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The 2005 Bowl ChampionshipSeries
2005 may turn out to be the best year ever for the BCS. The controversial Bowl Championship Series
has had numerous critics over the years. Much of the criticism is well deserved as the BCS has failed
to complete job that it was designed to do - to crown an undisputed NCAA football champion. This
year's edition of the BCS features a match-up of two excellent 12-0 teams in USC and Texas, legendary
coaches Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno, and Notre Dame.
Final BCS Standings
- USC
- Texas
- Penn State
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Miami (Fla.)
- Auburn
- Virginia Tech
- West Virginia
- LSU
- Alabama
- TCU
- Texas Tech
- UCLA
- Florida
- Wisconsin
- Louisville
- Michigan
- Boston College
- Florida State
- Oklahoma
- Georgia Tech
- Northwestern
How the BCS Works
The BCS was created for the purpose of pairing the best two college football teams in the nation for the
purpose of crowning an undisputed national champion. Many college football fans have misconceptions about
the BCS with the primary one being that it is intended to pair all of the major bowl games: The Sugar Bowl,
The Rose Bowl, The Orange Bowl, and the Fiesta Bowl. The result is often that some schools feeling that
they were squeezed, burned or screwed over in the process. In 2005, the BCS did its job and found the best
two teams in the land. Of course, the Texas Longhorns and USC Trojans helped by both going 12-0 for the season.
The BCS was actually much less controversial this year than in past years. In 2004 for instance, there were
too many undefeated teams resulting in a controversial BCS and a split national championship. That was a big
black eye for the BCS whose purpose is to avoid that kind of a mess.
Each BCS team is assigned a percentage by dividing its points earned by the total possible points available
in both the Harris Interactive Poll (2,825) and the USA Today Coaches Poll (1,550).
The computer rankings component of the BCS is calculated by using six separate computer rankings that are
calculated in inverse order from the 25th team to the 1st team. The top team receives 25 points and the 25th
team receives 1 point. Both the highest and lowest rankings for each team are excluded, and the remaining
four rankings are added together and divided by 100 - the maximum possible points - to produce a Computer
Rankings Percentage. The six computer rankings providers are Anderson and Hester, Richard Billingsley,
Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe. Strength of schedule is incorporated into each
of the six computer gurus' proprietary rankings.
The final BCS average, the one used to match the top two teams, is calculated by averaging the percentages
for the Harris Interactive and USA Today Coaches polls, as well as the computer rankings.
The 2005 BCS Matchups
This year's Bowl Championship Series games match some excellent football teams against each other. The games
promise to be very exciting. College football in general, and the BCS in particular is very fun to watch. What
can make the games even more enjoyable is having a little bit of action on your favorite team. Heck, when it
comes to the BCS it's fun to have action on all the games.
The Sugar Bowl - January 2, 2006 - Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia is almost the home team for this year's Sugar Bowl, which has been relocated to Atlanta in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. In this year's edition, the Georgia Bulldogs will square off against the West Virginia.
West Virginia huh? West Virginia is a good football team. In fact they are good enough to have won their
conference earning a spot in the BCS. The only problem that we can see is that West Virginia is a good team
that won a poor conference. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, they have to play the winner of a very good
conference. Georgia is a rough tough football team that will overmatch, overpower, and overwhelm West
Virginia. We will go ahead and side with Georgia and give the 8 points.
The Fiesta Bowl - January 2, 2006 - Tempe, Arizona
The Fiesta Bowl features Notre Dame Fighting Irish, led by Charlie Weis, taking on the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes.
This is the most controversial of all the BCS games since it does not feature conference winners. Ohio State
qualified for the BCS by virtue of finishing 4th, just ahead of 5th place team Oregon. Notre Dame got in by virtue
of the "The Notre Dame Rule" - when an independent team finishes 6th or better in the BCS it is guaranteed a spot.
Obviously, Notre Dame is the only independent team that has a chance of finishing 6th or better in the BCS year
in and year out. What gets lost in all the controversy is that both Ohio State and Notre Dame were mandatory
at-large selections. There was no subjectivity involved in the BCS selection process where one team was favored
over another
Now that we have cleared up the matter of how and why these teams are in the Fiesta Bowl, we can get to the important
things, like who will win, or at least who will cover. The Charlie Weis era, brief as it is, has been a resounding
success thus far. We believe that Charlie and his Fighting Irish will cap a great season off by beating a very good
Ohio State team. Yes, this means that not only will we take Notre Dame and the +4 points, but we will take the Irish
STRAIGHT UP.
The Orange Bowl - January 3, 2006 - Miami, Florida
The Orange Bowl, or is it the Bowden vs. Paterno Bowl?, features the two all time winningest coaches in Division-1A
football. Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno, coaches of the FloridaThe two great coaches are sure to be full of quips leading
up to the big game, but rest assured, there will be no fun and games on Game Day.
In our opinion, the point spread for the Orange Bowl, -7 ½ in favor of Penn State, is a very solid number. That said,
we believe that Joe Pa's Nittany Lions will soundly defeat the Seminoles. If our arm is being twisted, we are leaning
toward taking Penn State and giving the points.
The Rose Bowl - January 4, 2006 - Pasadena, California
There were only two unbeaten teams left standing at the end of the 2005 college football season, the USC Trojans and Texas
Longhorns. These two deserving teams will square off in the Rose Bowl to determine who will be the undisputed national
champions. Not only are these teams undefeated this year, but USC is coming into the game on a 34 game winning streak,
while Texas has its own 19 game winning streak.
Just how much of a marquee game is the 2006 Rose Bowl? Consider what the game has going for it:
- The last two Rose Bowl winners are playing in the game.
- The last two Rose Bowl MVPs are playing in the game (Matt Leinhart and Vince Young).
- The likely winner of this year's Heisman trophy will also be playing in the game. In fact, the top 3 finalists are all in the game (Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Matt Leinhart).
- The only two undefeated teams in the nation are in the game.
Now that is a game!
The early line on the Rose Bowl lists USC as a 7-point favorite over the Longhorns. Our first, second, and third reactions
were, "ARE THEY NUTS?" The odds makers must truly be crazy if they are making a 12-0 team a seven-point underdog to anybody.
If there ever was a game that screamed value this is the game. We will gladly take Texas and the points.
The Orange Bowl - January 3, 2006 - Miami, Florida
The Orange Bowl, or is it the Bowden vs. Paterno Bowl?, features the two all time winningest coaches in Division-1A football.
Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno, coaches of the FloridaThe two great coaches are sure to be full of quips leading up to the big
game, but rest assured, there will be no fun and games on Game Day.
In our opinion, the point spread for the Orange Bowl, -7 ½ in favor of Penn State, is a very solid number. That said, we
believe that Joe Pa's Nittany Lions will soundly defeat the Seminoles. If our arm is being twisted, we are leaning toward
taking Penn State and giving the points.
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