BCS National Championship Game

BCS National Championship Game
Stadium	Four-year rotation between: University of Phoenix Stadium Mercedes-Benz Superdome Sun Life 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)
2014 matchup
No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 2 Auburn (Florida State 34–31)

The view from the 50-yard line for the 2010 BCS National Championship in Pasadena, California (Alabama vs. Texas)

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 in the 2006 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 2014 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 Game 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 Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Sugar 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	Winner		Loser		Bowl Game	Site	MVP
1998	January 4, 1999	1 Tennessee SEC Champs	23	2 Florida State ACC Co-Champs	16	1999 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	Peerless Price Dwayne Goodrich
1999	January 4, 2000	1 Florida State ACC Champs	46	2 Virginia Tech Big East Champs	29	2000 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	Peter Warrick
2000	January 3, 2001	1 Oklahoma Big 12 Champs	13	2 Florida State ACC Champs	2	2001 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami, Florida	Torrance Marshall
2001	January 3, 2002	1 Miami (FL) Big East Champs	37	2 Nebraska Big 12 North Div. Co-Champs	14	2002 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	Ken Dorsey Andre Johnson
2002	January 3, 2003	2 Ohio State Big Ten Co-Champs	31	1 Miami (FL) Big East Champs	24	2003 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	Craig Krenzel Mike Doss
2003	January 4, 2004	2 LSU SEC Champs	21	1 Oklahoma Big 12 South Div. Champions	14	2004 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	Justin Vincent
2004	January 4, 2005	1 USC† Pac-10 Champs	55	2 Oklahoma Big 12 Champs	19	2005 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	Matt Leinart
2005	January 4, 2006	2 Texas Big 12 Champs	41	1 USC Pac-10 Champs	38	2006 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Stadium Pasadena, California	Vince Young (offense) Michael Huff (defense)
2006	January 8, 2007	2 Florida SEC Champs	41	1 Ohio State Big Ten Champs	14	2007 BCS National Championship Game	University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona	Chris Leak (offense) Derrick Harvey (defense)
2007	January 7, 2008	2 LSU SEC Champs	38	1 Ohio State Big Ten Champs	24	2008 BCS National Championship Game	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	Matt Flynn (offense) Ricky Jean-Francois (defense)
2008	January 8, 2009	2 Florida SEC Champs	24	1 Oklahoma Big 12 Champs	14	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Dolphin Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	Tim Tebow (offense) Carlos Dunlap (defense)
2009	January 7, 2010	1 Alabama SEC Champs	37	2 Texas Big 12 Champs	21	2010 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	Mark Ingram (offense) Marcell Dareus (defense)
2010	January 10, 2011	1 Auburn SEC Champs	22	2 Oregon Pac-10 Champs	19	2011 BCS National Championship Game	University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona	Michael Dyer (offense) Nick Fairley (defense)
2011	January 9, 2012	2 Alabama SEC	21	1 LSU SEC Champs	0	2012 BCS National Championship Game	Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	AJ McCarron (offense) Courtney Upshaw (defense)
2012	January 7, 2013	2 Alabama SEC Champs	42	1 Notre Dame Independent	14	2013 BCS National Championship Game	Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	Eddie Lacy (offense) C.J. Mosley (defense)
2013	January 6, 2014	1 Florida State ACC Champs	34	2 Auburn SEC Champs	31	2014 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	Jameis Winston (offense) P.J. Williams (defense)

Records by team

Team	Appearances	Wins	Losses	Win Pct	Title Season(s)
Florida State	4	2	2	.500	1999, 2013
Oklahoma	4	1	3	.250	2000
Alabama	3	3	0	1.000	2009, 2011, 2012
LSU	3	2	1	.667	2003, 2007
Ohio State	3	1	2	.333	2002
Florida	2	2	0	1.000	2006, 2008
Auburn	2	1	1	.500	2010
Miami (FL)	2	1	1	.500	2001
Texas	2	1	1	.500	2005
USC	2	1†	1	.500	2004
Tennessee	1	1	0	1.000	1998
Nebraska	1	0	1	.000	-
Notre Dame	1	0	1	.000	-
Oregon	1	0	1	.000	-
Virginia Tech	1	0	1	.000	-

Records by conference

Conference	Wins	Losses	Winning Teams	Losing Teams
SEC	9***	2**	Alabama (3), Florida (2), LSU (2), Tennessee, Auburn	Auburn, LSU
Big 12	2	5	Oklahoma, Texas	Oklahoma (3), Nebraska*, Texas
ACC	2	2	Florida State (2)	Florida State (2)
Big East	1	2	Miami (FL)*	Miami (FL)*, Virginia Tech*
Big Ten	1	2	Ohio State	Ohio State (2)
Pac-12	1†	2	USC†	Oregon, USC
Independent	0	1	None	Notre Dame

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

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* 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.

* Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech moved to the ACC in 2004.

* Nebraska moved to the Big Ten in 2011.

** LSU's loss in the 2012 BCS Championship Game was to fellow SEC member Alabama.

*** Alabama's win in the 2012 BCS Championship Game was over fellow SEC member LSU.

† USC vacated its win in the 2005 Orange Bowl.

Game records

Team	Performance vs. Opponent	Year
Most Points	55, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Fewest points allowed	0, Alabama vs. LSU	2011
Most Points Combined	79, Texas vs. USC	2006
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 run	65, Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Touchdown pass	79, Tee Martin to Peerless Price, Tennessee vs. Florida State	1999
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
Pass	81, Darron Thomas to Jeff Maehl, Oregon vs. Auburn	2011

Heisman Trophy winners in BCS title games

Season	Player	School	Result	Stats	Notes
2000	Chris Weinke	Florida State	L	51-25-2 274, 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	Win later vacated
2005	Reggie Bush	USC	L	13-82 1 TD; 6-95, 0 TD rec	Heisman later vacated
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	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

Main articles: College football playoff debate and BCS controversies

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.

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, the 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 (1st in defense, 14th in offense and 13th in special teams ) 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. 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.

In 2009, the NCAA ruled that former USC running back Reggie Bush was retroactively ineligible for the 2004 BCS National Championship, the 2005 Orange Bowl vs. Oklahoma, for receiving various illegal benefits. In May 2011, the NCAA rejected all appeals of USC's penalties, which included Bush's ineligibility and a two-year bowl ban. On June 6, 2011, USC became the first school to lose a Bowl Championship Series national title due to NCAA sanctions when the BCS presidential oversight committee stripped the school of its 2004 title. As a result, there is no 2004 BCS champion, although USC retained its 2004 AP national title. Additionally, the BCS also nullified USC's participation in the 2006 Rose Bowl. (See attributions 1 and 2.)

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. 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. The new format, known as the College Football Playoff is to be in effect from the 2014 college football season through the 2025 season.

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.

Year	Network(s)	Bowl	Play-by-play announcer	Color analyst(s)	Sideline reporter(s)	Studio host(s)	Studio analyst(s)	TV Rating
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 ESPN 3D	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 [1]

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

See also: College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS

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. 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 Trophy.

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.

External links

• Official website