The BCS National Championship Game is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as NCAA Division I-A). The participants are the two highest-ranked teams in the BCS standings at the end of the regular college football season, currently determined by averaging the results of the final weekly USA Today Coaches' Poll, Harris Interactive Poll of media, former players and coaches, and the average of six participating Computer rankings. The game was first played at the conclusion of the 1998 college football season in accordance with the agreement reached by the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences and the Rose Bowl Game to join the members of the former "Bowl Alliance" to create the Bowl Championship Series. The Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, featured championship games from 1992 through 1997. However, these were hindered by the lack of potential participation by the champions of the Big Ten or Pac-10. The 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 became a separate event played at the same site as a host bowl a week following New Year's Day. The USA Today Coaches' Poll has contractually agreed to select the winner of the 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 also is automatically awarded the National Football Foundation's MacArthur Trophy. [1] However, the Associated Press does not participate in the BCS and may award its national championship trophy to a different school. The AP has done so once to date, awarding its 2003 trophy to the University of Southern California. Since the formation of the Bowl Championship Series, there have been several controversies regarding the selection of the participating teams. Most notably, following the 2003 season, the BCS ranking system excluded Associated Press #1 University of Southern California from the National Championship Game (the Nokia Sugar Bowl). The following season, in 2004, undefeated Auburn University, Boise State University and University of Utah teams were left out of the National Championship Game (the FedEx Orange Bowl), although the participating teams were undefeated as well. In 2001, Oregon, second ranked in the AP poll, was bypassed in favor of Nebraska despite Nebraska's blowout loss in its final regular season game. Most recently, in 2008, the University of Utah was excluded from the BCS championship for a second time despite being the only undefeated Division I-A team at the end of the season and finished second behind 13-1 Florida. Despite these controversies, since the inauguration of the BCS National Championship Game, to date only the 2003-2004 season resulted in a split national championship, when USC won the Associated Press national championship. The National Championship Game for the 2007 season was sponsored by Allstate, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 7, 2008, and broadcast by FOX television network. The game featured the #2 LSU Tigers and the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes. LSU won 38-24 to become the first team to win two BCS national championships. Additionally, LSU became the first team with two losses to play in a BCS National Championship Game. The game for the 2008 season was played on January 8, 2009, in Miami, Florida, and was broadcast on FOX, and sponsored by FedEx. It featured the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators. Florida won by a score of 24-14, becoming the BCS national champion and ranking first in both the final AP and USA Today polls. Additionally, Florida became the second team to win two BCS national championships. [2]

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS Monster Jam Tickets Chicago Bulls Tickets Los Angeles Lakers Tickets The Harlem Globetrotters New York Knicks Tickets Boston Celtics Tickets

Future

The game's location rotates among the sites of the BCS bowls. Future scheduled sites are as follows (note the years shown are for the game, which occurs in the calendar year following the corresponding NCAA football season):

• Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in 2010
• University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in 2011
• Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2012
• LandShark Stadium in Miami, Florida in 2013

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 was the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, after the title sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl. The following year saw it become the Allstate BCS National Championship, and the 2009 game bears the FedEx brand. The 2010 game will have Citi as its title sponsor. ^[3] Based upon television contracts between the BCS and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses with ESPN and ABC, the BCS will retain its current format through at least the 2014 season.

Criticisms and controversy

Critics^[who?] of the current BCS championship complain that the national champion is decided by polls and computers—not by competition on the field. The BCS method chooses only the top two ranked teams, according to a combination of the BCS computer rankings and two human polls, to compete for the national championship.

This has often led to controversy and questions as to whether the team who won the BCS National Championship Game is actually the best team. In 2003, for example, USC was not included in the BCS Championship Game, but beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and ended up #1 in the Associated Press final poll. The following season, USC and Oklahoma finished #1 and #2 in the final BCS poll before the games, while an undefeated Auburn team from the SEC finished third and was thus left out of the national championship game. In 2007, Boise State University was ranked #5 despite being the only undefeated school in the nation. Most recently, in 2008, the University of Utah was left out of the championship game despite being the only undefeated team at the end of the season.

In all other NCAA sporting events, the national champions are determined by a playoff system.

The major conferences (the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, Pac-10, and SEC) gain monetarily from the current structure, and are quite unwilling to risk changing the system, even if a playoff system is fairer or leads to better football for the players and the fans.

In a 2008 interview with 60 Minutes , U.S. President, Barack Obama, espoused the idea of a playoff system:

I think any sensible person would say that if you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner; that we should be creating a playoff system. Eight teams. That would be three rounds, to determine a national champion. It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I’m gonna throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.

Many critics of the Bowl Championship Series favor a larger championship tournament with eight to sixteen teams, similar to that administered by the NCAA for its Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), 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. The SEC and ACC conferences have recently been pushing for some form of playoff system. On June 24, 2009, the BCS presidential oversight committee rejected the Mountain West Conference's proposed eight-team playoff plan. ^[4]

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)	23	2 Florida State (ACC)	16	1999 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	Peerless Price, Dwayne Goodrich
1999	January 4 2000	1 Florida State (ACC)	46	2 Virginia Tech (Big East)	29	2000 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	Peter Warrick
2000	January 3 2001	1 Oklahoma (Big 12)	13	2 Florida State (ACC)	2	2001 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami, Florida	Torrance Marshall
2001	January 3 2002	1 Miami (Florida) (Big East)	37	2 Nebraska (Big 12)	14	2002 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	Ken Dorsey, Andre Johnson
2002	January 3 2003	2 Ohio State (Big Ten)	31 †	1 Miami (Florida) (Big East)	24	2003 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	Craig Krenzel, Mike Doss
2003	January 4 2004	2 LSU (SEC)	21	1 Oklahoma (Big 12)	14	2004 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	Justin Vincent
2004	January 4 2005	1 USC (Pac-10)	55	2 Oklahoma (Big 12)	19	2005 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami, Florida	Matt Leinart
2005	January 4 2006	2 Texas (Big 12)	41	1 USC (Pac-10)	38	2006 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	Vince Young (offense); Michael Huff (defense)
2006	January 8 2007	2 Florida (SEC)	41	1 Ohio State (Big Ten)	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)	38	1 Ohio State (Big Ten)	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)	24	1 Oklahoma (Big 12)	14	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Dolphins Stadium Miami, Florida	Tim Tebow (offense); Carlos Dunlap (defense)
2009	January 7 2010	TBD on January 7, 2010				2010 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California

Note 1: †Double overtime



Records by conference

Conference	Wins	Losses	Winning Teams	Losing Teams
SEC	5	0	Tennessee, LSU (2), Florida (2)
Big 12	2	4	Oklahoma, Texas	Oklahoma (3), Nebraska
ACC	1	2	Florida State	Florida State (2)
Big East	1	2	Miami (FL)	Virginia Tech, Miami (FL)
Big Ten	1	2	Ohio State	Ohio State (2)
Pac-10	1	1	USC	USC





Records by team

Team	Wins	Losses	Percentage	Title Seasons
LSU	2	0	1.000	2003, 2007
Florida	2	0	1.000	2006, 2008
Tennessee	1	0	1.000	1998
Texas	1	0	1.000	2005
Miami (FL)	1	1	.500	2001
USC	1	1	.500	2004
Florida State	1	2	.333	1999
Ohio State	1	2	.333	2002
Oklahoma	1	3	.250	2000
Nebraska	0	1	.000
Virginia Tech	0	1	.000

Media coverage

Television

From 1999 through 2006, 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 2006–07 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. This means FOX has the rights to the 2009 BCS Championship Game, and ABC will have the rights to the 2010 National Championship Game.

On November 18, 2008, the BCS announced that ESPN had won the television rights to the BCS National Championship Game for 2011, 2012, and 2013. ESPN's sister network, ABC, is scheduled to broadcast the 2014 National Championship Game as part of the final year of its current contract with the Rose Bowl. The contract with ESPN is notable as it appears the BCS National Championship Game will become the most prominent annual sporting event not to be shown over broadcast television. ^[5]



Date	Network	Bowl	Play-by-play announcer	Color analyst	Sideline reporter(s)	Studio host	Studio analyst(s)	TV Rating [6]
1999	ABC	Fiesta Bowl	Keith Jackson	Bob Griese	Lynn Swann	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.2
2000	ABC	Sugar Bowl	Brent Musburger	Gary Danielson	Lynn Swann Jack Arute	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.5
2001	ABC	Orange Bowl	Brad Nessler	Bob Griese	Lynn Swann Jack Arute	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.8
2002	ABC	Rose Bowl	Keith Jackson	Tim Brant	Lynn Swann Todd Harris	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	13.9
2003	ABC	Fiesta Bowl	Keith Jackson	Dan Fouts	Lynn Swann Todd Harris	John Saunders	Terry Bowden	17.2
2004	ABC	Sugar Bowl	Brent Musburger	Gary Danielson	Lynn Swann Jack Arute	John Saunders	Terry Bowden Craig James	14.5
2005	ABC	Orange Bowl	Brad Nessler	Bob Griese	Lynn Swann Todd Harris	John Saunders	Craig James Aaron Taylor	13.7
2006	ABC	Rose Bowl	Keith Jackson	Dan Fouts	Todd Harris Holly Rowe	John Saunders	Craig James Aaron Taylor	21.7
2007	FOX	Tostitos BCS National Championship Game	Thom Brennaman	Barry Alvarez Charles Davis	Chris Myers	Chris Rose	Eddie George Emmitt Smith Jimmy Johnson	17.4
2008	FOX	Allstate BCS National Championship Game	Thom Brennaman	Charles Davis	Chris Myers	Chris Rose	Eddie George Urban Meyer Jimmy Johnson	17.4
2009	FOX	FedEx BCS National Championship Game	Thom Brennaman	Charles Davis	Chris Myers	Chris Rose	Eddie George Barry Switzer Jimmy Johnson	15.8 (26.8 million viewers)
2010	ESPN on ABC	Citi BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger†	Kirk Herbstreit†	Lisa Salters†	TBD	TBD	TBD
2011	ESPN	BCS National Championship Game	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2012	ESPN	BCS National Championship Game	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2013	ESPN	BCS National Championship Game	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2014	ESPN	BCS National Championship Game	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD




  †  Expected announcer, subject to change.




Radio

Date	Network	Bowl	Play-by-play announcer	Color analyst	Sideline reporter(s)	Studio host	Studio analyst(s)
2007	ESPN Radio	Tostitos BCS National Championship Game	Brent Musburger	Bob Davie and Todd Blackledge	Lisa Salters

See also

• Harris Interactive College Football Poll
• Bowl game

References

1. NFF Website
2. 2008 NCAA Football Rankings - Final (Jan. 8)
3. Allstate press release, March 22, 2006
4. College football: BCS presidents reject playoff plan, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 25, 2009
5. ESPN, BCS agree to four-year deal for television, radio, digital rights
6. bcsfootball.org - TV Ratings