Decoding the BCS Selection Process

The matter of how the BCS bowls select their teams is a bit arcane.  The page on the BCS's website about the selection process is pretty long and steeped in legalese, so here's a more simplified explanation of what goes down on bowl selection day.

If you thought the Rose Bowl should have taken Georgia last season, then read on—you'll find out why that pairing was never a possibility, even if the Rose Bowl wanted to make it happen.

Automatic Bids

The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the final BCS poll automatically get in the BCS as they make up the national title game pairing.

The champions of the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10, and SEC (the "Big Six" conferences) automatically get in if they are not already No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS poll.

Notre Dame gets in automatically if it finishes in the top eight of the final BCS poll.

The champion of a mid-major conference gets in automatically if one of two things happens: It is in the top 12 of the final BCS poll, or it is in the top 16 of the final BCS poll and ahead of one of the champs of a Big Six conference.

For example, No. 15 BYU would get an auto-bid by finishing ahead of the ACC champ No. 16 Clemson.

A non-champion from a Big Six conference gets in automatically if it finishes No. 3 or No. 4 in the final BCS standings and that conference's champion is not in the national title game.

Hypothetically, Oklahoma could lose the Big 12 title game and finish No. 3, but still ahead of No. 5 Missouri, the conference champ.  Oklahoma would then get an auto-bid.

At-Large Eligibility

There are two criteria for being an at-large team: Win nine games and finish in the top 14 of the final BCS poll.

There is, however, a restriction that no conference may have more than two BCS participants.  If somehow because of that restriction there aren't four eligible at-larges in the top 14, anyone from the 15-18 range becomes an option.

If you think invoking the 15-18 option sounds unlikely, consider that last season the Big East and ACC had only one team each in the top 14, and the Big Ten barely had two, with Illinois at No. 14.  The possibility of not having enough eligible at-large teams actually prompted the BCS to add that 15-18 provision during the 2007 season.

Just think about the possibility of the pre-bowl top 14 consisting of the following schools in whatever order: Ohio State, USC, Arizona State, Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Kansas, West Virginia, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Auburn.  That is plausible for this season, and it would cause the BCS to have to invoke that 15-18 rule.

Team Selection Process

The BCS National Championship Game obviously takes the top two teams in the BCS standings.

Five of the Big Six conferences have tie-ins that guarantee an appearance for their champions in a BCS bowl if that champ is not in the national title game: the ACC with the Orange Bowl, the Big 12 with the Fiesta Bowl, the Big Ten and Pac-10 with the Rose Bowl, and the SEC with the Sugar Bowl.

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