Bowl Championship Series

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The BCS, or Bowl Championship Series, is a system of bowls that determines the Football Bowl Championship Subdivision (FBS) Football National Championship.

[edit] Format

In the current BCS format, four bowl games outside of the National Championship Game are considered "BCS bowl games". The BCS bowls are the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California at the Rose Bowl, The Sugar Bowl in New Orleans at the Louisiana Superdome, The Fiesta Bowl in Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium, and the Orange Bowl played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Florida. The BCS National Championship Game is rotated among the different bowls; for example, the Sugar Bowl would have the national championship "weight" once every four years. Starting with the 2007 BCS, the site of that game that served as the last game in the BCS will now serve as the host facility of the new stand-alone BCS National Championship Game. The first BCS Championship game was held at will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix, AZ. The game is played one week following the playing of the traditional bowl game which would follow the Rose Bowl with the exception of the games to be played in 2010. There are also 24 Automatic Bids to Non-BCS Bowls.

The BCS National Championship Game pairs the top two BCS-ranked teams. The winners of the six major conferences (Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10) are guaranteed automatic BCS bowl appearances. Independent teams not affiliated with a conference receive an automatic bid (displacing one of the at-large berths) if they meet certain criteria. There are currently three FBS Independents; Army, Navy, and Notre Dame.

There are two "at-large" berths which can be granted either to teams in those conferences who did not win their championship or to teams belonging to another conferences. The procedure for selecting at-large berths is, in this order:

• A team finishing first or second in the final BCS rankings as an at-large receives an automatic bid;
• A team finishing in the top six of the final BCS rankings from an independent school or from a non-BCS conference receives an automatic bid; if a team qualifies in this manner, then Notre Dame would also qualify by winning at least nine games or finishing in the top ten in the final BCS standings;
• A team finishing either third or fourth in the final BCS rankings and finishes higher than any other at-large team receives an automatic bid.

If at any step, the two berths are filled, the process stops. If there are not two teams by this point, any other team from the top 12 of the final BCS rankings with at least nine wins is eligible. Starting in 2006, the number at-large berths was increased to four.

Initial plans were for the additional BCS bowl game to be held at the site of that year's championship game, such that the additional, non-championship bowl be named after the original bowl (e.g. the Sugar Bowl when the championship is in New Orleans), and have the extra game just be called "The National Championship Game". Later, the BCS considered having cities bid to be the permanent site of the new BCS game, and to place the new game in the title rotation. In the end, the BCS opted for its original plan.

Despite the possibility of an "at-large" berth being granted to a "mid-major" conference team, this didn't happen until the 2004-05 season, when Utah received a BCS bid to play in the Fiesta Bowl, in which the Utes convincingly defeated Pittsburgh 35-7. The extra BCS game will at least theoretically give mid-majors better access to a BCS bowl game, possibly ahead of a higher ranked school from a major conference.

Unless their champion is involved in the BCS Championship Game, the conference tie-ins are as follows:

• Rose Bowl - Big Ten vs. Pac-10.
• Fiesta Bowl - Big 12.
• Orange Bowl - ACC.
• Sugar Bowl - SEC.

The Big East Champions are in the pool with the four at-large teams.

Using the 2005 BCS standings and the above tie-ins as an example, here is what the new system would have looked like had it been in effect:

• BCS Championship: Southern California (Pac 10) vs. Texas (Big 12).
• Rose Bowl Game: Penn State (Big Ten) vs. At-Large (replacing USC).
• Fiesta Bowl: West Virginia (Big East) vs. At Large (replacing Texas).
• Orange Bowl: Florida State (ACC) vs. At Large.
• Sugar Bowl: Georgia (SEC) vs. At Large.

The pool of "At Large" teams would have included Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech from the ACC, Oregon from the Pac-10, Ohio State from the Big Ten, LSU and Auburn from the SEC and Notre Dame.

[edit] External Links

Bowl Championship Series

2009	Bowl Championship Series
	Rose Bowl	Orange Bowl	Sugar Bowl	Fiesta Bowl
	BCS National Championship Miami, FL