2011 BCS Rankings Release Info: How Teams Are Ranked and What They Mean

The college football BCS ranking system is easily one of the most confusing and hectic ratings systems in sports.

Actually, it is the most confusing and hectic ratings system in sports.

Sometimes the way teams are ranked make absolutely no sense. The very fact that an undefeated team can sometimes be ranked lower than a team with one or two losses is baffling, but at the very same time there are undefeated teams that played a bunch of cupcake teams and they are still ranked higher than a legitimate school with a hard schedule and one loss.

It truly can be baffling.

Here's a guide to understanding the BCS:

Simply put, the BCS system is just a way to rank the teams in college football in an effort to determine who will play in the national championship game and any bowl games.

The rankings are made up of three separate but equal polls:

1. USA Today Coaches Poll

Basically all the coaches in the nation fill out a Top 25 ranking. The No. 1 ranking earns you 25 points and then it goes down to No. 25 in reverse order, so by that math No. 25 gets one point.

Your team's total is than added up and divided by 1,475, which would be to total amount of points given to a team that received all first place votes.

2. Harris Interactive College Football Poll

This poll is made up of former coaches, players, administrators and current and former media who submit their votes for the Top 25. The difference in this poll is that it comes out later than the rest. The first comes out on Oct. 9 and then once per week until Dec. 4. 

The points are all added up and divided by the total amount of points a team could get if all voters ranked them No. 1. The number of voters can vary, so it also states each teams' percentage of a possible perfect score.

3. Average Computer Rankings

These scores are determined by an average of six computer rankings. The computers determine the percentage by dropping the highest and lowest ranking for each team and then divide that number by 100, which is the maximum.

To determine the final ranking a teams total in each poll is added up and then divided by three and that is how they figure out the actual rankings.

From there the rankings are used to determine who plays in the national championship, who plays in what bowl games and so on.

It's an undoubtedly confusing system, so hopefully this helps.

Any questions? Fire away.

Information Courtesy of collegefootballpoll.com.