TCU to play Boise St. in Fiesta Bowl

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Welcome to the BCS Buster Bowl.

No. 3 TCU and No. 6 Boise State will meet in the Fiesta Bowl, marking the first time a BCS game other than the championship game has a matchup of unbeaten teams.

It's also the first time two teams from conferences without automatic bids to the BCS have played in the five big-money bowls in the same season.

Mountain West champion TCU (12-0) earned an automatic bid to break into the BCS for the first time in school history.

Western Athletic Conference champ Boise State (13-0) became the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to receive an at-large bid.

"We think it's a matchup that's credible," Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker said. "If there was a glass ceiling, we think we've taken a chunk out of it."

The Horned Frogs and Broncos played in the Poinsettia Bowl last season. TCU won 17-16 to hand Boise State its only loss of the season.

This time, the so-called little guys will move their tussle to the big stage — and Junker said the Fiesta didn't mind staging a rematch, which he said got a thumbs-up from TV partner Fox.

"We're not the NFL," he said. "There's new players, new stories, new energy. These are two teams that have been atop the rankings all year long, and we're very excited for a chance to match them."

They might want to roll back the roof at Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium on Jan. 4, because the game should provide plenty of offensive fireworks.

Boise State has the nation's highest-scoring attack, averaging 44.1 points per game. TCU ranks fourth at 40.7 points per game.

For a few hours on Saturday night, it looked as if the Horned Frogs might slip into the BCS title game. No. 3 Texas found itself in a protracted defensive struggle with No. 21 Nebraska in the Big 12 playoff, and a Longhorns loss may have cleared the way for TCU to become the first school from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play for the national title.

But Texas pulled out a 13-12 victory, stunning the Cornhuskers and TCU coach Gary Patterson.