BCS National Championship Game
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The BCS National Championship Game or BCS title game is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series and is intended by Series organizers to determine the NCAA Division I-A national football championship. The game was first played at the conclusion of the 1998 College Football season after the Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences and the Rose Bowl Game joined the members of the former "Bowl Alliance" to form the Bowl Championship Series. The Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, featured championship games from 1992 through 1997.
Since the formation of the Bowl Championship Series, there have been several controversies regarding the formula used for selecting the participating teams. Most notably, following the 2003 season, the BCS ranking system excluded Associated Press No. 1 University of Southern California from the BCS Championship Game (The Nokia Sugar Bowl). The following season, in 2004, an undefeated Auburn team was left out of the BCS Championship Game (The FedEX Orange Bowl). See Bowl Championship (main article) for a further discussion of these controversies.
The USA Today Coaches Poll is contractually obligated to name the winner of this game as the National Champion in its final poll of the season. Thus, the winner of the game is awarded the AFCA National Championship Trophy in a postgame ceremony. The winner is also automatically awarded the National Football Foundation's MacArthur Bowl national championship trophy.
The National Championship Game for 2006 was sponsored by Tostitos. It was played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on January 8, 2007 and broadcasted by FOX television network. The game featured the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the #2 ranked Florida Gators. Florida won by the final score of 41-14.
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[edit] History
From the 1992 through 1997 seasons, the Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, arranged a championship game. However, without the participation of the Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences, scheduling a definitive championship game was somewhat "hit or miss." For instance, 1994 #2 Penn State and 1997 #1 Michigan were obligated to play in the Rose Bowl pursuant to the Big Ten's contractual commitment and were therefore unable to participate in the championship game.
The Big Ten's "contractual commitment" in no way obligated the individual schools involved. Michigan in 1997, for instance, did receive an invitation from the Orange Bowl to play the eventual champion Nebraska, but declined, choosing to play the much lower ranked Pac-10 champion #17 Washington State, while Nebraska faced #3 Tennessee.
In 1994, Penn State elected to play the much lower-ranked Pac-10 champion Oregon, resulting in a close game featuring little defense from either side. Nebraska played #3 ranked Miami on their home field to win an undisputed MNC.
As a result, the winners of "championship" games during these seasons were not assured of winning a national title. In reality, however, the winners of the games during these seasons did win or share the championship in every season that these games were arranged. As a result, the unofficial "National Championship Game" had become an annual event, and other bowl games began to be viewed as less significant events, which was certainly true with respect to their potential for determining the National Champion.
Finally, in 1998, the Bowl Alliance participating conferences and bowl games reached an agreement with the Big Ten, the Pac 10, and the Rose Bowl to join a "Super Alliance," which was subsequently christened the "Bowl Championship Series." Today, all Division 1-A schools and conferences contractually agreed to participate in the BCS, making it the first "true" national championship".
During the initial eight seasons of the Bowl Championship Series (1998-2005) the championship game rotated among its four participating bowl games, the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls. Beginning with the 2006 season, to increase television revenues and to make more BCS bowl slots available, the BCS has added a fifth game. Initially, it was anticipated that a fifth bowl would be added to the Championship Game rotation, potentially the Cotton Bowl or Capital One Bowl. However, the organizers ultimately settled on a format where the existing BCS bowls would host a second annual game on a rotating basis, that would take place one week after New Year's Day.
The teams participating in the BCS National Championship Game have always been the top two teams in the BCS rankings. These rankings are composite rankings including a poll of coaches, a poll of writers, and computer rankings. The computer ranking system has been tweaked over the years to address various concerns, such as the overweighting of strength of schedule. Also, following the 2003 season, the Associated Press prohibited the BCS from using its writers poll in determining BCS rankings, in part to preserve the integrity of its own process and results. As a result, the BCS has now commissioned a new writers poll, the Harris Interactive Poll, for inclusion in the BCS composite ranking process.
It has also been problematice determining how National Title winners in football should be determined in the era preceding the BCS. It is the most common thought that the final AP poll be taken into highest consideration. However prior to the 1962 season the final AP poll was released prior to bowl games being played thus the best way to determine who is the National Champion is by the results of bowl games played that involved the #1 team. In 1951 the University of Kentucky defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the only such occurrence of a National Champion being crowned that did not end the season as the #1 team in the AP poll.
[edit] Future
Beginning with the 2006 season, the National Championship Game became a separate event from the host bowl played at the same site as the host one week after New Year's Day. The game's location will rotate between the sites of the BCS bowls; note that the date of the game occurs in the calendar year following the corresponding NCAA football season:
- University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in 2007, 2011, 2015, etc.
- The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2008, 2012, 2016, etc.
- Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida in 2009, 2013, 2017, etc.
- The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in 2010, 2014, 2018, etc.
The title sponsor of the BCS National Championship Game each year will be the same as that of the bowl game in that year's host location. Thus, the 2007 game will be the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, after the title sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl, the 2008 game will bear the Allstate brand, and so on.[1]
[edit] Game results
- For previous championship games from 1992-1994, see: Bowl Coalition championship game results
- For previous championship games from 1995-1997, see: Bowl Alliance championship game results
Note 1: †Double overtime
[edit] Criticism
Many critics of the Bowl Championship Series favor a full scale championship tournament with eight to sixteen teams, similar to that administered by the NCAA for its Division I-AA, Division II and Division III football championships. Others favor 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, the so-called "plus one" option.
However, many football traditionalists, including major college university presidents, strongly oppose a playoff system because of concerns that a playoff would destroy the bowl game tradition and reduce the importance of games played during the regular season. Critics of a playoff often point to the NFL where leading teams will often bench their starting players in the final few games of the regular season because a loss will cause no harm. Any such action in the college game would likely be minimized by the proposition that one extra loss would probably be enough to keep a team out of a limited sudden-death playoff system of 4 or 8 teams, such as has been most frequently proposed.
[edit] Television
- Beginning in 2007, and continuing until 2010, the BCS will be televised by Fox, with the exception of the Rose Bowl Game, which will remain on ABC. However, Fox will have the rights to the BCS Championship Game until 2009, then ABC will have the rights to the National Championship Game in 2010.
| Date | Network | Bowl | Play-by-play announcer | Color analyst | Sideline reporter(s) | Studio host | Studio analyst(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | ABC | Fiesta Bowl | Keith Jackson | Bob Griese | Lynn Swann | John Saunders | Terry Bowden |
| 2000 | ABC | Sugar Bowl | Brent Musburger | Gary Danielson | Lynn Swann Jack Arute |
John Saunders | Terry Bowden |
| 2001 | ABC | Orange Bowl | Brad Nessler | Bob Griese | Lynn Swann | John Saunders | Terry Bowden |
| 2002 | ABC | Rose Bowl | Keith Jackson | Tim Brant | Lynn Swann Todd Harris |
John Saunders | Terry Bowden |
| 2003 | ABC | Fiesta Bowl | Keith Jackson | Dan Fouts | Lynn Swann Todd Harris |
John Saunders | Terry Bowden |
| 2004 | ABC | Sugar Bowl | Brent Musburger | Gary Danielson | Lynn Swann Jack Arute |
John Saunders | Terry Bowden Craig James |
| 2005 | ABC | Orange Bowl | Brad Nessler | Bob Griese | Lynn Swann | John Saunders | Craig James Aaron Taylor |
| 2006 | ABC | Rose Bowl | Keith Jackson | Dan Fouts | Todd Harris Holly Rowe |
John Saunders | Craig James Aaron Taylor |
| 2007 | FOX | Tostitos BCS National Championship Game |
Thom Brennaman | Barry Alvarez Charles Davis |
Chris Myers | Chris Rose | Jimmy Johnson Emmitt Smith Eddie George |
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Bowl Championship Series - Official website of the Bowl Championship Series.
- BCS Title Game - Unofficial website for the BCS National Championship
