Boise State : The BCS Works For Us

Lately, I've been talking to some folks and I have to say, the only thing people understand about the BCS is that it's hard to understand.

So, with one month to go before the Mighty Boise State Broncos take the field in Landover, Maryland, I thought I would lay out the facts and let them speak for themselves.

The BCS controls 5 "Major" Bowl Games.

Rose Bowl

Fiesta Bowl

Sugar Bowl

Orange Bowl

BCS National Championship

These Bowl Games are picked primarily from 6 "power" conferences.

ACC

Big East

SEC

Big 12

Big 10

PAC 10

There are, however, 5 rules in place that make it just a little bit more interesting.

Rule #1

If the highest ranked team from outside the "power" conferences is ranked number 12 or above, it will go to one of the BCS Bowl Games, excluding the National Championship.

Rule #2 (only applies if the conditions of Rule #1 are not met)

If the highest ranking team from outside the "power" conferences is undefeated and ranked 16 or higher, they will go to one of the BCS Bowl Games, excluding the National Championship.

Rule #3

Only 2 teams from any of the "power" conferences may go to the BCS Bowl Games. If a conference has five teams in the top 16, as the SEC does every year, then only the top 2 are eligible.

Rule #4

No team with 3 losses is eligible to play in a BCS Bowl Game.

Rule #5

The teams that are ranked #1 and #2 at the end of the regular season will be selected to play in the BCS National Championship.

It doesn't matter if they have played each other earlier in the season.

It doesn't matter if they are from the same conference.

They play for the crystal football.

Let’s apply these rules to last year’s final standings and see why BSU went to the Fiesta Bowl, and why the BCS is Boise's best friend right now.

BCS Final Regular Season Standings 2009

1 Alabama 13-0
2 Texas 13-0
3 Cincinnati 12-0
4 TCU 12-0
5 Florida 12-1
6 Boise State 13-0
7 Oregon 10-2
8 Ohio State 10-2
9 Georgia Tech 11-2
10 Iowa 10-2
11 Virginia Tech 9-3
12 LSU 9-3
13 Penn State 10-2
14 Brigham Young 10-2
15 Miami (FL) 9-3
16 West Virginia 9-3
17 Pittsburgh 9-3
18 Oregon State 8-4
19 Oklahoma State 9-3
20 Arizona 8-4

I'm going to apply the rules backwards so we can see how this all went down.

Rule #5

1 Alabama 13-0         BCS National Championship Rule #5 
2 Texas 13-0            BCS National Championship Rule #5
3 Cincinnati 12-0     
4 TCU 12-0
5 Florida 12-1
6 Boise State 13-0
7 Oregon 10-2
8 Ohio State 10-2
9 Georgia Tech 11-2
10 Iowa 10-2
11 Virginia Tech 9-3
12 LSU 9-3
13 Penn State 10-2
14 Brigham Young 10-2
15 Miami (FL) 9-3
16 West Virginia 9-3
17 Pittsburgh 9-3
18 Oregon State 8-4
19 Oklahoma State 9-3
20 Arizona 8-4

Rule #4

1 Alabama 13-0         BCS National Championship Rule #5
2 Texas 13-0            BCS National Championship Rule #5
3 Cincinnati 12-0     
4 TCU 12-0
5 Florida 12-1
6 Boise State 13-0
7 Oregon 10-2
8 Ohio State 10-2
9 Georgia Tech 11-2
10 Iowa 10-2
11 Virginia Tech 9-3   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
12 LSU 9-3               Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
13 Penn State 10-2
14 Brigham Young 10-2
15 Miami (FL) 9-3       Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
16 West Virginia 9-3   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
17 Pittsburgh 9-3       Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
18 Oregon State 8-4   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
19 Oklahoma State 9-3 Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
20 Arizona 8-4           Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4

Rule #3

1 Alabama 13-0         BCS National Championship Rule #5
2 Texas 13-0           BCS National Championship Rule #5
3 Cincinnati 12-0      SUgar Bowl Rule #3
4 TCU 12-0
5 Florida 12-1         Sugar Bowl Rule #3
6 Boise State 13-0
7 Oregon 10-2          Rose Bowl Rule #3
8 Ohio State 10-2      Rose Bowl Rule #3
9 Georgia Tech 11-2    Orange Bowl Rule #3
10 Iowa 10-2           Orange Bowl Rule #3
11 Virginia Tech 9-3   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
12 LSU 9-3             Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
13 Penn State 10-2     Ineligible Rule #3
14 Brigham Young 10-2
15 Miami (FL) 9-3      Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
16 West Virginia 9-3   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
17 Pittsburgh 9-3      Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
18 Oregon State 8-4    Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
19 Oklahoma State 9-3  Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
20 Arizona 8-4         Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4

Rule #2

1 Alabama 13-0         BCS National Championship Rule #5
2 Texas 13-0           BCS National Championship Rule #5
3 Cincinnati 12-0      SUgar Bowl Rule #3
4 TCU 12-0             Fiesta Bowl highest ranked non BCS Rule #2  
5 Florida 12-1         Sugar Bowl Rule #3
6 Boise State 13-0
7 Oregon 10-2          Rose Bowl Rule #3
8 Ohio State 10-2      Rose Bowl Rule #3
9 Georgia Tech 11-2    Orange Bowl Rule #3
10 Iowa 10-2           Orange Bowl Rule #3
11 Virginia Tech 9-3   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
12 LSU 9-3             Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
13 Penn State 10-2     Ineligible Rule #3
14 Brigham Young 10-2
15 Miami (FL) 9-3      Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
16 West Virginia 9-3   Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
17 Pittsburgh 9-3      Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
18 Oregon State 8-4    Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
19 Oklahoma State 9-3  Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4
20 Arizona 8-4         Ineligible 3 losses Rule #4

So, at this point in the BCS selection process, the powers that be had only 2 choices:

#6 ranked Boise State

or

#14 ranked BYU.

Boise State made BCS history by being the first mid-major team to be officially "invited."

I would like to point out that we started out last year ranked 16th, and ended up 6th at the close of the regular season, with only 1 victory over then-10th ranked Oregon.

What's going to happen when we start out ranked 5th, and have 6th-ranked Virginia Tech and 18th-ranked Oregon State on our plate?

I would like you to remember that the BCS is only driven by 1/3 opinion, and the computers love the Broncos this year.

That being said, let’s refer back to Rule #5.