Of the 71 eligible teams, only 68 could play in a game, and all three eligible teams that sat out bowl season were 6-6: Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, and Notre Dame, who opted not to play in a bowl game themselves after the firing of head coach Charlie Weis.

Fox Sports no longer broadcast the Bowl Championship Series following the conclusion of the Orange Bowl on January 5; the network had carried the first three BCS National Championship stand-alone games.

Fox has signed a long-term contract extension with the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic through 2014, with a new prime-time Friday night date starting in 2011.

The NCAA Football Issues Committee must approve of these games in the spring of 2010 to make them official.

As a result of head coaching changes between the regular season and the bowl season, the following teams played their postseason contests with interim head coaches: In addition, the following coach retired, but worked his team's bowl game: All dates and game times for the 34 2009–10 season bowl games were announced on April 30, 2009, and are subject to change.

• – Does not meet minimum game requirement of three teams needed for a conference to be eligible.