College football-bcs

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's February 2008

download word file, 4 pages 5.0

Downloaded 9 times

College Football: Who Is Really No. 1 At the conclusion of each college football season the Bowl Alliance selects the nation?s top football teams to play in select bowls. The way the Bowl Alliance selects who plays in the bowls, and because college football does not have a championship series, like college basketball, a number one vs. number two match-up for the national championship is never guaranteed. With this setup, many fans agree that a true national champion can not always be crowned.

In the past, because of the Bowl Alliance, two national champions have been crowned at the conclusion of a single season. Just recently, at the conclusion of the 1997 season, Michigan and Nebraska were forced to share the national championship. Even though a championship had been shared several times before, there was much controversy over this one. Michigan fans thought that Michigan should be the sole possessor of the crown, and Husker fans thought the same for Nebraska.

To avoid more co-champions in the future, and to guarantee a match-up between the top two teams in the nation each year, a new system was setup prior to the 1998 season. This new system setup by ABC Sports and the NCAA is called the Bowl Championship Series or BCS for short.

The Bowl Championship Series is a point system that selects what college football teams will play in one of the four major bowls. The bowls in the BCS include: the Rose Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the Nokia Sugar Bowl, and the FedEx Orange Bowl. Not only does the BCS decide who plays in those bowls, but also who will play for the right to be crowned national champions.

The way the system works is somewhat complicated but very effective. Points are awarded by a formula with...