The BCS: Annointing a Mythical Champion

The NCAA doesn’t officially determine a champion in the sport of football for teams belonging to the "Football Bowl Subdivision" (FBS). Although many proposals for a playoff system have been presented to the NCAA, the NCAA has consistently turned them down. As a result, throughout the years there have been numerous systems for naming a “Mythical” National Champion.

Originally posted November, 18, 2010

Updated December 5, 2010

In 1936, The Associated Press "AP" began determining who THEY considered the National Champion by conducting of a poll of sportswriters and sportscasters.

Then, In 1950 the United Press began determining who THEY considered the National Champion by conducting of a poll of college coaches. This is the poll now known as the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.

There have also been others, such as the “Football Writers Association of America” ("FW"), founded in 1954 and the “National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame” ("NF"), founded in 1959. As these systems were entirely based on the opinions of those polled, there were several “split” championships through the years.

In 1964 and 1970 there were actually 3 teams named as National Champions. Alabama (AP, UP), 10-1-0 Arkansas (FW) 11-0-0, and Notre Dame (NF) 9-1-0 were named National Champions by the different systems in 1964. Nebraska (AP, FW) 11-0-1, Texas (UP, NF-T), 10-1-0 and Ohio St. (NF-T) 9-1-0 were named National Champions by the different systems in 1970. None of these methods has ever been sanctioned by the NCAA.

The “Bowl Alliance” was created in 1995 with the primary purpose of matching the #1 and #2 teams in the nation in a Bowl Game with the victors to be crowned National Champions. This attempt to lend some credibility to the Division I National Football Championship and quell disputes about who was the “true” national champion was met with mixed reactions.

The Bowl Alliance was fatally flawed by the fact that the Pac-10 champion and the Big-Ten champion were contractually obligated to appear in the Rose Bowl which opted not to join the "Bowl Alliance," assuring the possibility of a split championship should the #1 or #2 ranked team in the AP poll be members of either the Pac-10 or the Big Ten.

In 1997, that’s exactly what happened when then ranked #1 Michigan defeated Washington State in the Rose Bowl and #2 Nebraska defeated #3 Tennessee in the Bowl Alliance Championship game which was held in the Orange Bowl that year.  Michigan was named the National Champion by the AP, while Nebraska was named the National Champion by the Bowl Alliance.

Following the 1997 season, the Bowl Championship Series was born out of the ashes of the now defunct Bowl Alliance. The purpose was to create a better system for determining the national champion by bringing the #1 and #2 teams in the nation, according to the newly created “BCS Rankings,” together for a stand-alone BCS Championship Game. This time the Rose Bowl joined the Series and many believed that the possibility of a split championship could be eliminated.

The BCS “Rankings” are determined through a mathematical equation taking into account the Harris Interactive poll which accounts for 1/3 of the overall ranking, the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll which accounts for 1/3 of the overall ranking and the BCS Computer rankings which account for 1/3 of the overall ranking. Thereby bringing together the different factions who had independently named "The Division I National Football Champions."

Despite the best efforts of those who created and have revised and revisited the BCS System, the system remains controversial, biased, and hated by college football fans all over the country. The system has been as rife with controversy as any other system, with several teams that were considered either the #1 or #2 teams in the nation being shut out of the championship game due to a late season loss or a “weaker” schedule of opponents.

In 2003, despite being considered the #1 team in the nation, USC was shut out of the BCS championship based on the computer rankings. The result was something that wasn’t supposed to happen in the BCS. USC was ranked #1 by the AP poll while Louisiana St. was crowned the BCS champion and ranked #1 due to contractual obligation by the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. The exclusion of USC was so controversial three coaches voted for USC despite their contractual obligation.

In 2008, the University of Utah and Boise State were the only undefeated teams in Div. I football. Despite being undefeated, Utah was ranked #6 behind 5 teams with one loss each and Boise was ranked #9. The argument for the low rankings were that BSU and Utah played “weaker” schedules than the teams who were ranked ahead of them and couldn’t compete with the top teams in conferences like the SEC, ACC or Big 10.

Following the 2008 regular season, undefeated and Ranked #6 in the BCS Poll, Utah received an “at large bid” and was pitted against #4 Alabama (12-1) in the BCS Sugar Bowl. Alabama being from the “much harder” SEC were the heavy favorites going into the game. Utah dismantled and embarrassed Alabama 31-17 in a game that was all but decided at halftime. Utah ended the season ranked #2 in the BCS poll, feeding the argument that the current BCS system is unfair to the Non-Automatic Qualifier teams.

Looking back at all of the National Champions since 1950, I’ve made some observations and comparisons of which teams were named National Champions, what conferences they came from and how often certain conferences won national championships. My goal was to try to determine whether the BCS system was in fact slanted in favor of one conference or another or BCS "AQ" teams v. "Non-AQ" teams. I think the results listed below speak for themselves.

• Between 1950 and 1994, 63 teams were named National Champions (including ties).

• Between 1995 (the 1^st year of the Bowl Alliance) and 2009, 17 teams were named National Champions (including ties).

• Prior to 1995 the National Champions came from the following conferences:

Current “AQ” Conferences

Big East – 1 = 1.6%

ACC – 4 = 6.3%

Pac-10 – 6 = 9.5%

Big Ten – 9 = 14.3%

Big-8/12 – 10 = 15.9%

SEC – 14 = 22.2%

Total – 44 = 69.8%

“Non-AQ” Conferences, Defunct Conferences and Independents

Southern – 1 = 1.6%

WAC – 1 = 1.6%

SW – 4 = 6.3%

Independents – 13 = 20.7%

Total – 19 = 30.2%

• Since 1995 the National Champions have come from the following Conferences:

Current “AQ” Conferences

ACC – 1 = 6.6%

Big East – 1 = 6.6%

Big Ten – 2 = 13.3%

Pac-10 – 2 = 13.3%

Big 12 – 4 = 26.6%

SEC – 7 = 46.6%

Total – 17 = 100%

Non-AQ conferences and independents:

None

• Prior to 1995, 44 national champions were from conferences that are now “AQ” Conferences (69.8%) and 19 national champions were not from conferences that are now “AQ” Conferences (30.2%).

• Since 1995 EVERY National Champion has been from one of the six “AQ” Conferences.

• Prior to 1995 the longest streak of national champions that did not include a team that was from a conference that is now an “Non-AQ” conference was 6 years.

• Since 1995, a streak of 15 years, no team from a “Non-AQ” conference has played in a national championship game.

• Following the 2009 season two teams from non-AQ Conferences qualified for BCS bowl births, #4 Ranked TCU (12-0) was matched up against #6 ranked Boise State University (13-0) in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl assuring that neither non-AQ "BCS Buster" team could embarrass the BCS system by beating an AQ team. (Although it didn't happen an interesting scenario would have been if TCU and BSU has been matched up against AQ teams in separate bowl games and both non-AQ teams had won. That would have left the 2010 BCS Championship game winner Alabama (14-0), TCU (under this scenario would have been 13-0) and BSU (14-0) as the only three undefeated teams in the nation. What a controversy that would have caused! Oh well, could have been . . . should have been.)