Cinderella met the BCS, got stiffed
Noah Hanstedt
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Sports
Imagine what would happen if the clock had struck midnight for Cinderella before her chance to dance with the handsome, young prince. That is exactly what is happening and has happened to many college football teams with the Bowl Championship Series in place.
The BCS has been around for 12 years and after each season it has become clear it is not a system that always works.
Before explaining the negatives of the BCS system there are many things to know about the system and how it exactly works.
The BCS Standings include three components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll and an average of six computer rankings. Each component counts as one-third of a team's overall BCS score.
In both human polls, voters fill out their own Top 25 rankings ballot. Each team receives 1-25 points in reverse order of the way they are ranked. Therefore No. 1 will receive 25 points and No. 25 will receive one point. A team is evaluated on the number of voting points it receives in each poll. The computer ranks the teams differently than the human polls do. The computer rankings percentage is calculated by dropping the highest and lowest ranking for each team and then dividing the remaining total by 100, the maximum possible points.
With the current system the champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conference play annually in one of the BCS Bowls through the postseason.
In addition, one conference champion from Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conference will automatically qualify to play in a BCS Bowl if it has one of two qualifications.
The team must be ranked among the top 12 teams in the final BCS standings or among the top 16 teams in the final BCS standings and ranked higher than the champion of one of the conferences whose champion has an annual automatic berth to a BCS Bowl.
The only team that does not fall under any of these terms is Notre Dame who has an agreement with the BCS. The agreement is Notre Dame will be guaranteed one of the at-large slots in a BCS Bowl if it is ranked No. 8 or higher in the final BCS standings. It is also guaranteed an annual payment, $4.5 million if it makes a BCS Bowl or $1.3 million if it does not, for its participation in the BCS.
The BCS has been around for 12 years and after each season it has become clear it is not a system that always works.
Before explaining the negatives of the BCS system there are many things to know about the system and how it exactly works.
The BCS Standings include three components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll and an average of six computer rankings. Each component counts as one-third of a team's overall BCS score.
In both human polls, voters fill out their own Top 25 rankings ballot. Each team receives 1-25 points in reverse order of the way they are ranked. Therefore No. 1 will receive 25 points and No. 25 will receive one point. A team is evaluated on the number of voting points it receives in each poll. The computer ranks the teams differently than the human polls do. The computer rankings percentage is calculated by dropping the highest and lowest ranking for each team and then dividing the remaining total by 100, the maximum possible points.
With the current system the champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conference play annually in one of the BCS Bowls through the postseason.
In addition, one conference champion from Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conference will automatically qualify to play in a BCS Bowl if it has one of two qualifications.
The team must be ranked among the top 12 teams in the final BCS standings or among the top 16 teams in the final BCS standings and ranked higher than the champion of one of the conferences whose champion has an annual automatic berth to a BCS Bowl.
The only team that does not fall under any of these terms is Notre Dame who has an agreement with the BCS. The agreement is Notre Dame will be guaranteed one of the at-large slots in a BCS Bowl if it is ranked No. 8 or higher in the final BCS standings. It is also guaranteed an annual payment, $4.5 million if it makes a BCS Bowl or $1.3 million if it does not, for its participation in the BCS.
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