FedEx Sports
About Bowl Championship Series
At the conclusion of the 2004 season the FedEx Orange Bowl will host the National Championship game. The game will be played on Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET in Miami, Fl. The FedEx Orange Bowl will feature the top two teams ranked in the final BCS regular season standings.
The BCS consists of the FedEx Orange Bowl, Nokia Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl presented by Playstation 2 and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The conferences with automatic berths include the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conferences.
ABC-TV televises the four Bowl Championship Series games.
Ranking System (below)
Any Division I-A independent team or champion of the Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA or any other Division I-A conference which is ranked sixth or higher in the BCS standings, will also be eligible for the Bowl Championship Series.
Otherwise, any Division I-A team can qualify for selection in the BCS if they meet one of the following requirements:
- Has won at least nine college football games during the most recently completed regular season; not to include wins in exempted games.
- Is ranked among the Top 12 teams in the final BCS regular season ranking.
- Is ranked no lower in the final BCS regular season ranking than the lowest ranked team selected by a BCS bowl from the conference champions.
At the conclusion of the 2003 regular season, the Nokia Sugar Bowl will host the National Championship contest. The game will be played on Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET in New Orleans, LA . The Sugar Bowl shall select the top two teams ranked in the BCS final regular season standings.
The BCS will also mark the return of regional consideration regarding team selection. Specifically, as a member of the BCS, the Rose Bowl will host the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions in those years in which either the Rose Bowl does not have the national championship game or the Big Ten and Pac-10 champion is not ranked No. 1 or No. 2. Other "regional consideration" tie-ins include the SEC champion in the Sugar Bowl, the ACC or Big East champion in the Orange Bowl and the Big 12 champion in the Fiesta Bowl.
There will be several occasions when the regional consideration tie-ins will not be kept. Criteria for moving host teams to another bowl include: (1) whether the same team will be hosting the same BCS Bowl for two consecutive years; (2) whether two teams that played against one another in the most recently completed college football season will be for two consecutive years; (3) whether the same two teams will play against each other in a Bowl game for two consecutive years and (4) whether alternative pairings will have greater appeal to college football fans.
If a BCS bowl loses a host team to the National Championship Game, then such BCS bowl shall be the first to select a replacement team from the pool of participating teams. If two BCS bowls lose their host teams to the National Championship Game, the BCS bowl losing the highest ranked team would have the first at-large selection, followed by the BCS bowl that lost the second-ranked team. Bowls cannot select a "host" team from another BCS bowl.
Any BCS bowl game(s) still remaining unfilled following the dispersal of teams, should submit to the BCS a listing of its top three team selections to fill its at-large slot. Any conference champion not already placed in a bowl game must be listed among such bowl game's first two selections. Each BCS bowl would then be given its highest preference of teams.
In a situation where two or more bowls select the same team(s) with their choices, the priority of selection would be the following: (1) the bowl making the largest per team cash payment shall be given first preference; (2) the bowl not getting first priority in the previous year, would be given first preference.
At the conclusion of these procedures, the pairings established by the BCS bowls may be adjusted by the BCS, in consultation with the BCS bowls and ABC, in the interest of creating the most exciting and interesting post-season match-ups possible.
- Should a team from a conference which does not have an automatic selection or an independent institution be ranked in the top six* such team shall be guaranteed selection in one of the games of the Bowl Championship Series. In this event, should Notre Dame have a top ten ranking* or a record of at least 9 wins**, Notre Dame shall be guaranteed selection in one of the games of the Bowl Championship Series.
- Should two teams from conferences which do not have an automatic selection or one or more independent institutions be ranked in the top six*, the bowls shall select these two top six* teams for the two at-large selections in the BCS. In this event, should Notre Dame have a top ten ranking* or a record of at least 9 wins**, the bowls shall select from among these two teams and Notre Dame for the two at-large selections.
- Should three or more teams from conferences which do not have an automatic selection or one or more independent institutions (any combination totaling three or more teams) be ranked in the top six*, the bowls shall select from among these three or more top six* teams for the two at-large selections in the BCS. In this event, should Notre Dame have a top ten ranking* or a record of last least 9 wins**, the bowls shall select from among these three or more top six* teams and Notre Dame for the two at-large selections.
- Any team from a conference with or without an automatic selection or any independent institution ranked number one or number two* will play in the championship game of the BCS. Should only one at-large selection be available as the result of an at-large team from a conference with an automatic selection, a team from a conference without an automatic selection or an independent being ranked number one or number two*, the following criteria for selection shall apply:
- A. Should a team from a conference which does not have an automatic selection or an independent be ranked in the top six* and Notre Dame also has a record of at least 9 wins** or is ranked in the top ten*, the bowls shall select one of these two teams.
B. Should a team from a conference which does not have an automatic selection, an independent or an at-large team from a conference with an automatic selection be ranked number one or number two*, the bowls shall select the remaining at-large team from the pool of all eligible teams provided no other team from another conference without an automatic selection or an independent, including Notre Dame, is ranked in the top six*.
***
The ranking system will consist of four major components: Subjective polls of the writers and coaches, computer rankings, schedule strength and team record. The two teams which have the lowest point total in the four categories will play in the national championship game on ABC Sports.
The formula for the Bowl Championship Series standings follows:
- POLLS:
The poll component will be calculated based on the average of the ranking of each team in the Associated Press media poll and the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. The rankings of each team will be added and divided by two. For example, a team ranked number one in one poll and number two in the other poll would receive 1.5 points in this component (1+2=3 divided by 2=1.5).
COMPUTER RANKINGS:
The second component will consist of eight computer rankings. These computer rankings will include the three used last year (New York Times, Jeff Sagarin's USA TODAY and The Anderson-Hester/Seattle Times) along with five additional rankings: Richard Billingsley, Dunkel Index, Kenneth Massey, David Rothman and the Matthews/Scripps-Howard rankings. The computer component will be determined by averaging the seven highest computer rankings. The lowest computer ranking will be disregarded. For example, if a team is ranked first in four polls, second in three polls and third in another, the ranking in which the team is third will be disregarded and the remaining seven polls will be added and divided by seven (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 = 10/7 = 1.43).
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE:
The third component will be the team's strength of schedule. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/lost records of the team's opponents and the cumulative won/lost records of the team's opponents' opponents. The formula shall be weighted two-thirds (66-2/3%) for the opponents' opponents record and one-third (33-1/3%) for the opponent's record. The team's schedule strength shall be calculated to determine in which quartile it will rank: 1-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100; and shall be further quantified by its rankings within each quartile (divided by 25). For example, if a team's schedule strength rating is 28th in the nation, that team would receive 1.12 points (28 divided by 25=1.2).
TEAM RECORD:
The final component shall evaluate the team's won/lost record. Each loss during the season will represent one point in this component.
All four components shall be added together for a total rating. The team with the lowest point total shall rank first in the Bowl Championship Series Standings. The BCS Standings will not be published until the Monday following games of Oct. 20 at 2p.m. CT each week. The complete BCS rankings will be available online beginning Oct. 23. This system will be utilized only to select the teams that will participate in the championship game of the Bowl Championship Series and to determine any independent team or team from a conference without an automatic selection which shall qualify for a guaranteed selection in one of the games of the Bowl Championship Series as the result of being ranked in the top six in the BCS Standings.
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