Welcome to BCS Central
How does the BCS work?
A team's BCS score is the
average (technically, the arithmetic mean) of
its computer, Harris Poll,
and Coaches' Poll scores.
There are six BCS
computers. For any one team,
its high and low computer
rankings are discarded. Points are assigned in inverse order of
rankings - from one point
for a team ranked twenty-five up to twenty-five points for a team
ranked number one on a particular
computer. The four
resulting numbers are added, and a team's BCS computer score is the
ratio of the total to one hundred.
The ratio ranges from 0.00
to 1.00. For both polls, points are
again assigned inversely to
rankings - that is - a team gets one
point if it ranked number
twenty-five, and gets twenty-five points if it is ranked number one by
an individual voter. There are 114
voters in the Harris
Poll and 59 voters in the Coaches' Poll. Therefore, the
Harris score is the total
number of points divided by 2875 (115 * 25).
The Coaches' score is
the total number of points divided by
1475 (59
* 25).
The "BCS National Championship
Game" matches the #1 and #2 ranked
teams.
The other BCS bowls
are the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. The
champions* of six conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big
East, Pac-10, and SEC) are guaranteed spots in a BCS bowl.
Another team in one of these
conferences thats earns a final
ranking of
#3 or #4
will almost certainly play in a BCS
bowl. One, and
only one, champion of any other
conference (Conference USA,
Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and Western Athletic)
automatically gets
invited to a BCS bowl with
a top-twelve finish or if it has a
ranking
of #16 or better and is ranked higher
than one of the BCS conference
champions. If Notre Dame
finishes in the top eight of the BCS
rankings,
it also is assured of a berth. Otherwise, to be eligible to
play
in a BCS bowl, a team must
have at least nine wins and a final
ranking
of #14 or better (or #18, #22
... if necessary to fill the 10 BCS bowl spots).
* Conferences which do
not hold championship games may have co-champions. Conference
rules determine which team will get the automatic BCS bowl bid.
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Championship Series,
its sponsors, or the polls and computer systems mentioned herein.
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