The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selected 10 teams each season for five marquee postseason games: four traditional bowls and the BCS National Championship Game. The process combined automatic qualification with at-large selections, all driven by the season’s final BCS standings (a blend of two human polls and multiple computer rankings).
This page explains the late-era rules (2007–2013), which governed most of what fans remember about BCS selections.
1) Automatic Qualification (AQ)
The BCS reserved spots for certain champions and for highly ranked teams under specific conditions.
Core automatic spots
- National Championship Game: The top two teams in the final BCS standings were paired for the title.
- AQ conference champions: The champions of the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10/Pac-12, and SEC automatically received a BCS bowl berth.
For a full breakdown of how these leagues fit into the system, see our page on BCS conferences and AQ structure.
Path for non-AQ champions
- The champions of Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or WAC could earn an automatic berth if:
- They finished Top 12 in the final BCS standings, or
- They finished Top 16 and were ranked higher than at least one champion from the six AQ conferences.
- They finished Top 12 in the final BCS standings, or
- Only one such non-AQ champion could auto-qualify in a given season; others meeting the threshold would be considered for at-large spots.
Notre Dame’s path
- Notre Dame (as an independent) received an automatic berth if it finished Top 8 in the final BCS standings.
Safety valves for highly ranked at-large teams
- If open slots remained after applying the rules above, a highly ranked at-large from an AQ league could be “bumped” into AQ status:
- First, a No. 3 team from an AQ conference (if no other at-large from that league was already in the title game).
- If still needed, a No. 4 team under similar conditions.
- First, a No. 3 team from an AQ conference (if no other at-large from that league was already in the title game).
2) At-Large Eligibility
If fewer than 10 teams qualified automatically, bowls filled the remaining spots from the at-large pool. A team was at-large eligible if it:
- Won at least nine regular-season games, and
- Finished Top 14 in the final BCS standings.
Two-team cap: No conference could place more than two teams in BCS bowls (automatic + at-large combined), unless two non-champions were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 (in which case both would go to the title game).
If the pool was too small: The eligibility window could expand (e.g., to Top 18, then by blocks of four) until 10 teams were available—while still honoring the two-team cap and ensuring leagues with multiple Top-14 teams were represented.
Eligibility note: Teams had to be postseason-eligible per NCAA and conference rules and not self-barred by sanctions.
3) Bowl Pairings & Order of Selection
BCS pairings were set in a fixed sequence to balance tradition with the rankings.
Step A — Place the title game:
- The No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup was locked into the BCS National Championship Game.
Step B — Host tie-ins (unless that champion went to the title game):
- Rose Bowl: Big Ten champion vs. Pac-10/Pac-12 champion
- Sugar Bowl: SEC champion
- Orange Bowl: ACC champion
- Fiesta Bowl: Big 12 champion
Step C — Replacement picks (if a host lost its champion to the title game):
- Any bowl that lost its contracted champion received a replacement pick before general at-large selections.
- If two bowls lost champions, the bowl that lost No. 1 picked first; the bowl that lost No. 2 picked second.
- Replacement pick constraints applied (e.g., you couldn’t pick a team already hosting another BCS bowl or a team in the title game).
Step D — Remaining picks in rotating order:
- After replacement picks, bowls chose from the pool of automatic qualifiers and at-large teams in a pre-set rotational order (which changed by year) to keep things fair over time.
Step E — Optional fine-tuning:
- After all slots were filled, conferences (and Notre Dame, if applicable) could mutually agree with bowls to adjust pairings to avoid repetitive rematches, back-to-back appearances in the same bowl, or to improve national appeal—with the key exception that the Rose Bowl couldn’t be stripped of its Big Ten vs. Pac-10/Pac-12 pairing when those champions were available.
4) Tie-Breaking in the Standings
If teams were tied in the BCS standings after full decimal precision:
- Head-to-head result
- Results vs. highest-ranked common opponent(s)
- Recompute standings using all six computer rankings (no drop of high/low) plus Harris and Coaches polls
- Random draw (if still tied)
5) The BCS Standings (Methodology)
The final BCS standings were a three-part average:
- Harris Interactive Poll (⅓)
- USA Today Coaches Poll (⅓)
- Computer rankings (⅓)
For a deeper explanation of how the formula translated into weekly rankings, visit our guide to understanding BCS standings.
How each part was scored
- Polls: Inverse points (e.g., 25 for No. 1, 24 for No. 2, etc.), then divided by each poll’s maximum possible points to get a percentage.
- Computers: Rankings from six providers were combined after dropping each team’s highest and lowest computer positions; the remainder was scaled to a maximum of 100.
Providers used: Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe.
All computer systems incorporated strength of schedule in their formulas.
Release cadence: BCS standings were published weekly for eight straight weeks, with the final release on Selection Sunday.
6) The Harris Interactive Poll (How the panel worked)
- Debuted in 2005 as a replacement human poll for the BCS formula.
- Conferences submitted slates of qualified panelists; Harris Interactive performed random selection to seat representatives (including Notre Dame and a joint Army/Navy slot).
- When a seat opened, the nominating conference submitted new names and Harris again randomly selected replacements.
- The poll was released weekly for 10 weeks, concluding on Selection Sunday.
7) Standards That Governed Future AQ Status
To determine (and periodically re-determine) which conferences would retain annual AQ berths, the BCS applied mathematical performance standards over multi-year windows, evaluating:
- The highest-ranked team from each conference each season
- The aggregate computer rankings of all teams in that conference
- The number of Top-25 teams from that conference
Conference-bowl tie-ins (e.g., Rose with Big Ten/Pac-12, Sugar with SEC, Orange with ACC, Fiesta with Big 12) remained in place unless a champion advanced to the title game, in which case the replacement pick process applied.
Quick Example: How a Season Could Shake Out
- Final standings produce No. 1 and No. 2 → title game locked.
- Remaining AQ champions claim their host bowls (unless they’re in the title game).
- Any bowls that lost a host pick replacement teams first.
- The rest of the bowls pick in that year’s rotational order, choosing from other AQ teams and at-large eligibles (respecting the two-team cap).
- If a non-AQ champion finished Top 12 (or Top 16 above an AQ champ), it auto-qualifies and must be included.
Final pairings may get minor tweaks to avoid repeats (within the rules).
