Dame won its last two games last year against Duke and Stanford and opened Saturday with an act-of-god comeback against San Diego State.

How bad is it? San Diego State lost its season opener to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.