The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) shaped college football’s postseason for more than 15 years, determining which teams played for the national title from 1998 to 2013.
Below, we answer the most common questions about what the BCS was, how it worked, and why it eventually gave way to the College Football Playoff.
❓ What was the BCS?
The Bowl Championship Series wasn’t a single league or organization — it was a cooperative agreement between major college football conferences and bowl committees.
Its purpose was simple: to match the two highest-ranked teams in the nation in a single championship game, while preserving the tradition of the major bowl system.
The BCS created a structure where data-driven rankings and human polls determined who earned those top spots each year. For a broader breakdown of the bowl structure, payouts, and major event history, see our detailed page on BCS facts & data.
🕰️ When and how was the BCS formed?
The BCS was introduced before the 1998 college football season, uniting the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowls with six major conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC) and the University of Notre Dame.
In 2004, five additional conferences — Conference USA, the Mountain West, the Mid-American, the Sun Belt, and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) — formally joined the BCS structure, making it a truly national system.
⚙️ How did the BCS standings formula work?
The BCS standings were determined by three equally weighted components:
- The USA Today Coaches Poll
- The Harris Interactive Poll
- An average of six computer rankings, each factoring in results, strength of schedule, and other metrics.
The six computer systems used were:
- Anderson & Hester
- Richard Billingsley
- Colley Matrix
- Kenneth Massey
- Jeff Sagarin
- Peter Wolfe
The top two teams in the final BCS standings automatically advanced to the BCS National Championship Game, while others earned placement in the major bowl games.
🧮 What was the Harris Interactive Poll?
The Harris Interactive College Football Poll began in 2005 and ranked the Top 25 teams weekly.
Panelists included former coaches, athletes, media members, and administrators — all nominated by Division I-A (now FBS) conferences. Harris Interactive randomly selected participants to ensure fair representation across the sport.
Each Sunday, the poll results were released publicly, and the final poll votes in December were made transparent. The Harris Poll replaced the AP Poll in the official BCS formula and was considered the most statistically balanced human ranking of its time.
🏆 Which conferences had automatic BCS bowl access?
The champions of six “automatic qualifying” conferences received guaranteed invitations:
- Atlantic Coast (ACC)
- Big East
- Big Ten
- Big 12
- Pac-10 / Pac-12
- Southeastern (SEC)
Independent Notre Dame and high-ranking champions from smaller conferences (like the Mountain West or WAC) could also qualify under certain ranking conditions — for example, finishing Top 12 in the BCS standings or Top 16 ahead of an automatic qualifier.
For a complete look at historical bowl performance, conference records, and win–loss results, explore the full all-time BCS rankings.
🌍 How did smaller conferences gain access to BCS bowls?
The BCS was often criticized for favoring larger conferences, but access did improve over time.
By the mid-2000s:
- A non-AQ conference champion (from leagues like the WAC or Mountain West) could earn an automatic berth if ranked Top 12, or Top 16 and higher than a major-conference champion.
- The field expanded from 8 to 10 teams in 2006, doubling the number of at-large berths.
This led to breakthrough appearances from teams such as:
- Utah (2005, 2008)
- Boise State (2006)
- Hawaii (2007)
These moments helped legitimize programs outside the power conferences and paved the way for the more inclusive College Football Playoff system that followed.
📺 What were the TV and media arrangements?
During its peak, the BCS operated under national television contracts with FOX Sports and ABC.
- FOX televised the Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange Bowls, as well as several National Championship Games between 2007–2010.
- ABC retained rights to the Rose Bowl and later rejoined for select championship broadcasts.
These deals covered not only live broadcasts but also radio, online streaming, sponsorship rights, and promotional coverage. The massive ratings and advertising revenue generated by these games helped solidify college football as a major American sporting enterprise.
❌ Why didn’t the BCS use a playoff system?
This was one of the most frequently asked questions — and the most debated.
The BCS was never designed to be a playoff. It was an agreement among conferences and bowl committees to crown a national champion within the traditional bowl structure, without extending the season or adding extra elimination rounds.
At the time, most university presidents and athletic administrators resisted the idea of an NCAA-run playoff, citing academic schedules, travel demands, and the cultural value of the bowl tradition.
As former SEC commissioner Mike Slive once explained:
“College football has the best regular season in all of sports. Every week matters, and the postseason must preserve that excitement while honoring the century-old bowl tradition.”
That philosophy defined the BCS — even as critics argued that it left deserving teams outside the championship picture.
🔄 How was conference access re-evaluated?
Every four years, the BCS reviewed each conference’s performance based on:
- The average ranking of its highest-ranked team
- The overall rankings of all its teams
- The number of programs finishing in the Top 25
These evaluations determined which leagues retained automatic qualification moving forward.
Although the Big Six conferences maintained their status throughout the BCS era, teams from smaller conferences increasingly proved they could compete on the same stage.
💡 What ultimately replaced the BCS?
In 2014, the College Football Playoff (CFP) officially replaced the BCS.
The new system introduced a four-team playoff determined by a selection committee, but it preserved the same bowl foundations — the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach Bowls now serve as rotating CFP semifinals.
The transition marked the end of computer rankings and automatic qualifiers, but much of the structure, prestige, and history of the BCS lives on through the CFP model.
🏁 What is the legacy of the BCS?
The Bowl Championship Series transformed college football’s postseason.
It created the first unified method for determining a national champion, expanded access to top bowls, and gave rise to some of the sport’s most iconic matchups.
While it was often controversial, the BCS era represents an essential bridge between the traditional bowl system and the modern playoff era — a time when rankings, formulas, and fierce debate defined every week of the season.
