BCS controversies
Encyclopedia
The Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...

(BCS) is a selection system designed to force a "national championship game" between the top-ranking teams (in the BCS rankings) in American college football's top division, the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly known as Division I-A). This championship is intended as a surrogate for a playoff system since the NCAA does not formally determine a champion in this category. There has often been controversy as to which two teams should be able to play for the national championship
BCS National Championship Game
The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the U.S. national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...

 and which teams should play in the four other BCS bowl games (Fiesta Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...

, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

). The BCS is also often criticized for its inequality of access to the "Big 5" bowl games for teams in non-Automatic Qualifying (non-AQ) conferences, the inequitable distribution of revenues from those games, and for the BCS's apparent assumptions that argue teams from non-AQ conferences are by definition inferior to Automatic Qualifying (AQ) conferences without arguing any rational explanations or reasons for those assumptions. Congress has explored the possibility on more than one occasion of holding hearings to determine the legality of the BCS under the terms of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the United States Justice Department has also periodically announced interest in investigating the BCS for similar reasons.

Overview

A recent survey conducted at the Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Hamden, Connecticut, United States at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park...

 found that 63% of individuals interested in college football prefer a playoff system to the BCS, while only 26% support the BCS as status quo. Arguments from critics typically center around the validity of BCS national championship pairings and its designated National Champions. Many critics focus strictly on the BCS methodology itself, which employs subjective voting assessments, while others note the ability for undefeated teams to finish seasons without an opportunity to play the national championship game. For example, in the last 6 seasons of Division I FBS football, there have been more undefeated non-BCS champions than undefeated BCS champions. Other criticisms involve discrepancies in the allocation of monetary resources from BCS games, as well as the determination of non-championship BCS game participants, which need not comply with the BCS rankings themselves. Critics note that other sports and divisions of college football complete seasons without disputed national champions which critics attribute to the use of the playoff format.

Critics argue that increasing the number of teams would increase the validity of team comparisons in conferences, which do not compete with one another during the regular season; teams typically only play three or four non-conference games, as the result of pre-determined schedules. BCS proponents view the possibility of expanded competitive post-season opportunities as negative. The primary delivery of this objection is a slippery slope argument rhetorically known as bracket creep. Implementation of a playoff system, proponents object, would lead to other, more serious consequences, such as the diminished value of the regular season, diminished value of the bowl tradition, or damage to the collegiate academic calendar year. Critics, including Republican congressman Joe Barton
Joe Barton
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...

, have been quick to respond to these red herrings, noting that teams from non-AQ conferences are already excluded from the national championship and their inclusion would only improve the meaningfulness of the regular season.

A further criticism of the system is the institutionalized bias towards the six AQ conferences
BCS conference
An Automatic Qualifying conference is an athletic conference in NCAA Division I FBS whose champion receives an automatic berth in one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowl games...

 and Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

, an independent team in football, at the deliberate expense of the five Division I-A/FBS non-BCS or non-AQ conferences. Since the inception of the BCS in 1998, 11 non-AQ conference Division I-A/FBS teams have finished the regular season undefeated (Tulane
Tulane Green Wave
Green Wave, the nickname of the sports teams of Tulane University, was adopted during the 1920 season, after a song titled The Rolling Green Wave was published in Tulane's student newspaper in 1920. From 1893 to 1919, the athletic teams of Tulane were known as the Olive and Blue for the official...

 in 1998; Marshall
Marshall Thundering Herd football
The Marshall Thundering Herd football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Marshall University. The team represents the university as a member of the Conference USA Eastern division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, playing at the Division 1 Bowl Subdivision...

 in 1999; Utah
Utah Utes
The Utah Utes are the athletics teams of the University of Utah. They are named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the "Runnin' Utes"; the women's basketball team, formerly known as the "Lady Utes," now prefers to be referred to as the "Utes"; and the...

 in 2004
2004 Utah Utes football team
The 2004 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah in the college football season of 2004–2005. This team was the original 'BCS Buster', meaning, this was the first time that a team from a non-BCS conference was invited to play in one of the BCS bowl games. The team, coached by 2nd...

 and 2008
2008 Utah Utes football team
The 2008 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah in the college football season of 2008–2009. The team, coached by 4th year head football coach Kyle Whittingham, plays its home games in Rice–Eccles Stadium...

; Boise State
Boise State Broncos football
This page discusses the Boise State football program. For more Boise State athletics, see Boise State Broncos.The Boise State Broncos football program represents Boise State University in college football and compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I as a member of the Mountain West...

 in 2004, 2006
2006 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 college football season. The Broncos won the Western Athletic Conference championship with an undefeated 12–0 regular-season record , their second unbeaten regular season in the past three years...

, 2008
2008 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2008 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2008 college football season. The Broncos played their home games at Bronco Stadium, most famous for its blue artificial turf surface, often referred to as the "smurf-turf". The blue turf was new for the 2008...

 and 2009
2009 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2009 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2009 college football season. The Broncos played their home games at Bronco Stadium, most famous for its blue artificial turf surface, often referred to as the "smurf-turf"...

; Hawaii
Hawaii Warriors football
The Hawaii Warriors football team represents the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The team, which is currently coached by Greg McMackin, is part of the Western Athletic Conference until 2012, when the team joins the Mountain West Conference.The Hawaii Warriors...

 in 2007
2007 Hawaii Warriors football team
The 2007 Hawaii Warriors football team represented the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in the 2007 NCAA Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football season....

; and TCU
TCU Horned Frogs football
The TCU Horned Frogs football team is the intercollegiate football team of Texas Christian University. TCU competes as a member of the Mountain West Conference in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, but will move to the Big 12 Conference for the 2012 season. TCU began playing football...

 in 2009
2009 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 2009 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University in the 2009 college football season. The team was coached by Gary Patterson. The Frogs played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs finished the season...

 and 2010
2010 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 2010 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by tenth year head coach Gary Patterson and played its home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas...

) without being given an opportunity to play in the national championship game. (It should be noted, however, that due to Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 bowl tie-ins, the 1999 Marshall team was in danger of not going to any bowl game if it had lost the conference title game
MAC Championship Game
The Marathon MAC Football Championship is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference to determine the conference champion. The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into divisions and since 2003 has been...

, despite its #11 final ranking.) Another problem is presented when more than one non-BCS conference team has an undefeated schedule in the same season. In 2008, Utah and Boise State both went undefeated. However, the BCS rules only provide for one automatic at-large BCS berth from teams in the non-AQ conferences. Therefore, a two-loss Ohio State team
2008 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes football team competed in football on behalf of the Ohio State University during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Buckeyes were coached by Jim Tressel and played their home games in Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio...

 was chosen over Boise State for the Fiesta Bowl, and Boise State ended up outside of the BCS games. This problem arose again in 2009, with Boise State and TCU undefeated. The final BCS rankings saw TCU at #4 and Boise State at #6, which meant that only TCU was guaranteed a slot in the BCS bowls. However, the Broncos were not left out of the BCS bowl party this time, as they were chosen to face TCU in the Fiesta Bowl
2010 Fiesta Bowl
The 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game between the #4 TCU Horned Frogs, champions of the Mountain West Conference, and the #6 Boise State Broncos, champions of the Western Athletic Conference. The game was played Monday, January 4, 2010, at University of...

. Nonetheless, both Boise State and TCU finished the regular season unbeaten — in the case of Boise State, for the second year in a row, the fourth year out of six, and in 2006 finished as the only undefeated team in the nation — and never had a chance to play for a BCS national title.

Since, however, teams from non-AQ conferences play what are considered generally easier schedules than teams from AQ conferences, it is unclear whether this "bias" is merely a penalty based on schedule strength that can also apply to AQ conference teams (see, e.g., the 2007 Kansas team, above). A rejoinder would be that teams from non-BCS conferences only have so much control over their schedules, creating the possibility that such a team might in fact be one of the two best teams in the country, and might also have made a good-faith effort to play a challenging schedule, but might still be excluded from the national championship game. This can happen due to BCS teams turning them down in fear of an upset, or scheduling a traditionally strong school who turned out to be having a weak year. The 2009 TCU team is a counterexample, however. They defeated both Virginia and Clemson on the road, and won the rest of their games by an average of 31 points. They received a BCS bid to play against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Critics, though, argue that but TCU may have been more deserving to play Alabama in the BCS Championship Game than Texas. With wins over Clemson, BYU, and Utah, some journalists, including Football Writers Association of America
Football Writers Association of America
The Football Writers Association of America is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the NCAA...

 Past-President Dennis Dodd, have cited the 2009 TCU team as an example of a non-AQ team, excluded from consideration for the national championship in spite of their performance against strong competition.

Teams from non-BCS conferences have been successful in BCS bowl games, but this has not affected the position of proponents that non-BCS teams are not on an equal level with teams from automatic qualifying conferences. Such "BCS Busters" have gone 5-2 in BCS bowl games, and 4-1 in BCS bowls against teams from BCS conferences: Utah won both its BCS bowl appearances in 2004 and 2008, Boise State won both of its appearances in 2006 and 2009, while TCU won a BCS bowl in 2010 after losing one in 2009 (to Boise State). The only team that could reasonably be described as "playing a weak schedule and then being exposed by a BCS team" is the 2007 Hawaii team, which was defeated by Georgia in the 2008 Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

.

Another concern with the BCS is that a team can fail to win its conference championship, but still play in the BCS championship game. This happened in the 2001 and 2003 seasons. In 2001 Nebraska
Nebraska Cornhuskers football
The Nebraska Cornhuskers represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in college football. The program has established itself as a traditional powerhouse, and has the fourth-most all-time victories of any NCAA Division I-A team. Nebraska is one of only six football programs in NCAA Division I-A...

 played Miami (Florida)
Miami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...

, after a blowout loss to Colorado
Colorado Buffaloes football
The Colorado Buffaloes football program represents the University of Colorado at Boulder in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The team is currently a member of the Pacific-12 Conference, having previously been a charter member of the Big 12 Conference. Before joining the Big 12,...

 in the Cornhuskers' final regular-season game and, therefore, did not play in the Big 12 Conference
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

 Championship game. In 2003 Oklahoma
Oklahoma Sooners football
The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma . The team is currently a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...

 played LSU
LSU Tigers football
The LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States in NCAA Division I FBS college football. Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as...

 despite losing to Kansas State
Kansas State Wildcats football
The Kansas State Wildcats football program is the intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision, and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference...

 35–7 in the Big 12 Conference
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

 title game. This entails that a team that could not even win their conference title is awarded the title of best team in the nation, despite the obvious presence of a better squad within their own conference. A rejoinder is that these situations actually reflect a virtue of the BCS system, which rewards teams for their performance throughout the entire season, thereby reinforcing the notion that, in college football, every game (rather than just conference championship games, or games late in the season) matters.

A similar criticism is that a team with similar or better arguments to another team can be left out of the BCS despite beating the other team. This happened between Miami (Florida) and Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 in 2000, where Miami beat Florida St. yet Florida St. went to the National Championship Game. The University of Washington also beat Miami and finished with an 11-1 record, further adding to the controversy. In 2008, the situation was repeated when one-loss Oklahoma was selected for the BCS Championship over one-loss Texas, which beat the Sooners during the regular season. Although not related to the title game, after the 2007 season, Kansas was chosen to go to the BCS Orange Bowl, even though they had lost to Missouri (who went to the non-BCS Cotton Bowl, despite only losing twice to Oklahoma, and being ranked higher than both Kansas and Big Ten Rose Bowl Representative Illinois). This, among other games in history, illustrates that late season losses are often more injurious than early season losses.

Finally, critics argue that a team can win a weak conference and be awarded an automatic berth over at-large teams that are perceived to be more deserving. Most of this criticism has centered around the Big East after losing Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College to the ACC. In 2004, #21 Pittsburgh won the Big East with a record of 8-3 and was awarded an automatic bid because they won their conference, while several teams with better rankings, such as #5 California, #7 Georgia, and #8 Virginia Tech, were left out as they did not win their respective conferences. In 2008, undefeated #9 Boise State and #11 TCU were left out of the BCS while #19 Virginia Tech, winner of the ACC was given a BCS bowl berth. In 2010, Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

 won the Big East with a record of 8-4 and was awarded an automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl despite not being ranked in the top 25 of the BCS standings. As a result, the Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

 campaigned to receive an automatic bid. Another way to fix this problem would be to mandate that if a conference champion finishes with a low ranking (say below 12) that they forfeit their automatic bid, and get put into the pool of "at large" teams that the BCS can choose from. Thus, a higher ranked non-BCS team (or an extra team from other BCS conferences) could be selected by a bowl game.

Questions regarding disparities in revenue sharing

In addition to concerns about the inclusion of non-AQ (Automatic Qualifying) conference teams in the five BCS bowls, some critics have noted the disparities between the amounts paid to the six AQ conferences and their respective schools, as opposed to other conferences and their own schools.

The official BCS website discusses the payouts for the 2009-2010 BCS bowls.
  • Since each AQ conference is guaranteed at least one representative to a BCS game, each conference will receive approximately $21.2 million, plus an additional $6 million should a second conference team be selected. Although each conference has its own arrangement for the distribution of these funds, the average income per school in each conference is as follows (One team selected/Two teams selected):
    • Atlantic Coast (12 teams): $1.767M / $2.667M
    • Big East (8 teams): $2.650M / $3.400M
    • Big Ten (12 teams): $1.927M / $2.473M
    • Big 12 (12 teams): $1.767M / $2.667M
    • Pacific 10 (10 teams): $2.120M / $2.720M
    • Southeastern (12 teams): $1.767M / $2.667M
    • With next season's realignment in the Big Ten, Big XII, and Pacific-10 (to be renamed the Pacific-12) conferences, these numbers will be adjusted.

  • Notre Dame is guaranteed 1/66th of net revenues, or approximately $1.7 million. If selected to play in a BCS bowl, Notre Dame will receive $6 million.

  • Independent programs Army and Navy will each receive $100,000 for allowing their teams to participate in the selection for BCS bowls.

  • Nine percent, or approximately $12.35 million, is guaranteed in aggregate to Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and Western Athletic conferences. If a team from one of these five conferences plays in a BCS bowl, an additional nine percent (approximately $12.35M) will be given in aggregate to the conferences, and if a second team participates, those conferences will receive an additional $6.0M. These five conferences are composed of a total of 52 teams, broken down as follows:
    • Conference USA - 12 teams
    • Mid-American - 13 teams
    • Mountain West - 9 teams
    • Sun Belt - 9 teams
    • Western Athletic - 9 teams

  • Therefore, if the payouts to these conferences were broken down equally per school (which is not the case), this would amount to an average of $237,500 per school. If one team from these conferences were to play in a BCS game, that figure would increase to $519,231 per school. Should two teams be selected, the average per school would rise to $634,615 per school.


As a result, in the best-case scenario schools from the non-AQ conferences would receive approximately 37% of the least of the schools in the AQ conferences, including Notre Dame. These numbers are not the actual amounts paid to each school, but are averaged over the total number of schools.
  • Each of the 14 conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), will receive $250,000, or a total of $3.5M. The FCS subdivision, consists of 122 football programs in 14 conferences, with 7 schools independent. (It is unclear if the independent schools are included in the BCS payout.) As a result, although the actual distribution will vary significantly, each of the 122 schools will receive an average of $28,689. This represents 1/56th of the amount that Notre Dame (the team with the lowest guaranteed amount) would receive, and 1/209th of the amount that Notre Dame would receive if it receives a BCS bid.

  • A breakdown of the non-BCS revenue sharing conducted in 2010 shows the total amounts that the five non-BCS conferences received from all bowls. The coalition of C-USA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, and WAC conferences divides half of the BCS revenue equally amongst the five conferences, and the other half into 15 equal shares which are divided by performance. Since Boise State and TCU participated in the Fiesta Bowl, the coalition grossed a total of $24M. As a result, the conferences received and divided the following income (average per school, which likely do not reflect actual amounts, are in parentheses):
    • MWC - $9.8M ($1,088,889)
    • WAC - $7.8M ($866,667)
    • C-USA - $2.8M ($233,333)
    • MAC - $2.1M ($161,538)
    • Sun Belt - $1.5M ($166,667)

  • The 2008-2009 BCS Media Guide claims that over the first 10 years of the BCS arrangement, a total of $100 million has been given to the then-51 non-BCS Football Bowl Subdivision schools and the 122 Football Championship Subdivision schools. This gives an average of $10M/year, or $58,803 per school year. By comparison, each BCS conference (between eight and twelve schools) is guaranteed $18 million this year, an average of $1.66M per school for the 65 participating institutions.


The disparities between BCS conferences and non-BCS conferences continue outside the Bowl Championship Series to other bowls, but since the payouts for the five BCS bowls are so much greater than other bowls, the BCS has a major impact on revenue distribution paid to the various Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) schools. A 2003 study described the disparities between the different schools. In 2003, there were 24 bowls other than the BCS bowls, creating opportunities for 48 teams to participate in bowl games. Of these 48 teams, 33 were from AQ conferences.
  • In 2003, the Big Ten led all conferences with $31.9 million from its seven bowl appearances. By comparison, Conference USA, which led the non-BCS conferences with five bowl appearances, brought in a total of $5.75 million. TCU led all non-AQ schools with $1.37 million from its Liberty bowl appearance.

  • A similar study of 2000-2010 bowls shows that the SEC led all conferences with $40.46M from its ten bowl appearances. By comparison, the Mountain West Conference led all non-AQ conferences with $12.9M from its five bowls, including TCU's Fiesta Bowl appearance.

  • The BCS itself acknowledges the vast discrepancies between conferences the automatically qualify (AQ conferences) by drawing a comparison between BCS and non-BCS bowls. On their website, it notes that as a result of Utah's 2009 Sugar Bowl appearance, the MWC received $9.8 million. In contrast, the largest payout of any AQ-conference contracted bowl is the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, which pays the two teams a total of $1.8 million. The conclusion from this is that the Sugar Bowl paid the MWC over 10 times the best of what a non-BCS bowl offered. Should Utah not have been offered the bid, the MWC would have suffered considerably in comparison.


As a result, there has been significant criticism regarding the revenue distribution by bowls, specifically the BCS due to its significantly higher payout to participating teams. This disparity coupled with the comparative difficulty for non-BCS teams to participate in BCS bowls, compounded by the uneven split even for non-BCS teams competing in a BCS bowl, have raised calls for further reform in the revenue distribution structure. These concerns have also called into question the underlying motivations of the BCS, insofar as revenue is concerned. These issues have been the center of some Congressional inquiries, the threat of a lawsuit by the Attorney General of Utah, and a recent law review article in the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law concluding that the BCS violates federal antitrust law.

Finally, these figures cannot describe the vast differences in merchandise and other revenue that schools receive based on participating in higher visibility games, such as the BCS bowls.

1998-99 season

The first year of the BCS ended in controversy when one-loss Kansas State
Kansas State Wildcats
Kansas State University's athletic teams are called the Wildcats. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple, making Kansas State one of very few schools that have only one official color; white and silver are generally used as complementary colors.Kansas State participates in...

 finished third in the final BCS standings but was passed over for participation in BCS bowl games in favor of Ohio State
Ohio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...

 (ranked 4th) and two-loss Florida
Florida Gators football
The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...

 (8th). Instead, the Wildcats played in the far less prestigious Alamo Bowl
Alamo Bowl
The Alamo Bowl is a major American college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the 65,000-seat Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. It matches the second choice team from the Pacific-12 Conference and the third choice team from the Big 12 Conference.Traditionally, the Alamo Bowl has been...

 against Purdue
Purdue Boilermakers football
The Purdue Boilermakers football team is the intercollegiate football program of the Purdue University Boilermakers. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision, and the team competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Boilermakers have an all-time record of...

. The following season, the BCS adopted the "Kansas State Rule," which provides that the 3rd ranked team (or 4th ranked team if the 3rd ranked team has already qualified as a conference champion) in the final BCS standings is assured an invitation to a BCS bowl game. The rule was first utilized in 2002–03, giving an automatic berth to USC. The rule has been used six times in all, with Texas
Texas Longhorns football
The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate football team representing The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. The team currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big 12 Conference which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National...

 earning automatic bids in 2004–05 and 2008–09, Ohio State earning an automatic bid in 2005–06, Michigan
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...

 receiving an automatic bid in 2006–07, and Stanford
Stanford Cardinal football
The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference's North Division. Stanford, the top-ranked academic institution with an FBS program, has a highly successful football tradition. The...

 receiving an automatic bid in 2010–11.

The following season, Kansas State finished 6th in the BCS standings but again received no invitation, this time being passed over in favor of Michigan (ranked 8th). Kansas State's predicament (as well as that of undefeated Tulane who was denied a BCS bid because they played in Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

) inaugurated the long-standing media controversies regarding the system.

2000-01 season

Florida State
Florida State Seminoles football
The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University in college football. The Florida State Seminoles compete in NCAA Division I-FBS and are members of the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...

 (12–1, ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...

 Champions) was chosen to play undefeated Oklahoma
Oklahoma Sooners football
The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma . The team is currently a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...

 (12–0, Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

 champions) in the Orange Bowl for the national championship, despite their one loss coming to another one loss team, the Miami Hurricanes (11–1, Big East
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

 champions), that was ranked #2 in both human polls. Adding to the controversy, Miami's one loss came to yet another one loss team, the PAC-10 champion Washington Huskies, leaving three teams with a legitimate claim to play Oklahoma in the National Championship game.

Florida State lost to Oklahoma 13–2, while Washington and Miami both easily won their bowl games, adding more fuel to the fire. As a result of the controversy, the BCS was tweaked in the off-season. A "quality-win" bonus was added to the formula, giving extra credit for beating a top ten team.

2001-02 season

In another controversial season, Nebraska was chosen as a national title game participant despite being ranked #4 in both human polls and not winning their conference. The Huskers went into their last regularly scheduled game at Colorado undefeated, but left Boulder with a 62–36 loss. The Buffaloes went on to win the Big 12 championship. However, the BCS computers did not take into account time of loss, so one-loss Nebraska came out ahead of two-loss Colorado and one-loss Oregon, the consensus #2 in both human polls (but 4th in the BCS). Nebraska beat Colorado for the #2 spot in the BCS poll by .05 points. Nebraska was routed in the national title game, 37–14, by Miami. Meanwhile Oregon also routed Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl, 38-16.

2002-03 season

The Rose Bowl normally features the champions of the Big Ten and the Pac-10. However, the Big Ten co-champion Ohio State Buckeyes, finishing #2 in the BCS, had qualified to play in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl
2003 Fiesta Bowl
The 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl took place on January 3,2003 in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium. The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 31–24 in double overtime. It also served as the BCS National Championship Game for the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season...

 for the national championship against Big East champion Miami.

After the national championship was set, the Orange Bowl had the next pick, and invited #3 (#5 BCS) Iowa, who had shared the Big Ten title with Ohio State. When it was the Rose Bowl's turn to select, the best available team was #8 (#7 BCS) Oklahoma, the Big 12 champion. When it came time for the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl to make a second pick, both wanted Pac-10 co-champion USC. However, a BCS rule stated that if two bowls wanted the same team, the bowl with the higher payoff had priority. The Orange Bowl immediately extended an at-large bid to the Trojans and paired them with the Hawkeyes in a Big Ten/Pac-10 "Rose Bowl East" matchup in the 2003 Orange Bowl
2003 Orange Bowl
The 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the USC Trojans on January 2, 2003, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. USC won the game, 38–17...

. The Rose Bowl was left to pair Oklahoma with Pac-10 co-champion Washington State. Rose Bowl committee executive director Mitch Dorger was not pleased with the results. The 2003 Rose Bowl
2003 Rose Bowl
The 2003 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2003. It was the 89th Rose Bowl game. It was a match-up between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Washington State Cougars. The game was won by Oklahoma 34-14. Nate Hybl who played quarterback for the Sooners, was named the Rose...

 game had the lowest attendance and first non-sellout since 1944.

2003-04 season

The 2003–2004 season came about with much controversy when three schools from BCS conferences finished the season with one loss (in fact, no Division I-A team finished the season undefeated, something that hadn't happened since 1996, two years before the advent of the BCS). The three schools in question were:
  • Oklahoma
    Oklahoma Sooners football
    The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma . The team is currently a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...

  • LSU
    2003 LSU Tigers football team
    The 2003 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 2003–2004. Coached by Nick Saban, the Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a bit of controversy, LSU won the BCS National Championship, the first...

  • USC
    2003 USC Trojans football team
    The 2003 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2003-2004 NCAA Division I-A college football season...



USC was ranked #1 in both the AP and ESPN-USA Today Coaches poll, but was burdened by a collective 2.67 computer ranking due to a weaker schedule. Meanwhile Oklahoma, after an undefeated regular season, was beaten by Kansas State (35–7) in the Big 12 Championship Game. The loss dropped Oklahoma to #3 in the human polls (while the computers still had them at #1). LSU had earned a stronger computer ranking than USC and a #2 human poll ranking, and went on to claim the BCS championship with a 21–14 win over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. USC, which beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, retained its #1 ranking in the AP Poll. Oklahoma (which finished 12–2) had been clearly eliminated from national championship contention, but the split in polls left many LSU (13–1) and USC (12–1) fans displeased, as USC was named the AP national football champion. The LSU/USC dispute started a billboard war and a group of LSU fans ended up putting a billboard up near USC. This incident has been considered a lightning rod of controversy by some sportswriters covering college football.

The college coaches involved in the coaches poll were contractually obligated to award their organization's trophy and first place votes to the winner of the BCS championship game, LSU. However, for the first time in the history of the BCS Championship Series, the BCS Champion was not a unanimous #1 in the final Coaches Poll as the final vote was 60 - 3 for LSU as National Champion with USC as a runner-up. It is speculated that the three coaches who broke rank--Lou Holtz
Lou Holtz
Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz is a retired American football coach, and active sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker in the United States...

 of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

, Mike Bellotti
Mike Bellotti
Robert Michael "Mike" Bellotti is a college football analyst for ESPN and ABC. A native of California, he was hired as football offensive coordinator by the University of Oregon in 1989. From 1995 to 2009, he was the head coach of the Oregon Ducks football team...

 of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

 and Ron Turner of Illinois--violating their contractual obligation, did so because they believed that USC was the best team. Meanwhile other coaches followed their contractual obligation under the coaches "poll" and changed their choice of #1 from USC to LSU.

2004-05 season

The 2004-2005 regular season finished with five undefeated teams for the first time since 1979. Despite having perfect records, the Auburn Tigers
2004 Auburn Tigers football team
The 2004 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. Auburn compiled a record of 13–0, winning the Southeastern Conference championship and finishing the season ranked #2 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll...

, Utah Utes
2004 Utah Utes football team
The 2004 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah in the college football season of 2004–2005. This team was the original 'BCS Buster', meaning, this was the first time that a team from a non-BCS conference was invited to play in one of the BCS bowl games. The team, coached by 2nd...

, and Boise State Broncos
Boise State Broncos football
This page discusses the Boise State football program. For more Boise State athletics, see Boise State Broncos.The Boise State Broncos football program represents Boise State University in college football and compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I as a member of the Mountain West...

 were denied an opportunity to play for the BCS championship. Utah was the first non-BCS team to play in a BCS game. However, Utah and Boise State's schedules were thought of as weaker than Auburn's (by virtue of playing in the weaker Mountain West and WAC, respectively).

Most of the debate centered around Auburn, who went undefeated in the Southeastern Conference, leading to debates over the strength of schedule, a value that was diminished in the BCS before the season. Oklahoma went on to play USC for the title. USC defeated Oklahoma, 55–19. Both Auburn and Utah won their bowl games. Auburn defeated #9 Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl
2005 Sugar Bowl
The 2005 Sugar Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Auburn Tigers at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 3, 2005. It was the 71st edition of the annual Sugar Bowl football contest...

 16-13, and Utah defeated #21 Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl
2005 Fiesta Bowl
The 2005 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 1, 2005, was the 34th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game was played between Utah and Pittsburgh, in front of 73,519 fans. It is notable for being the first BCS game to feature a team from a non-BCS conference, and the only BCS bowl to feature a...

 by a score of 35–7, while Boise State was defeated by #10 Lousville in the Liberty Bowl
2005 Liberty Bowl
The 2005 AutoZone Liberty Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Fresno State Bulldogs and the on December 31, 2005, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. In a closely contested game which went back and forth Tulsa defeated Fresno State 31-24...

 44–40. This left 3 undefeated teams at the end of the season, where Auburn finished at #2 and Utah at #4.

Another controversy occurred this season since the pollsters jumped the Texas Longhorns
2004 Texas Longhorn football team
The 2004 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by head football coach Mack Brown and led on the field by quarterback Vince Young...

 over the California Golden Bears
California Golden Bears football
The California Golden Bears football team is the college football team of the University of California. The team plays its home games at California Memorial Stadium, however the team played at San Francisco's AT&T Park in 2011 while Memorial Stadium was being renovated, the team will return to...

 in the final regular-season poll. Texas coach Mack Brown
Mack Brown
William Mack Brown is head coach of The University of Texas at Austin Longhorn football team.Prior to his head coach position at Texas, Brown was head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, and North Carolina. Brown is credited with revitalizing the Texas and North Carolina football programs...

 publicly lobbied for the pollsters to give Texas the final at-large bid. Although the Bears, as Pac-10 runner-up, normally would have had first crack at a Rose Bowl berth, Brown lobbied for and got that berth. The lobbying was so extensive that the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 immediately ended its poll's association with the BCS. California's cause was hurt when it was less than impressive in a 26–16 victory over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
M. M. Roberts Stadium
M. M. Roberts Stadium is an American football stadium located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is the home of The University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles football team....

 the night before bowl bids were extended. This was doubly unfortunate because had it been played in September, when it was originally scheduled before being postponed by a hurricane, it would have had probably no effect and Cal would have received the Rose Bowl spot. Weakening their cause after the fact was the 45–31 defeat in the Holiday Bowl
Holiday Bowl
The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978. Beginning with the 2010 playing the bowl will officially be known as the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl after...

 to Texas Tech
Texas Tech Red Raiders football
Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University . The team competes, as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...

. Cal played without two of the highest performing receivers in the NCAA, however, this loss was attributed in many press reports to the Bears' disappointment over being denied their first Rose Bowl appearance in 45 years. Another major issue is the fact that the Pac-10 has considerably weaker bowl tie-ins than all of the other BCS conferences. For example, the Holiday Bowl
Holiday Bowl
The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978. Beginning with the 2010 playing the bowl will officially be known as the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl after...

 is the second place Pac-10 bowl and the opponent is the 3rd, 4th, or 5th-place Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

 team, meaning the Pac-10 team can finish just out of the BCS and play an unranked opponent.

2006-07 season

Going into the final poll, undefeated Boise State
2006 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 college football season. The Broncos won the Western Athletic Conference championship with an undefeated 12–0 regular-season record , their second unbeaten regular season in the past three years...

 and four one-loss teams (Louisville
2006 Louisville Cardinals football team
The 2006 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2006 college football season. The team, led by Bobby Petrino in his fourth year at the school, played their home games in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium...

, Michigan
2006 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 2006 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 2006 college football season. The team's head football coach was Lloyd Carr. The Wolverines came into the season with lower expectations than many Michigan teams of the previous few seasons, ranked #14...

, Wisconsin
2006 Wisconsin Badgers football team
The 2006 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison during the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by first-year head coach Bret Bielema, the Badgers completed the season with a 12-1 record, including a 7-1 mark in the Big Ten Conference, good for a...

 and Florida
2006 Florida Gators football team
The 2006 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2006 college football season...

) were up for a spot against undefeated top-ranked Ohio State
2006 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes football team was an American football team representing the Ohio State University in the college football season of 2006-2007. The team's head coach was Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium...

 in the BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....

. Louisville (11-1, champions of the Big East), and Boise State were given less consideration because of a lack of schedule strength, while Wisconsin (11-1, Big 10) was two steps removed from Ohio State (they lost to Michigan, who lost to Ohio State, and Wisconsin and Ohio State did not play).

Michigan lost to Ohio State 42–39 in its regular season finale (Ohio State would go on to claim the Big 10 championship), but was still ranked ahead of Florida but behind USC
2006 USC Trojans football team
The 2006 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in college football season of 2006-2007, winning the Pacific-10 Conference and playing in the Rose Bowl...

 going into the final ballot. Florida defeated Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game
SEC Championship Game
The SEC Championship Game refers to the game determining the Southeastern Conference's football season champion. The championship game pits the SEC Western Division representative against the Eastern Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Thus far, nine...

, and number 2 ranked USC lost to UCLA, leaving Michigan and Florida as one-loss teams who both claimed they deserved to play for the national championship against Ohio State. Many pundits denied that Michigan should get another chance to play Ohio State. Others claimed that this would only be a repeat of what happened in 1996 between Florida and Florida State, and that the two best teams should play even if they were from the same conference or if it was a rematch. Ultimately, the BCS National Championship was a meeting between Ohio State and Florida. A mere .0101 points separated #2 Florida from #3 Michigan. This small difference was a result of the human polls (USA Today's Coaches' Poll and Harris Interactive Poll) ranking Florida above Michigan while the computer polls had the two teams tied for second.

Michigan, which was automatically guaranteed a BCS at-large berth by virtue of its #3 ranking, went to the Rose Bowl, which they lost to USC
2006 USC Trojans football team
The 2006 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in college football season of 2006-2007, winning the Pacific-10 Conference and playing in the Rose Bowl...

 32–18. Florida officially became the national champions by impressively beating Ohio State 41–14. Florida also received all but one of the 65 first-place votes in the final Associated Press poll (the other went to Boise State, who won the Fiesta Bowl
2007 Fiesta Bowl
The 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game played as part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series of the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season...

 over Oklahoma).

At the conclusion of the season, three other one-loss teams were denied the chance to compete in a playoff or to play Florida for the national championship. Wisconsin and Louisville ended the season with only one loss (the same as Florida and Ohio State). Boise State, which received the other first-place vote in the AP poll, was the only undefeated Division I football team.

Because of a BCS rule allowing only two teams from each conference to play in BCS bowl games, highly-ranked Wisconsin and Auburn
2006 Auburn Tigers football team
The 2006 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Head coach Tommy Tuberville served his eighth season at Auburn, the third longest tenure among current SEC head coaches that year...

 were not eligible for selection to a BCS game. Wisconsin was excluded because Ohio State and Michigan represented the Big Ten, and Auburn was excluded because LSU
2006 LSU Tigers football team
The 2006 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 2006–2007. The team's coach was former Oklahoma State coach Les Miles. They played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...

 and Florida represented the SEC, even though Auburn defeated LSU 7–3 and Florida 27–17 during the season. LSU earned the at-large bid on the strength of its 31–26 victory over SEC West champion Arkansas in Little Rock, while the Razorbacks crushed then second-ranked Auburn 27–10 in Jordan-Hare Stadium
Jordan-Hare Stadium
Jordan–Hare Stadium is the playing venue for Auburn University's football team located on campus in Auburn, Alabama, USA. The stadium is named for Ralph "Shug" Jordan, the University's winningest football coach, and Cliff Hare, a member of Auburn's first football team as well as Dean of the Auburn...

. Auburn's 37–15 loss at home to a reeling Georgia team also destroyed its chances at the BCS.

An omission of the rule still would have not have been enough for Auburn to secure a berth, as Wisconsin would have likely been the final at-large bid. The final BCS poll had seven teams from the SEC and the Big Ten ranked in the top twelve but by the rule only two from each conference were eligible to play in BCS bowl games, offering the opportunity to argue that both conferences are over-ranked, that the Big Ten schedule does not produce a true conference champion, or that the limit of 2 teams from any one conference is inappropriate.

2007-08 season

In a wild finish to a wild regular season of upsets, the top two teams in the polls lost on the same weekend for two weeks in a row to close out the regular season, sending the BCS into chaos heading into the selection of the two teams to play for the BCS National Championship Game. On November 23, top-ranked LSU
2007 LSU Tigers football team
The 2007 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University during the college football season of 2007–2008, winning the Southeastern Conference championship and the national championship. The team's Head Coach was Les Miles who entered his third year at the helm of LSU Football...

 lost in triple overtime to Arkansas
2007 Arkansas Razorbacks football team
The 2007 Arkansas Razorbacks football team represented the University of Arkansas in the 2007–2008 football season. The Razorbacks played six home games at Donald W...

. This was the Tigers' second triple-overtime loss of the season, with the other to Kentucky
2007 Kentucky Wildcats football team
The 2007 Kentucky Wildcats football team represented the University of Kentucky in the college football season of 2007-2008. The team's head football coach was Rich Brooks, in his 5th year as Kentucky's head coach. The Wildcats played their home games at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky...

. The following day, #4 Missouri
2007 Missouri Tigers football team
The 2007 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri in college football's 2007 season. The team was coached by Gary Pinkel and played their home games at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium....

 beat #2 Kansas
2007 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 2007 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas for the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision intercollegiate football season of 2007-2008...

 and took the top spot in the BCS for the following week. This created the interesting prospect of #1 Missouri playing its final game of the season as three-point underdogs against Oklahoma
2007 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 2007 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the college football season of 2007-2008, winning the Big 12 Conference Championship for the fifth time in eight years. The team was led by head coach Bob Stoops...

. On December 1, Missouri was defeated by Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game. #2 West Virginia
2007 West Virginia Mountaineers football team
The 2007 West Virginia Mountaineers football team began play on September 1, 2007. The team was coached by Rich Rodriguez until he announced on December 16, 2007 that he was leaving West Virginia to coach the Michigan Wolverines. The head coaching position remained vacant after his announcement,...

 was also stunned at home
2007 Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia football game
The 2007 Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia football game was a college football game held in Morgantown, West Virginia that marked the 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl rivalry...

, by unranked Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Panthers football
Pittsburgh Panthers football is the intercollegiate football team of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Traditionally the most popular sport at the university, Pitt football has played at the highest level of American college football...

 in the annual Backyard Brawl
Backyard Brawl
The Backyard Brawl is an annual football game between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. The term "Backyard Brawl" has also been used to refer to college basketball games played annually or semi-iannually and may also be used to refer to other...

 game. Meanwhile, Ohio State
2007 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 2007 Ohio State Buckeyes football team competed in football on behalf of the Ohio State University during the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Buckeyes were coached by Jim Tressel and played their home games in Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio...

, who was idle for the final two weeks, climbed the rankings from #5 to #1. Hawaii
2007 Hawaii Warriors football team
The 2007 Hawaii Warriors football team represented the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in the 2007 NCAA Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football season....

 capped off an undefeated season (and the only such team going into the bowl post-season), beating Washington
2007 Washington Huskies football team
The 2007 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the college football season of 2007-2008. The team's head coach was Tyrone Willingham. It played its home games at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington, USA....

 and securing a major bowl appearance for the first time in the school's history. However, as with Boise State
2006 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 college football season. The Broncos won the Western Athletic Conference championship with an undefeated 12–0 regular-season record , their second unbeaten regular season in the past three years...

 in the previous season, Hawaii did not play for the BCS Championship because the Warriors' schedule was deemed too weak, adding to the ongoing controversy regarding the subjectivity and how easy it is to manipulate the strength of schedule element in determining rankings. In fact, with Hawaii's loss in the Sugar Bowl
2008 Sugar Bowl
The 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl Game was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the Bowl Championship Series for the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was the 74th Sugar Bowl...

, the 2007-08 season was the first since the 2003-04 season (and only the second in the BCS era) with no teams finishing the entire season undefeated.

In another irony, #6 Missouri was shut out of the BCS entirely when #8 Kansas was selected as one of three at-large teams. The Tigers finished higher in the BCS standings and had defeated the Jayhawks a week before the Big 12 title game. However, Kansas received a bid to the Orange Bowl; Orange Bowl officials said that they picked Kansas because the Jayhawks had only one loss, while Missouri had two losses, both to Big 12 champion Oklahoma. Since BCS rules do not allow more than two teams from one conference to get a bid, Missouri was ineligible for an at-large bid. Missouri defeated Arkansas 38-7 in the Cotton Bowl. Kansas also went on to defeat #3 Virginia Tech
2007 Virginia Tech Hokies football team
The 2007 Virginia Tech Hokies football team represented Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season...

 in the Orange Bowl by a score of 24-21, making no clear argument either way. Ohio State and LSU came in 1st and 2nd in the final BCS rankings, securing the BCS championship game between those two on January 7.

Before "Championship Saturday," LSU was ranked #7 and Georgia
2007 Georgia Bulldogs football team
The 2007 Georgia Bulldogs football team competed on behalf of the University of Georgia in American football against teams from other colleges and universities. The Bulldogs tied for first place in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference but lost a tie-breaker with the University of...

 was ranked #4. However, after #1 Missouri and #2 West Virginia lost, LSU was catapulted to #2 based on a 21-14 win over Tennessee
2007 Tennessee Volunteers football team
The 2007 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the college football season of 2007–2008. They won the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference before falling to the eventual national champion LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship Game...

 in the SEC Championship Game. Many argued that the Bulldogs should not play in the National Championship game because they didn't play for—let alone win—the SEC Championship. The Bulldogs and Vols finished with identical 6-2 records atop the SEC East, but Tennessee represented the division in the championship game by virtue of beating Georgia 35-14 in October. Virginia Tech had been ranked #6, above LSU, but had to settle for the #3 slot, despite a convincing win over Boston College in the ACC Championship Game. Voters were likely influenced by LSU's crushing 48-7 defeat of Virginia Tech early in the season. Computer rankings placed Virginia Tech (0.960) and LSU (0.950) #1, and #2, respectively. The top four teams in the BCS standings were #1 Ohio State, #2 LSU, #3 Virginia Tech, and #4 Oklahoma.

Ultimately, LSU defeated Ohio State 38-24, marking the second straight season that the Buckeyes lost the national championship game to an SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 opponent. LSU received 60 of a possible 65 first-place votes in the final AP poll, the fewest for a BCS champion since 2004, when BCS champion LSU finished second in the poll to USC
2003 USC Trojans football team
The 2003 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2003-2004 NCAA Division I-A college football season...

. Georgia, another SEC team, was second in the poll and received three first-place votes. The final two first place votes went USC and Kansas, ranked #3 and #7 respectively. Missouri, who did not play in a BCS bowl, finished fourth, and Ohio State fell to fifth after losing the championship game.

2008-09 season

In the Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

 South division, there was a three-way tie
2008 Big 12 Conference South Division 3-way tie controversy
The final standings of the 2008 Big 12 Conference's South Division football regular season resulted in the first 3-way division tie in the Big 12. The decision of which team would be selected to represent the division in the 2008 Big 12 Championship Game was controversial...

 for the division champion between Oklahoma
2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the college football season of 2008-2009. It was the 114th year of season play for the Sooners. The team was led by head coach Bob Stoops, a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year award winner, who has a contract...

, Texas, and Texas Tech
2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University in the college football season of 2008/09. The team was coached by Mike Leach. The Red Raiders played their home games at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. The football team competed in the Division I Football Bowl...

 (all one-loss teams). The winner of that division would likely play in the national championship game if it beat Missouri
2008 Missouri Tigers football team
The 2008 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri in college football's 2008 season. The team was coached by Gary Pinkel, who returned in his eighth season with Mizzou, and played their home games at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.Quarterback Chase Daniel returned for...

 in the Big 12 Championship Game. Oklahoma lost to Texas 45-35
2008 Texas vs. Oklahoma football game
The 2008 Oklahoma vs. Texas football game, played October 11, 2008, was the 103rd meeting between the University of Oklahoma and The University of Texas at Austin in a college football game. The annual game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners is called the Red River Shootout...

, then Texas lost to Texas Tech 39-33
2008 Texas vs. Texas Tech football game
The 2008 Texas vs. Texas Tech football game was a Big 12 Conference game played between the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas, United States.-Pregame:...

, and then Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma 65-21. In the Big 12, the BCS standings were used to break this tie, causing the teams to jockey for votes in the human polls. In the end, Oklahoma edged out Texas for the right to represent the Big 12 South in the conference championship game. Despite the head to head loss to the Longhorns earlier in the season, the computer rankings ranked the Sooners' schedule ahead of the Longhorns. Another BCS conference, the SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

, merely uses the BCS standings to eliminate one team in a three-way tie and then use head to head to determine tiebreakers, which would have worked in Texas' favor.

Going into the conference championship games, only four teams—Alabama
2008 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
The 2008 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 76th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference and its 17th within the SEC Western Division...

, Utah
2008 Utah Utes football team
The 2008 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah in the college football season of 2008–2009. The team, coached by 4th year head football coach Kyle Whittingham, plays its home games in Rice–Eccles Stadium...

, Ball State
2008 Ball State Cardinals football team
The 2008 Ball State Cardinals football team represented Ball State University in the Mid-American Conference during the 2008–2009 college football season. Brady Hoke, in his sixth season at Ball State, was the head coach until December 15, when he resigned to become the head coach at San Diego State...

 and Boise State
2008 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2008 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2008 college football season. The Broncos played their home games at Bronco Stadium, most famous for its blue artificial turf surface, often referred to as the "smurf-turf". The blue turf was new for the 2008...

—were undefeated. However, in the event of an Alabama loss, Utah, Ball State, and Boise State had no realistic chance at a title game berth because their schedules were deemed too weak, once again igniting a controversy and debate about the legitimacy of the highly subjective strength of schedule component of determining rankings. As it turned out, Alabama lost to one-loss Florida
2008 Florida Gators football team
The 2008 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2008 college football season...

 in the SEC Championship Game, vaulting the Gators to the second spot in the final BCS rankings and a matchup in the title game against Oklahoma. Alabama fell to fourth, behind Texas. In addition, Ball State lost the MAC championship to Buffalo
2008 Buffalo Bulls football team
The 2008 Buffalo Bulls football team represented the University at Buffalo in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. 2008 was a season of firsts for the Bulls. With a 40-34 double overtime win over Bowling Green on November 21, the Bulls won the MAC East division and gained a berth...

, which denied any chance they had at getting a BCS bowl berth.

Utah and Boise State both finished in the top 15 of the BCS standings (in fact, both were in the top 10), and were thus eligible for BCS at-large spots. It was generally understood, however, that only one team would get a berth, as it would be hard to justify allowing a second mid-major conference team into a BCS bowl over a BCS conference runner-up. This difficulty in "justifying" both non-automatic qualifying teams going to BCS Bowls led a number of BCS critics to point to this situation as being reflective of the arrogance and assumption of higher quality of the BCS Conferences that is not borne out by any statistics or their win-loss records, but rather is based on past records and old, no longer relevant or true traditions and reputations. Utah qualified automatically as the highest ranked (in the top 12) non-BCS conference champion and defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Boise State (#9 in the BCS) and TCU
2008 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 2008 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University in the 2008 college football season. The team was coached by Gary Patterson. The Frogs played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in Fort Worth...

 (#11) were matched up in the Poinsettia Bowl
2008 Poinsettia Bowl
The 2008 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl was the fourth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The game started at 5 PM US PST on Tuesday, December 23, 2008...

, marking the first time in history that a bowl featured two teams from non-BCS conferences ranked higher than both participants in a BCS bowl game in the same season (the Orange Bowl
2009 Orange Bowl
The 2009 FedEx Orange Bowl game was the 75th edition of the annual college football bowl game known as the Orange Bowl. It pitted the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia Tech Hokies against the Big East Conference champion Cincinnati Bearcats on January 1, 2009 at Dolphin Stadium in...

 matched #12 Cincinnati
2008 Cincinnati Bearcats football team
The 2008 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represents the University of Cincinnati in the college football season of 2008–2009. The team, coached by Brian Kelly, plays its homes game in Nippert Stadium. Kelly is in his second full season with the Bearcats after coaching them to a 31–21 win...

 and #19 Virginia Tech
2008 Virginia Tech Hokies football team
The 2008 Virginia Tech Hokies football team represents Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head coach is Frank Beamer. Prior to the season, the Hokies were expected to be in a rebuilding mode, recovering after the...

). TCU defeated Boise State 17–16, and Utah won the Sugar Bowl
2009 Sugar Bowl
The 2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl was the 75th annual edition of the annual college football bowl game that is part of the 2008–09 bowl season of the Bowl Championship Series 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season...

 to finish as the nation's only undefeated team.

After the season, the Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

 made a proposal at the Bowl Championship Series commissioners' annual spring meetings in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

 in conjunction with the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...

's staging the 2010 BCS title game
2010 BCS National Championship Game
The 2010 Citi BCS National Championship Game was the finale of the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was played between the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It was hosted by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California,...

. The meetings were held during the week of April 20, 2009. The Mountain West Conference commissioner has proposed that a selection committee replace the polls and computers, an eight-team playoff system put in place, and changes to the automatic qualifier rules. On June 24, 2009, the BCS presidential oversight committee rejected the eight-team playoff plan.

2009-10 season

By mid-October, it was obvious that Florida
2009 Florida Gators football team
The 2009 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2009 college football season...

 and Alabama
2009 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
The 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 77th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference and its 18th within the SEC Western Division...

 would face off in the 2009 SEC Championship Game
2009 SEC Championship Game
The 2009 SEC Championship Game was played on December 5, 2009, in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, to determine the 2009 football champion of the Southeastern Conference . The game featured the Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide was the designated "home team"; this...

, and the winner would play in the BCS title game. It was also generally believed that Texas would get the other spot if it won the 2009 Big 12 Championship Game
2009 Big 12 Championship Game
The 2009 Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Game was held on December 5, 2009 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The divisional winners from the Big 12 Conference squared off in the 14th edition of the game. The Texas Longhorns represented the South Division and the Nebraska Cornhuskers...

, despite concerns about a weak non-conference schedule and a surprising lack of quality teams in the Big 12. Ultimately, in a repeat of the 2004-05 season, five teams finished the season undefeated—Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati
2009 Cincinnati Bearcats football team
The 2009 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represented the University of Cincinnati in the college football season of 2009–2010. The team, coached by Brian Kelly, played its home games in Nippert Stadium....

, TCU
2009 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 2009 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University in the 2009 college football season. The team was coached by Gary Patterson. The Frogs played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs finished the season...

, and Boise State
2009 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2009 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2009 college football season. The Broncos played their home games at Bronco Stadium, most famous for its blue artificial turf surface, often referred to as the "smurf-turf"...

.

Texas won the Big 12 title game, and with it a spot in the BCS title game, in controversial fashion. As the game clock appeared to run out with Nebraska
2009 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
The 2009 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cornhuskers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska and were led by head coach Bo Pelini...

 winning 12-10; officials ruled that the time left on the clock was reviewable and ordered 1 second put back on the clock, allowing the Longhorns to kick a field goal for a 13-12 win, a result that left Nebraska coach Bo Pelini
Bo Pelini
Mark "Bo" Pelini is the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He had previously been defensive coordinator for the LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers...

 claiming that it was part of a BCS conspiracy. Earlier, Alabama had trounced Florida in the SEC title game to earn the other slot.

Despite a convincing season-opening win over eventual Pac-10 champion Oregon
2009 Oregon Ducks football team
The 2009 Oregon Ducks football team represented the University of Oregon in the college football season of 2009. The team was led by head coach Chip Kelly in his first season as a head coach at the Division I FBS level. Kelly was only the third Ducks head coach since 1977 and led the Ducks to a...

, another team in the top 10 of the BCS standings, and having played 13 games rather than the 12 that TCU and Cincinnati had played, Boise State's schedule was once again deemed too weak for a spot in the championship game. Indeed, going into the season's final weekend it was certain that at least two other teams would finish undefeated due to the SEC title game matchup between Alabama and Florida, as well as TCU having already completed an undefeated season. Cincinnati and TCU, however, both believed they would be in the championship game if Texas lost. Despite being ranked behind TCU going into championship weekend, Cincinnati probably had a stronger claim as it was the undefeated champion of a BCS conference, rather than an at-large team like TCU. Cincinnati did pass TCU to end up 3rd in the final BCS standings, but with the margin as slim as it was and three of the six BCS computers having placed Texas in between the two schools, no conclusions can be drawn as to what might have happened if Texas had lost.

Unrelated to the title game was the controversy regarding the bowl selections. While at #6, Boise State was able to earn an at-large berth, the announcement that they would be playing #4 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl
2010 Fiesta Bowl
The 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game between the #4 TCU Horned Frogs, champions of the Mountain West Conference, and the #6 Boise State Broncos, champions of the Western Athletic Conference. The game was played Monday, January 4, 2010, at University of...

 caused a massive outcry and also focused the controversy on the broader issue of truly fair access to Bowl opportunities, rather than just appearances. As the two "BCS Busters" would be matched up against each other and would thereby be denied the opportunity to face a top team from one of the six BCS conferences, instead providing a rematch of a non-BCS bowl from the previous year (see above), the BCS came off looking " at best, a cowardly cartel". Placing two teams from non-AQ conferences in the same bowl also contradicted the previous assertion that non-AQ schools are less likely to receive at-large bids because the bowls prefer the superior drawing power of the big schools and their highly mobile fanbases—hence undefeated Boise State's omission from the BCS the previous year in favor of two-loss Ohio State. For this reason, some are calling this match up the "Separate but Equal Bowl," or the "Fiasco Bowl."

The issue of far more consequence brought to the fore as a result of this game was that of access to equal and fair competition, the access to the chance to compete for and win the "Big Game" in the first place. There was a tremendous amount of criticism surrounding the 2010 Fiesta Bowl team pairing. Many argued that the BCS was terrified of a non-BCS team defeating a BCS team and bringing into question ever more starkly the entire premise of the BCS's existence, that teams from BCS Conferences are somehow superior to non-BCS teams and are therefore more deserving to play for the "National Championship". A defeat of a top ranked BCS team would help affirm that this premise was false - as the impressive record of non-BCS teams in BCS Bowls (4-1 against BCS AQ teams) already hints at. Consequently, the BCS paired TCU and BSU together so that the possibility of an embarrassment of an AQ school, and by extension the entire system's validity, was eliminated.

2010-11 season

During TCU's second undefeated regular season run in a row (their only loss being the 2010 Fiesta Bowl against Boise State), and while Boise State was still undefeated prior to losing to Nevada, E. Gordon Gee, the president of The Ohio State University (a member of the Big Ten, a BCS conference) and formerly president of two other BCS Universities, made public comments to the Associated Press stating that schools from non-BCS schools should not be allowed to compete for the BCS championship. "I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it's like murderer's row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day. So I think until a university runs through that gauntlet that there's some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame." These comments sparked immediate criticism from commentators, coaches from non-BCS conferences and a large segment of the general public. After the Rose Bowl victory by TCU over Wisconsin (who had defeated the Buckeyes earlier in the season), billboards appeared in the Columbus area congratulating TCU on its win, and which were signed by "The Little Sisters Of The Poor" as a jibe to Dr. Gee's remarks, which he nominally apologized for after the game. Later, he performed a day of community service at a nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...

 operated by a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

 group known Little Sisters of the Poor, although he added that he had no idea they existed when he made the comments.

Inequality of access to the BCS and the National Championship game, and the money that accompanies that access, continues to be at the heart of the controversy about the BCS.

In 2008 United States Senator Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...

 (R-Utah) had said that he would hold congressional hearings on the BCS in the future after his Utah team failed to play in the national championship game. Following up on Senator Hatch's actions in the Senate, in April 2011 the Attorney General of Utah announced that he would be initiating a class action anti-trust lawsuit against the BCS, despite the fact that Utah is moving to the Pacific 10 Conference, which is an automatic qualifying conference. In May 2011 the U.S. Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 sent a letter to the NCAA asking for a detailed explanation about why FBS football was the only NCAA sport that the NCAA did not 1) have a playoff system in place to determine a champion and 2) why the NCAA had abrogated its responsibility to do so and given the authority to determine the NCAA Champion to an outside group such as the BCS. The Justice Department's investigation and Utah Attorney General's lawsuit are both aimed at forcing the BCS to open its books, which they are as a non-profit required to do every year and have never done, and at determining whether the BCS is an illegal trust or cartel based on Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...

 of 1890, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act
Clayton Antitrust Act
The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 , was enacted in the United States to add further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime by seeking to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency. That regime started with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the first Federal law outlawing practices...

 of 1914 and the Robinson-Patman Anti-Price Discrimination Act
Robinson-Patman Act
The Robinson–Patman Act of 1936 is a United States federal law that prohibits anticompetitive practices by producers, specifically price discrimination. It grew out of practices in which chain stores were allowed to purchase goods at lower prices than other retailers...

. Two more states Attorneys General are said to be considering joing the Utah lawsuit, and the investigation by the Justice Department will probably include a minute and extensive examination of the Fiesta Bowl Scandal as well as conducting complete audits of the other BCS Bowls, the BCS itself and possibly even the schools of the 6 BCS Automatic Qualification Conferences.

The Fiesta Bowl scandal in particular was the catalyst that opened the BCS up to Federal interest for the first time, largely because the government is concerned not only about the BCS's stifling of fair competition, but more importantly for the Federal Government about the possibility of fraud and tax evasion, if the BCS has violated the rules governing tax exempt organizations and groups that control tax exempt organizations. If the BCS Bowls, who are each separate entities yet also part of the BCS as a whole as well were to lose their tax exempt status, they could be liable for back taxes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The Fiesta Bowl abuses - especially those regarding alleged illegal and improper political contributions, excessive executive compensation and unjustified reimbursement payments, and the making of excessive, interest free and un-repaid loans - are precisely the types of abuses that would justify the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...

 in stripping the BCS, and each BCS Bowl and possibly even each BCS Conference school (although that is highly unlikely) of their tax exempt status. In the worst case scenario the BCS could also be subject to forfeiture and seizure proceedings. While the worst penalties are unlikely to be enforced, even the milder penalties, such as a determination of a cartel and trust, would have devastating consequences for the BCS and the current system. The court could also order a resolution of the current unfair competition inherent in the structure of the BCS, including ordering a playoff sustem and ordering the Bowls to participate. Despite Big 10 Commissioner Delaney's assertion that if the BCS were to fold they would "go back to the old system" if a court ordered a solution the Conferences would have no choice in the matter, and would be required - especially if a determination is made that the BCS is an illegal trust or cartel - to do whatever the court says, including submitting to federal oversight of the Bowl's and Bowl teams' finances and administration, and conducting a 4, 8 or 16 team playoff, or whatever other remedy the court ordered in their holding. The Department of Justice inquiry is far and away the most potentially dangerous legal situation that the BCS has faced to date.

On the field, for the first time, an ineligible-player situation contaminated two of the five BCS bowls in this season before they were played. In December 2010, five Ohio State University players were implicated in an illegal-benefits scandal preceding the 2011 Sugar Bowl. Though the five players were suspended for five 2012-season games apiece, not only was Ohio State still allowed to play in the 2011 Sugar Bowl (which also resulted in Wisconsin playing in a Rose Bowl they otherwise would not have been allowed in, as Michigan State would have the Big Ten's Rose Bowl berth had Ohio State been removed from the three-way tie which allowed Wisconsin to gain the berth), but so were the five players. After defeating Arkansas, the scandal grew, including open deception by Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. As a result, Tressel has been forced out and, on July 11, 2011, Ohio State University vacated all of its wins in an effort to reduce their penalties in an upcoming August, 2011 NCAA meeting. The BCS has taken no action at this time, awaiting the NCAA's penalties before it does.

Also, controversies follow both teams in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game
2011 BCS National Championship Game
The 2011 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game was the final college football game to determine the national champion of the 2010 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision season. The finale of the 2010-2011 Bowl Championship Series was played at the University of Phoenix Stadium, the host...

. Six months after Auburn won the championship, Auburn is still under investigation for its recruitment of Heisman-winner Cam Newton
Cam Newton
Cameron Lemark Newton is a former American football safety. He played college football at Furman University, then played two seasons in the NFL, one each for the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers. He was cut from the Panthers before the 2007 season...

. The University of Oregon has been facing an NCAA investigation with respect to middlemen involving themselves in their recruiting practices.

Support

While there is substantial criticism aimed at the BCS system from coaches, media and fans alike, there is also some support for the system. Supporters claim there are several key advantages that the BCS has over a playoff
Playoff
The playoffs, postseason, or finals of a sports league are a game or series of games played after the regular season by the top competitors, usually but not always with a single-elimination system, to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.In the U.S...

 system. Under the BCS, a single defeat is extremely detrimental to a team's prospects for a national championship. Supporters contend that this creates a substantial incentive for teams to do their best to win every game. Under a playoff system, front-running teams could be in a position of safety at the end of the regular season and could pull or greatly reduce their use of top players in order to protect them from injuries or give them recovery time (this happens frequently in the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

). This is very unlikely to happen in the BCS system where a team in the running for a #1 or #2 ranking at the end of the year would be nearly certain to be punished in the polls enough for a loss that the team would be eliminated from contention.

Supporters also note that while the BCS routinely involves controversy about which two teams are the top teams, in rare instances there is a clear-cut top two; the BCS ensures these top two will play each other for the championship. For example, Miami (FL) and Ohio State in 2002 were the only undefeated teams; both teams had only a couple of close contests. Under the BCS system, these two teams got to play for the championship. Before the BCS, they would likely have played two other schools, and if they both won, then there would be either two champions, or else #2 Ohio State may have been denied a championship despite going 14–0 because they were not the top-ranked team . Of course, this argument only addresses why the BCS is an improvement over the previous system. It fails to suggest that the BCS system would be superior to a playoff system.

The NCAA, the governing organization of all collegiate sports, has no official process for determining its FBS (Div. 1-A) champion. Instead, FBS champions are chosen by what the NCAA calls in its official list of champions "selecting organizations".

In 1997, pursuant to a legally binding contract which is now being examined and questioned by the United States Department of Justice in the early stages of an investigation into whether the BCS is an illegal trust or not, all 119 FBS universities chose the BCS as their sanctioned selecting organization. The legality of the underlying contracts that bind the schools and bowls to the BCS are now under considerable government and media scrutiny. Under the current, legally questionable contracts, the BCS:
"...is managed by the commissioners of the 11 NCAA Division I-A conferences, the director of athletics at the University of Notre Dame, and representatives of the bowl organizations.
"...is a five-game arrangement for post-season college football that is designed to match the two top-rated teams in a national championship game and to create exciting and competitive matchups between eight other highly regarded teams in four other games".

This contract has no effect on any other selecting organization; it operates only on its signatories—the member universities of the FBS. Fans or media might argue, opine and arrive at differing results from those of the BCS, but the universities (teams) are bound by the latter's processes.

Still, some proponents of the BCS recognize the inconsistency that the system offers. An article taken from BCSfootball.org titled "Playoff Smayoff! We Don't Need It" openly states "...trust the process and we will get it right 80 percent of the time." As one sports writer argued, "Is it too much to ask for a system that gets it right every time" instead of getting it right 4 out of 5 times? It is interesting to note that FBS football is the only sport in which the NCAA has not mandated a specific bracketed playoff system, with even Division I FCS conducting a playoff every year.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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