Even with the Big Ten season completely over, the Penn State football team isn't entirely certain where it will be for the holidays, but the possibilities are fairly cut and dry.

Ohio State's win over Michigan clinched the Buckeyes a berth in the Fiesta Bowl, but because the BCS has not been able to decide for sure whether Big Ten co-champion Iowa will get a bid in one of its games, the rest of the picture is still unclear. The Big Ten instructed the bowls with which it has tie-ins to hold their bids for at least another week, according to Capital One Bowl executive director Tom Mickle.

There are still two weeks left in the college football season, and many of the teams in competition for a BCS game still have contests remaining. Because of the unpredictability of the BCS ranking system officials are unsure if they will be forced to extend at-large bids to teams that are currently leading their conferences.

Miami, No. 1 in the BCS, still has to play Syracuse and Virginia Tech, so they have a possibility of not winning the Big East. Oklahoma, No. 3 in the BCS, and Georgia, No. 4 have both clinched their divisions, but each still has regular season games to play, and each also has a conference championship game. No. 8 Washington State also has to play UCLA, and if they lose they would drop the Pac-Ten title to USC.

If any of these teams would lose, they would drop into an at-large situation. Right now the only teams that are not leading their conferences in the top ten of the BCS are No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Southern California, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 Texas and No. 10 Kansas State. Notre Dame and USC play each other Saturday, but it is conceivable that the Fighting Irish, the biggest draw in college sports, could still be selected if they lose. There are only two at-large bids to BCS games. Any team that finishes in the top four of the BCS rankings must be selected, and Notre Dame must be selected if they finish in the top six.

If Iowa is selected, which is still likely considering the Rose Bowl's long-standing connection with the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions would mostly likely be playing in the Capital One Bowl, formerly the Citrus Bowl, on New Year's Day in Orlando. Capital One Bowl officials would have a choice between Penn State and Michigan, both 9-3 and ranked No. 11 and 12 respectively in the Associated Press poll. They would likely pick the Lions because the Wolverines have spent each of the last two and three of the last four years in Orlando. However, the bowl's decision is based solely on a vote from 100 bowl scouts, which won't happen until the BCS gives the go-ahead.

"We have a history of picking the highest ranked team available," Mickle said. "Right now that looks good for Penn State."

If the Capital One Bowl still goes with Michigan, the Lions will be looking at a trip to the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 1.

If Iowa is not selected, the Hawkeyes will automatically get the Capital One Bowl bid, because bowls can not pick teams with more than one loss more than the team with the best record available. The Outback Bowl would then get the next choice, also between Michigan and Penn State. Even though they can be fairly certain what their choices are going to be in each scenario, they're not making a decision until they know their options.

"We haven't taken any type of straw poll yet," Mike Schulze, the Outback Bowl's director of Communications and Sponsorships. "We're going to start going through different scenarios, but we know there's no sense of having a preference of one team over another if we never have the option to begin with."

In that scenario, the team that doesn't go to the Outback Bowl will go to the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28 in San Antonio.