BCS National Championship Game

BCS National Championship Game
BCS National Championship Game
Stadium	Four-year rotation between:; State Farm Stadium ; Caesars Superdome ; Hard Rock Stadium ; Rose Bowl
Location	Four-year rotation between:; Glendale, Arizona ; New Orleans, Louisiana ; Miami Gardens, Florida ; Pasadena, California
Previous stadiums	Sun Devil Stadium (1999, 2003)
Previous locations	Tempe, Arizona (1999, 2003)
Operated	1999–2014
Payout	US$23,900,000 (2014 game)
Preceded by	Bowl Alliance (1995–97); Bowl Coalition (1992–94)
Succeeded by	College Football Playoff National Championship (2015)
Sponsors
	Tostitos (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011), Nokia (2000, 2004), FedEx (2001, 2005, 2009), AT&T (2002), Allstate (2008, 2012), Citi (2006, 2010), Discover (2013), Vizio (2014)

Last updated February 17, 2024

The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four designated bowl games, and beginning in the 2006 season as a standalone event rotated among the host sites of the aforementioned bowls.

The game was organized by a group known as the Bowl Championship Series, consisting of the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Orange Bowl, which sought to match the two highest-ranked teams in a championship game to determine the best team in the country at the end of the season. The participating teams were determined by averaging the results of the final weekly Coaches' Poll, the Harris Poll of media, former players and coaches, and the average of six computer rankings. The Coaches' Poll was contractually required to name the winner of the game as its No. 1 team on the final postseason ranking; hence, the AFCA National Championship Trophy was presented to the winning team during a post-game ceremony.

The methodologies of the BCS system and its selections proved to be controversial. Although in most years the winner of the BCS National Championship would also be designated as the national champion by other organizations and polls (such as the Associated Press poll), the 2003 season was a major exception, as the BCS rankings chose the AP's No. 3-ranked team, the University of Oklahoma, over the No. 1-ranked team in that poll, the University of Southern California, to participate in the national title game (the Sugar Bowl) despite Oklahoma's loss to Kansas State University in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. That was the only season during the BCS era when the national championship was split, with Louisiana State University winning the BCS national championship and the University of Southern California winning the AP national championship, plus the football writers' national championship.

The BCS National Championship Game was played for the final time in 2013 after the same organizing group established a new system, the College Football Playoff, a four-team single elimination tournament, as the successor to the BCS.

History

The first BCS Championship was played at the conclusion of the 1998 college football season in accordance with an agreement by the Big Ten Conference, the Pac-10 Conference, and the Rose Bowl Game to join the "Bowl Alliance" system. The expanded format was called the Bowl Championship Series.

The Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, featured championship games in the 1992–1997 seasons. However, these could not always ensure a matchup between the top two ranked teams because of the lack of participation by the Big Ten and Pac-10.

The BCS National Championship Game was initially rotated among the four participating bowl games: the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Rose Bowl. However, beginning with the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game was added as a separate contest, played after New Year's Day. The game rotated its location among the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose venues.

Game results

For Bowl Coalition championship game results from 1992–1994, see: Bowl Coalition
For Bowl Alliance championship game results from 1995–1997, see: Bowl Alliance

Season	Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Bowl Game	Site	Attendance^[2]
1998	January 4, 1999	1 Tennessee SEC Champions	23–16	2 Florida State ACC Co-Champions	1999 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	80,470
1999	January 4, 2000	1 Florida State ACC Champions	46–29	2 Virginia Tech Big East Champions	2000 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans	79,280
2000	January 3, 2001	1 Oklahoma Big 12 Champions	13–2	2 Florida State ACC Champions	2001 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami	76,835
2001	January 3, 2002	1 Miami (FL) Big East Champions	37–14	2 Nebraska At-large	2002 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	93,781
2002	January 3, 2003	2 Ohio State Big Ten Co-Champions	31–24 (2OT)	1 Miami (FL) Big East Champions	2003 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	77,502
2003	January 4, 2004	2 LSU SEC Champions	21–14	1 Oklahoma At-large	2004 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans	79,342
2004	January 4, 2005	1 USC Pac-10 Champions*	55–19	2 Oklahoma Big 12 Champions	2005 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	77,912
2005	January 4, 2006	2 Texas Big 12 Champions	41–38	1 USC Pac-10 Champions	2006 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Stadium Pasadena, California	93,986
2006	January 8, 2007	2 Florida SEC Champions	41–14	1 Ohio State Big Ten Champions	2007 BCS National Championship Game	University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona	74,628
2007	January 7, 2008	2 LSU SEC Champions	38–24	1 Ohio State Big Ten Champions	2008 BCS National Championship Game	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans	79,651
2008	January 8, 2009	2 Florida SEC Champions	24–14	1 Oklahoma Big 12 Champions	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Dolphin Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	78,468
2009	January 7, 2010	1 Alabama SEC Champions	37–21	2 Texas Big 12 Champions	2010 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	94,906
2010	January 10, 2011	1 Auburn SEC Champions	22–19	2 Oregon Pac-10 Champions	2011 BCS National Championship Game	University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona	78,603
2011	January 9, 2012	2 Alabama At-large	21–0	1 LSU SEC Champions	2012 BCS National Championship Game	Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	78,237
2012	January 7, 2013	2 Alabama SEC Champions	42–14	1 Notre Dame^ Independent	2013 BCS National Championship Game	Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	80,120
2013	January 6, 2014	1 Florida State ACC Champions	34–31	2 Auburn SEC Champions	2014 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	94,208

USC's victory in the 2004 BCS national title game was later vacated due to NCAA violations

^Notre Dame's loss in the 2012 BCS national title game was later vacated due to the use of Ineligible players

.

Records by team

Appearances	School	Wins	Losses	Win Pct	Title Season(s)
4	[[Florida State Seminoles football\|Florida State]]	2	2	.500	1999, 2013
4	[[Oklahoma Sooners football\|Oklahoma]]	1	3	.250	2000
3	[[Alabama Crimson Tide football\|Alabama]]	3	0	1.000	2009, 2011, 2012
3	[[LSU Tigers football\|LSU]]	2	1	.667	2003, 2007
3	[[Ohio State Buckeyes football\|Ohio State]]	1	2	.333	2002
2	[[Florida Gators football\|Florida]]	2	0	1.000	2006, 2008
2	[[Auburn Tigers football\|Auburn]]	1	1	.500	2010
2	[[Miami Hurricanes football\|Miami]]	1	1	.500	2001
2	[[Texas Longhorns football\|Texas]]	1	1	.500	2005
2	[[USC Trojans football\|USC]]	1	1	.500	2004
1	[[Tennessee Volunteers football\|Tennessee]]	1	0	1.000	1998
1	[[Nebraska Cornhuskers football\|Nebraska]]	0	1	.000	-
1	[[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football\|Notre Dame]]	0	1	.000	-
1	[[Oregon Ducks football\|Oregon]]	0	1	.000	-
1	[[Virginia Tech Hokies football\|Virginia Tech]]	0	1	.000	-

Records by conference

Conference	Appearances	Wins	Losses	Win Pct	# of Schools	School(s)
SEC	11	9**	2**	.818	5	Alabama (3-0) LSU (2-1) Florida (2-0) Auburn (1-1) Tennessee (1-0)
Big 12	7	2	5	.286	3	Oklahoma (1-3) Texas (1-1) Nebraska (0-1)
ACC	4	2	2	.500	1	Florida State (2-2)
Big East*	3	1	2	.333	2	Miami (FL) (1-1) Virginia Tech (0-1)
Big Ten	3	1	2	.333	1	Ohio State (1-2)
Pac-12	3	1	2	.333	2	USC (1-1) Oregon (0-1)
Independent	1	0	1	.000	1	Notre Dame (0-1)

Note: Conference affiliations are contemporaneous with the game, which may differ from the current alignment.

* The American Athletic Conference was known as the Big East during the 1991–2012 seasons. Because of a split between the non-FBS schools and FBS schools, the conference adopted its present name for the 2013 season. All sports of the Big East conference were now under the right of the AAC. But with this new agreement the Big East basketball conference can still remain a conference after the collapse of the Big East football conference, and all other Big East sport conference affiliations.

** Alabama defeated fellow SEC member LSU in the 2012 BCS Championship Game, resulting in both a win and loss for the conference.

Game records

Team	Performance vs. Opponent	Year
Most Points	55, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Most Points Combined	79, Texas vs. USC	2006
Fewest Points Allowed	0, Alabama vs. LSU	2012
Fewest Points Combined	15, Oklahoma vs. Florida State	2001
First downs	30, Texas vs. USC	2006
Rushing yards	289, Texas (36 att.) vs. USC	2006
Passing yards	374, Oregon vs. Auburn	2011
Total yards	556, Texas (289 rush, 267 pass) vs. USC	2006
Total plays	85, Auburn vs. Oregon	2011
Largest comeback	18, Florida State vs. Auburn	2014
Individual	Performance, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Total offense	467, Vince Young, Texas (267 pass, 200 rush) vs. USC	2006
Rushing yards	200, Vince Young (QB), Texas (19 att.) vs. USC	2006
Rushing TDs	3, Vince Young (QB), Texas vs. USC	2006
Passing yards	363, Darron Thomas, Oregon vs. Auburn (28-41-2, 2 TD)	2011
Passing TDs	5, Matt Leinart, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Receptions	11, Kellen Winslow Jr., Miami vs. Ohio State (122 yards, 1 TD)	2003
Receiving yards (tie)	199, Peerless Price, Tennessee vs. Florida State (4 rec., 1 TD)	1999
Receiving yards (tie)	199, Andre Johnson, Miami vs. Nebraska (7 rec., 2 TD)	2002
Receiving TDs	3, Steve Smith, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Field goals	5, Jeremy Shelley, Alabama vs. LSU	2012
Tackles	18, James Laurinaitis, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Sacks	3, Derrick Harvey, Florida vs. Ohio State	2007
Interceptions	2, Sean Taylor, Miami vs. Ohio State	2003
Long Plays	Performance, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Touchdown rush	65, Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Touchdown pass	79, Tee Martin to Peerless Price, Tennessee vs. Florida State	1999
Pass	81, Darron Thomas to Jeff Maehl, Oregon vs. Auburn	2011
Kickoff return	100, Levante Whitfield, Florida State vs. Auburn (TD)	2014
Punt return	71, DeJuan Groce, Nebraska vs. Miami (TD)	2002
Interception return	54, Dwayne Goodrich, Tennessee vs. Florida State (TD)	1999
Punt	63, A.J. Trapasso, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Field goal	46, David Pino, Texas vs. USC	2006

MVPs


Season	Bowl	MVP(s)	Team	Position
1998	1999 Fiesta Bowl	Peerless Price	Tennessee	WR
1998	1999 Fiesta Bowl	Dwayne Goodrich	Tennessee	CB
1999	2000 Sugar Bowl	Peter Warrick	Florida State	WR
2000	2001 Orange Bowl	Torrance Marshall	Oklahoma	LB
2001	2002 Rose Bowl	Ken Dorsey	Miami (FL)	QB
2001	2002 Rose Bowl	Andre Johnson	Miami (FL)	WR
2002	2003 Fiesta Bowl	Craig Krenzel	Ohio State	QB
2002	2003 Fiesta Bowl	Mike Doss	Ohio State	S
2003	2004 Sugar Bowl	Justin Vincent	LSU	RB
2004	2005 Orange Bowl	Matt Leinart	USC	QB
2005	2006 Rose Bowl	Vince Young	Texas	QB
2005	2006 Rose Bowl	Michael Huff	Texas	S
2006	2007 BCS National Championship Game	Chris Leak	Florida	QB
2006	2007 BCS National Championship Game	Derrick Harvey	Florida	DE
2007	2008 BCS National Championship Game	Matt Flynn	LSU	QB
2007	2008 BCS National Championship Game	Ricky Jean-Francois	LSU	DT
2008	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Tim Tebow	Florida	QB
2008	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Carlos Dunlap	Florida	DE
2009	2010 BCS National Championship Game	Mark Ingram II	Alabama	RB
2009	2010 BCS National Championship Game	Marcell Dareus	Alabama	DT
2010	2011 BCS National Championship Game	Michael Dyer	Auburn	RB
2010	2011 BCS National Championship Game	Nick Fairley	Auburn	DT
2011	2012 BCS National Championship Game	A. J. McCarron	Alabama	QB
2011	2012 BCS National Championship Game	Courtney Upshaw	Alabama	DE
2012	2013 BCS National Championship Game	Eddie Lacy	Alabama	RB
2012	2013 BCS National Championship Game	C.J. Mosley	Alabama	LB
2013	2014 BCS National Championship Game	Jameis Winston	Florida State	QB
2013	2014 BCS National Championship Game	P.J. Williams	Florida State	DB

Heisman Trophy winners in BCS title games

Season	Player	School	Result	Stats
2000	Chris Weinke	Florida State	L	25-52-2 274, 0 TD; 4-7 rush
2001	Eric Crouch	Nebraska	L	15-5-1 62, 0 TD; 22-114 rush
2003	Jason White	Oklahoma	L	37-13-2, 102, 0 TD; 7-(-46) rush
2004	Matt Leinart	USC	W	35-18-0 332, 5 TD; 2-(-11) rush
2005	Reggie Bush	USC	L	13-82 1 TD; 6-95, 0 TD rec
2006	Troy Smith	Ohio State	L	14-4-1, 35, 0 TD; 10-(-29) rush
2008	Sam Bradford	Oklahoma	L	41-26-2, 256, 2 TD; 2-(-18) rush
2009	Mark Ingram II	Alabama	W	22-116, 2 TD
2010	Cam Newton	Auburn	W	34-20-1, 265, 2 TD; 22-64 rush
2013	Jameis Winston	Florida State	W	35-20-0, 237, 2 TD; 11-26 rush

Criticisms and controversy

Critics of the BCS National Championship argued against the internal validity of a so-called national championship being awarded to the winner of a single postseason game. Critics lamented that the participants were selected based upon polls, computer rankings, popularity and human biases, and not by on-field competition, as in other major sports and all other levels of college football, which employed tournament-format championships. Often, the BCS system led to controversies in which multiple teams finished the season with identical records, and voters distinguished the worthiness of their participation in the BCS National Championship with no set of formal criteria or standards. The end of the 2010 season was one of the best examples of this. Without any objective criteria for evaluation of the teams, the BCS forced voters to impose their own standards and tiebreakers. Critics noted that the system inherently fostered selection bias, and therefore lacked both internal validity and external validity.^[3]

Controversies surrounding teams' inclusion in the BCS National Championship Game were numerous. In 2001, Oregon, ranked second in the AP poll, was bypassed in favor of Nebraska despite Nebraska's 62-36 blowout to Colorado in its final regular season game. In 2003, USC was not included in the championship game, but beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and ended up No. 1 in the final AP poll. The following season, undefeated Auburn, Boise State, and Utah teams were left out of the national title game (the Orange Bowl). In 2008, Utah was excluded from the BCS championship for a second time despite being the only undefeated FBS team and finished second in the final AP poll behind Florida. In 2009, five schools finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU, and Boise State; however, the BCS formula selected traditional powers Alabama and Texas to participate in the BCS National Championship Game.

In 2010, three teams, Oregon, Auburn, and TCU, all finished the year with undefeated records. While TCU statistically led the other two teams in all three major phases of the game^[4] (1st in defense, 14th in offense ^[5] and 13th in special teams ^[6]) the teams from the two automatic qualifying conferences, Oregon (Pac-12) and Auburn (SEC), were selected over the Horned Frogs for the 2011 national title game. Many voters cited TCU's membership in the non-automatic qualifying Mountain West Conference, perceived as having weaker teams, as one significant reason for their exclusion, despite TCU's undefeated regular-season records in both 2010 and the previous year.^[7] Adding to the controversy were comments made by the president of Ohio State University, Gordon Gee, who said that teams which played "the little sisters of the poor" instead of the "murderer's row" of teams in the automatic qualifier conferences did not deserve any national title game consideration. Gee retracted his statement and apologized after TCU defeated Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl (the Badgers had convincingly defeated Ohio State during the regular season).

Many critics of the Bowl Championship Series favored a tournament with eight to sixteen teams, similar to those administered by the NCAA for its Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, and Division III football championships. Others favored adopting the incremental step of adding a single post-bowl championship game between the winners of two BCS games among the top four ranked teams in the BCS standings, a so-called "plus one" option. On June 24, 2009, the BCS presidential oversight committee rejected the Mountain West Conference's proposed eight-team playoff plan.^[8]

Future

During 2012, the BCS actively considered changes to the format for the 2014 football season, to either to extend the season by one game by establishing a four-school semifinal round or by selecting the participants in the national championship game after the season's bowl games were completed.^[9] On June 26, 2012, the BCS presidential oversight committee approved a four-school playoff format, in which the participants are determined by a selection committee. The semifinals are played as existing bowl games on or around New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The championship game is played approximately a week later at a neutral site selected through a competitive bidding process. ^[10] The new format, known as the College Football Playoff began with 2014 college football season and is scheduled through the 2025 season.^{[ citation needed ]}

Media coverage

Television

From 1999 through 2005, ABC broadcast eight BCS National Championship Games pursuant to broadcasting rights negotiated with the BCS and the Rose Bowl, whose rights were offered separately. Beginning with the 2006 season, FOX obtained the BCS package, consisting of the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Games hosted by these bowls, with ABC retaining the rights to the Rose Bowl and BCS National Championship Games hosted by the Rose Bowl.

On November 18, 2008, the BCS announced that ESPN had won the television rights to the BCS National Championship Game, as well as the other four BCS bowls, for 2011–2014.^[11]

Year	Network(s)	Bowl	Play-by-play announcer	Color analyst(s)	Sideline reporter(s)	Studio host(s)	Studio analyst(s)	TV Rating^[12]
1999	ABC	Fiesta Bowl	Keith Jackson	Bob Griese	Lynn Swann	John Saunders	Todd Blackledge	17.2
2000	ABC	Sugar Bowl	Brent Musburger	Gary Danielson	Lynn Swann and Jack Arute	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.5
2001	ABC	Orange Bowl	Brad Nessler	Bob Griese	Lynn Swann and Jack Arute	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.8
2002	ABC	Rose Bowl	Keith Jackson	Tim Brant	Lynn Swann and Todd Harris	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	13.9
2003	ABC	Fiesta Bowl	Keith Jackson	Dan Fouts	Lynn Swann and Todd Harris	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.2
2004	ABC	Sugar Bowl	Brent Musburger	Gary Danielson	Lynn Swann and Jack Arute	John Saunders	Terry Bowden and Craig James	14.5
2005	ABC	Orange Bowl	Brad Nessler	Bob Griese	Lynn Swann and Todd Harris	John Saunders	Craig James and Aaron Taylor	13.7
2006	ABC	Rose Bowl	Keith Jackson	Dan Fouts	Todd Harris and Holly Rowe	John Saunders	Craig James and Aaron Taylor	21.7
2007	Fox	2007 BCS National Championship Game	Thom Brennaman	Barry Alvarez and Charles Davis	Chris Myers	Chris Rose	Emmitt Smith, Eddie George and Jimmy Johnson	17.4
2008	Fox	2008 BCS National Championship Game	Thom Brennaman	Charles Davis	Chris Myers	Chris Rose	Eddie George, Urban Meyer and Jimmy Johnson	17.4
2009	Fox	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Thom Brennaman	Charles Davis	Chris Myers	Chris Rose	Eddie George, Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson	15.8
2010	ABC	2010 BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Lisa Salters and Tom Rinaldi	Chris Fowler and Rece Davis	Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, Pete Carroll, Lou Holtz and Mark May	17.2
2011	ESPN	2011 BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi	Chris Fowler	Desmond Howard, Urban Meyer and Nick Saban	16.1
2012	ESPN	2012 BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi	Chris Fowler	Lee Corso, Gene Chizik and Chip Kelly	14.0
2013	ESPN	2013 BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Heather Cox and Tom Rinaldi	Chris Fowler	Urban Meyer and Desmond Howard	17.5
2014	ESPN	2014 BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Heather Cox and Tom Rinaldi	Chris Fowler	Lee Corso, Nick Saban and Desmond Howard	15.7

Spanish

As part of ESPN's contract with the BCS, ESPN Deportes provided the first Spanish-language U.S. telecast of the BCS National Championship Game in 2012.

Radio

From 1999 to 2014, the BCS National Championship Game was broadcast on ESPN Radio.

Year	Network	Play-by-play announcer	Color analyst(s)	Sideline Reporter
1999	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Adrian Karsten
2000	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Adrian Karsten
2001	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Adrian Karsten
2002	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Adrian Karsten
2003	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Adrian Karsten
2004	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Adrian Karsten
2005	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Mike Gottfried	Erin Andrews
2006	ESPN Radio	Ron Franklin	Bob Davie	Dave Ryan
2007	ESPN Radio	Brent Musburger	Bob Davie and Todd Blackledge	Lisa Salters
2008	ESPN Radio	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Lisa Salters
2009	ESPN Radio	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Lisa Salters
2010	ESPN Radio	Mike Tirico	Jon Gruden and Todd Blackledge	Wendi Nix
2011	ESPN Radio	Mike Tirico	Jon Gruden	Joe Schad
2012	ESPN Radio	Mike Tirico	Todd Blackledge	Holly Rowe
2013	ESPN Radio	Mike Tirico	Todd Blackledge	Holly Rowe and Joe Schad
2014	ESPN Radio	Mike Tirico	Todd Blackledge	Holly Rowe and Joe Schad

Related national championship selections

During the BCS era, there was no NCAA Division I FBS playoff, and the BCS National Championship Game was just one of several national championship selection processes in existence.

The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) participated in a weekly Coaches' Poll published by USA Today ; for its final poll of the season, the AFCA was contractually bound to select the BCS National Champion as its No. 1 team.^[13] Thus, the winner of the game was awarded the AFCA National Championship Trophy in a postgame ceremony.

The BCS National Champion was also automatically awarded the National Football Foundation's MacArthur Bowl.^[14]

The Associated Press and the Football Writers Association of America were independent of the BCS system; their national championship trophies could have been awarded to a school other than the BCS National Championship Game winner.

Related Research Articles

The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been played at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Since 2022, it has been sponsored by Vrbo and officially known as the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. Previous sponsors include PlayStation, BattleFrog, Vizio, Tostitos, IBM (1993–1995) and Sunkist (1986–1990).

The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only by the Rose Bowl Game.

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff.

In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivision had avoided using a playoff tournament to determine an annual national champion, which was instead traditionally determined by a vote of sports writers and other non-players. In place of such a playoff, various cities across the United States developed their own regional festivals featuring postseason college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals. Despite attempts to establish a permanent system to determine the FBS national champion on the field, various bowl games continue to be held because of the vested economic interests entrenched in them.

The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate football in the nation, and are considered the most elite conferences within that tier. The Power Five conferences have provided nearly all of the participants in the College Football Playoff since its inception, and generally have larger revenue, budgets, and television viewership than other college athletic programs.

The teams that participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision earn the right to compete in a series of post-season games called bowl games. As of 2023, there are 42 bowl games, and all are contractually obligated to offer bids to specific conferences, a situation known as a "tie-in". The "top" six bowl games in the nation select their teams as part of the College Football Playoff (CFP), which was put into place for a minimum of 12 years, beginning with the 2014 season. Prior to 2014, the top five games in the country were chosen under the system known as the Bowl Championship Series. The bowls outside of the CFP have individual contracts with the conferences to offer preferential bids to teams from those conferences. As long as teams are bowl eligible, they may be selected by these bowls to meet these contracts.

The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially as the US LBM Coaches Poll since 2023.

The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system used between 1998 and 2013 that was designed, through polls and computer statistics, to determine a No. 1 and No. 2 ranked team in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). After the final polls, the two top teams were chosen to play in the BCS National Championship Game which determined the BCS national champion team, but not the champion team for independent voting systems. This format was intended to be "bowl-centered" rather than a traditional playoff system, since numerous FBS Conferences had expressed their unwillingness to participate in a play-off system. However, due to the unique and often esoteric nature of the BCS format, there had been controversy as to which two teams should play for the national championship and which teams should play in the four other BCS bowl games. In this selection process, the BCS was often criticized for conference favoritism, its inequality of access for teams in non-Automatic Qualifying (non-AQ) Conferences, and perceived monopolistic, "profit-centered" motives. In terms of this last concern, Congress 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 also periodically announced interest in investigating the BCS for similar reasons.

The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As of the 2024 season, there are 10 conferences and 134 schools in FBS.

A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best college football team. Division I FBS football is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not sanction a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes referred to as a "mythical national championship".

The college football playoff debate was a very hot topic of discussion, concerning college football in the United States, among fans, journalists, conference representatives, government officials, university administrators, coaches and players concerning whether or not the current postseason format of the Football Bowl Subdivision should be changed or modified. Playoff proponents had argued that a bracket-style playoff championship should replace the Bowl Championship Series, while others advocated for a Plus-one format, which would have created a single national championship game with participants selected after the conclusion of the traditional bowl season. This debate has been going since at least 1971.

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played annually in the Miami metropolitan area since January 1, 1935. Along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, it is one of the oldest bowl games in the country behind only the Rose Bowl, which was first played in 1902 and has been played annually since 1916.

The plus-one system, also known as a 4-team playoff, is the system used to determine the National Champion in the Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA football in the United States. The format is of a 4-team playoff, where two bowl games act as semi-final games, and the winners of these games participate in the National Championship Game.

The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of college football competition in the United States. It culminates in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. The inaugural tournament was held at the end of the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season under a four-team format. The CFP expands to include twelve teams for the 2024 season.

The 2013–14 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games. They concluded the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and included 35 team-competitive games and three all-star games. The games began on Saturday December 21, 2013 and, aside from the all-star games, ended with the 2014 BCS National Championship at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena that was played on January 6, 2014.

The 2015–16 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games. They completed the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 19, 2015 and, aside from the all-star games, ended with the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship which was played on January 11, 2016.

The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, are the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are played annually on or around New Year's Day and represent six of the ten oldest bowl games played at the FBS level.

The 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played on January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The ninth College Football Playoff National Championship, the game determined the national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for the 2022 season. It was the final game of the 2022–23 College Football Playoff (CFP) and, aside from any all-star games following after, was the culminating game of the 2022–23 bowl season. The game began at 4:45 p.m. PST and was televised by ESPN.

The 2022–23 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football games played to complete the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Team-competitive games began in mid-December and concluded with the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship on January 9, 2023, which was won by the Georgia Bulldogs. The all-star portion of the schedule began on January 14 and concluded on February 25, 2023.

References

↑ College Football Bowl Schedule. Collegefootballpoll.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-24.
↑ fs.ncaa.org(PDF) http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2015/bowls.pdf . Retrieved December 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ Pat Forde (May 20, 2008). "Eight-team playoff would be ideal for college football". ESPN. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
↑ Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2010 FEI RATINGS, SPECIAL TEAMS. Football Outsiders. Retrieved on 2014-05-24.
↑ FEI Offensive Rankings By Team, FBS, 2010 http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feist2010
↑ FEI Special Teams Rankings By Team, FBS, 2010 http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feist2010
↑ TCU lost the highly controversial 2010 Fiesta Bowl to Boise State, in which two non-AQ teams were paired against each other to avoid the possibility of two AQ teams losing to "BCS Busters"^{[ citation needed ]}
↑ College football: BCS presidents reject playoff plan, Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2009
↑ BCS Playoff TV Deal Worth At Least $3 Billion. Forbes (2012-05-29). Retrieved on 2014-05-24.
↑ BCS presidents approve four-team major college playoff –. Usatoday.com (2012-06-27). Retrieved on 2014-05-24.
↑ ESPN, BCS agree to four-year deal for television, radio, digital rights
↑ bcsfootball.org – TV Ratings Archived October 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
↑ O'Toole, Thomas. (January 14, 2009) Role of coaches' poll in BCS under review. Usatoday.Com. Retrieved on 2010-11-21.
↑ "MacArthur Bowl". National Football Foundation.

External links

Official websit (archived)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] College Football Bowl Schedule. Collegefootballpoll.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-24.

[2] fs.ncaa.org(PDF) http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2015/bowls.pdf . Retrieved December 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[3] Pat Forde (May 20, 2008). "Eight-team playoff would be ideal for college football". ESPN. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[4] Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2010 FEI RATINGS, SPECIAL TEAMS. Football Outsiders. Retrieved on 2014-05-24.

[5] FEI Offensive Rankings By Team, FBS, 2010 http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feist2010

[6] FEI Special Teams Rankings By Team, FBS, 2010 http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feist2010

[7] TCU lost the highly controversial 2010 Fiesta Bowl to Boise State, in which two non-AQ teams were paired against each other to avoid the possibility of two AQ teams losing to "BCS Busters"^{[ citation needed ]}

[8] College football: BCS presidents reject playoff plan, Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2009

[9] BCS Playoff TV Deal Worth At Least $3 Billion. Forbes (2012-05-29). Retrieved on 2014-05-24.

[10] BCS presidents approve four-team major college playoff –. Usatoday.com (2012-06-27). Retrieved on 2014-05-24.

[11] ESPN, BCS agree to four-year deal for television, radio, digital rights

[12] sfootball.org – TV Ratings Archived October 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

[13] O'Toole, Thomas. (January 14, 2009) Role of coaches' poll in BCS under review. Usatoday.Com. Retrieved on 2010-11-21.

[14] "MacArthur Bowl". National Football Foundation.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

v t e BCS National Championship Game
History State Farm Stadium Caesars Superdome Hard Rock Stadium Rose Bowl BCS Broadcasters
Rotating bowl	1999 (Fiesta) 2000 (Sugar) 2001 (Orange) 2002 (Rose) 2003 (Fiesta) 2004 (Sugar) 2005 (Orange) 2006 (Rose)
Game	2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
AFCA National Championship Trophy

v t e Bowl Championship Series
Conferences	ACC American (formerly the Big East) Big 12 Big Ten Pac-12 SEC Notre Dame†
Bowls	Fiesta Orange Rose Sugar BCS National Championship
Other	Controversies Media coverage Playoff debate
† Automatic qualifier if ranked in top eight

v t e NCAA Division I FBS bowl games
College Football Playoff	Championship Game Cotton Fiesta Orange Peach Rose Sugar
Other bowl games	68 Ventures Alamo Arizona Armed Forces Bahamas Birmingham Boca Raton Camellia Citrus Cure Duke's Mayo Famous Idaho Potato Fenway First Responder Frisco Gasparilla Gator Guaranteed Rate Hawaii Holiday Independence LA Las Vegas Liberty Military Music City Myrtle Beach New Mexico New Orleans Pinstripe Pop-Tarts Quick Lane ReliaQuest Sun Texas
All-Star games	East–West Shrine Bowl FCS Bowl HBCU Legacy Bowl Hula Bowl National Bowl Senior Bowl Tropical Bowl

BCS National Championship Game
Stadium	Four-year rotation between: State Farm Stadium Caesars Superdome Hard Rock Stadium Rose Bowl
Location	Four-year rotation between: Glendale, Arizona New Orleans, Louisiana Miami Gardens, Florida Pasadena, California
Previous stadiums	Sun Devil Stadium (1999, 2003)
Previous locations	Tempe, Arizona (1999, 2003)
Operated	1999–2014
Payout	US$23,900,000 (2014 game^[1])
Preceded by	Bowl Alliance (1995–97) Bowl Coalition (1992–94)
Succeeded by	College Football Playoff National Championship (2015)
Sponsors
Tostitos (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011), Nokia (2000, 2004), FedEx (2001, 2005, 2009), AT&T (2002), Allstate (2008, 2012), Citi (2006, 2010), Discover (2013), Vizio (2014)