The bedlam which hit the end of the college football regular season trickled down yesterday to the announcement of the participants of the BCS bowl games. Ohio State was selected as an at-large bid but were sent back to the deserts of Arizona to face the chemical which created all of the chaos – Kansas State – on Jan. 2 in the Fiesta Bowl.

Since the loss to Michigan two weeks ago, it appeared the Buckeyes would be headed to the Orange Bowl for a rematch of last’s year title game with Miami. Kansas State’s demolition of Oklahoma in the Big 12 Conference title game, which meant the only option for OSU to play in a BCS contest was to head back to Tempe.

“Our only access to the BCS through the period was the Fiesta Bowl,” OSU Director of Athletics Andy Geiger said. “If Oklahoma would have won (last night), the Fiesta Bowl would have had the first and third picks, which gave them the at-large picks.”

With LSU making it to the title game, none of the designated conference alignments were broken within the BCS. With Oklahoma qualifying for the Sugar Bowl as well, the only game with a vacancy sign was out in Arizona.

Geiger said the rematch of Miami versus on Florida State was reviewed throughout the afternoon. He added the BCS does not have any rules barring the match-up, just guidelines.

All of the controversy aside, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said his program is excited about playing the explosive Wildcats.

“Oh it’s exciting; they’re good, everyone in the world knows that,” he said. “If you’d ask anyone who’s impressed you lately (the answer would be) Kansas State.”

Going back to the desert is not a big concern for the Buckeyes; they are happy being in one of the showcase games of the post-season rather than playing in the Capital One or Outback bowls.

“It’s a great challenge, we always say to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. Everyone said Oklahoma was the best and Kansas State went out and handled them,” Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel said. “They didn’t just beat them they took it to them and won 35-7.”

This will be the first meeting with the Wildcats, and OSU is catching them when they are red hot. Kansas State has rebounded from injuries and a three game losing skid in September to make it this far.

Just like the last time out against Michigan, the Buckeyes will be forced to stop a troublesome running back in Darren Sproles, who rushed for 235 yards Saturday night and as an added bonus they have to contain one of the nation’s most athletic quarterbacks Ell Roberson.

“He’s a quarterback that can do a lot of things and they run an offense that’s just made for him and allows him to make plays,” said OSU defensive end Will Smith. “They kind of spread it out a little bit, run a lot of option, they run do a lot of different things that Big 10 teams don’t really do. It’s going to be a challenge, but we’ve got a month to prepare.”