Bowls aren't really 'ranked', but some are more important than others. There are currently four BCS Bowls, the Nokia Sugar Bowl (in New Orleans, LA), the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (in Tempe, AZ), the FedEx Orange Bowl (in Miami, FL) and the Rose Bowl (in Pasadena, CA). Note that they all have sponsors except for the Rose Bowl. The BCS Championship game rotates between the four. The other three will host teams ranked 3-8. On a side note, the BCS agreed last month that the bowl hosting the National Championship Game will also host it's traditional match-up a week before the championship game. Traditional match-ups are old school games that the bowls USED to host before the BCS got involved. (The Rose Bowl traditional hosted the Big Ten-Pac Ten champions, the Sugar Bowl would host the SEC champ plus another team, etc, but that all went away when the BCS got involved...). Saying that, I have probably just confused you. But thats what the BCS does. Confuse us... Suffice to say, one of the four bowls listed above will host the Championship game, the other three will host teams 3-8. And every year it rotates.

As for the second questions, it was answered quite well above. The top picks usually come from 1-A schools. The better high school players will normally go to the top (1-A) colleges and thus the best players will come from there. Also, exposure plays a big part. Also, level of competition. If a guy is AWESOME at a small school, experts may think he is so good because he is playing against weaker competition. And even is he IS that good, a lot od people don't hear about him.

Hope that helps.