BCS National Championship Game

(official 2008 logo)

About Venues: University of Phoenix Stadium, Louisiana Superdome, Dolphin Stadium, Rose Bowl Locations: Glendale, Ariz., New Orleans, La., Miami Gardens, Fla., Pasadena, Calif. Operated: 2007- Conference Tie-ins: None Payout: -

The BCS National Championship Game or BCS title game is the final game of the annual Bowl Championship Series intended by Series organizers to determine the NCAA Division I-A national football championship. The game was first played at the conclusion of the 1998 College Football season after the Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences and the Rose Bowl Game joined the members of the former "Bowl Alliance" to form the Bowl Championship Series. The Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, featured championship games from 1992 through 1997.

During the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance era, without the participation of the Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences, scheduling a definitive championship game was somewhat "hit or miss." For instance, 1994 #2 Penn State and 1997#1 Michigan were obligated to play in the Rose Bowl pursuant to the Big Ten's contractual commitment and were therefore unable to participate in the championship game.

Since the formation of the Bowl Championship Series, there have also been several controversies regarding the formula used for selecting the participating teams. Most notably, following the 2003 season, the BCS ranking system excluded consensus No. 1 University of Southern California from the BCS Championship Game (The Nokia Sugar Bowl). Next up in 2004, an undefeated Auburn team was left out the BCS Championship Game (The FedEX Orange Bowl). See Bowl Championship Series#BCS controversies for a further discussion of these controversies.

Despite their respective problems, the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, and Bowl Championship Series championship games have succeeded in producing winners that have captured or shared the National Championship in every season since 1992.

[edit] Results

[edit] Bowl Coalition/Bowl Alliance results

[edit] Bowl Championship Series results

Notes:

• Rankings are from the Associated Press (Writers Poll). Records and Rankings are prior to bowl games.
• 1994 Season: No. 2 Penn State (11-0) played in and won the Rose Bowl on January 2, thus No. 3 Miami was still in the running to win the National Championship when it played on January 1.
• 1996 Season: No. 2 Arizona State (11-0) lost in the Rose Bowl on January 1.
• 1997 Season: Nebraska (13-0) won the ESPN-USA Today Coaches Poll National Championship, while No. 1 Michigan, (12-0) and winners of the Rose Bowl, won the Associated Press (Writers Poll) National Championship. This was prior to, and therefore unaffected by, the Bowl Championship Series' later agreement with the USA Today Coaches Poll locking in the outcome of that poll based on the title game's outcome.
• 2003 Season: The BCS ranking system bypassed consensus No. 1 USC (11-1). USC ended up defeating Michigan in the Rose Bowl on January 1 and won the Associated Press National Championship. LSU won the USA Today (Coaches Poll) National Championship.
• 2004 Season: While USC soundly defeated #2 Oklahoma, Auburn claimed equal right to the title of 2004 National Champion after defeating Virginia Tech to finish 13-0. Utah finished 12-0 after trouncing Pittsburgh, but made no such claims on the national title.

[edit] History

• Bowl Coalition I (1993-1995). The SEC, Big 8, Southwest Conference, ACC and Big East champions, Notre Dame, and two conference runner-ups from among the Big 8, SWC, ACC, Big East and Pac-10 were included. The Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Fiesta Bowls were the associated bowls. The Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls hosted Big 8, SEC and SWC champs, respectively. The top “host” team played the top “at-large” team in the host team’s affiliated bowl. If the top 2 teams were both “at-large”, then the Fiesta would have hosted the title game.

• Bowl Alliance II (1996-1998). It involved the SEC, Big 12 Conference, ACC and Big East champions and two at-large teams (SWC champ in 1996, special provisions for Notre Dame). It included the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls. The championship game rotated among all three bowls. The top two teams would play in the title game.

• Bowl Championship Series III (1999-2006). The Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, Big 12, ACC and Big East champions and two at-large teams (special provisions for Notre Dame and non-BCS conference teams) are included. It involves the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls. The Championship game rotates among all 4 bowls. The top two teams in BCS standings play in the title game.

• Bowl Championship Series IV (2007-2010). The Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, Big 12, ACC and Big East champions, one non-BCS conference champion, and three at-large teams (special provisions for Notre Dame) will be included. It will involve the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls, and have a separate National Championship Game. The championship game will rotate among the sites of 4 bowls and will be played one week later. The top two teams in BCS standings will play in the title game.

[edit] Future

Beginning with the 2006 College Football season, the National Championship Game will be a separate event from the host bowl played at the same site as the host one week after New Year's Day. The game's location will rotate between the four main bowl sites of Glendale, New Orleans, Miami Gardens and Pasadena.

[edit] Future sites

[edit] Potential evolution

Many critics of the Bowl Championship Series favor a full scale championship tournament with eight to sixteen teams, similar to that administered by the NCAA for its Division I-AA, Division II and Division III football championships. Others favor adopting the incremental step of adding a single post-bowl championship game between the winners of two BCS games among the top four ranked teams in the BCS standings, the so-called "plus one" option.

However, many football traditionalists strongly oppose a playoff system because of concerns that a playoff would destroy the bowl game tradition and reduce the importance of games played during the regular season. Critics of a playoff often point to the NFL where leading teams will often bench their starting players in the final few games of the regular season because a loss will cause no harm. Any such action in the college game would likely be minimized by the fact that one extra loss could easily be enough to keep a team out of a limited sudden-death playoff system of 4 or 8 teams, such as has been most frequently proposed.

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