Imagine yourself sitting in the cozy seats of the Orange Bowl during the fourth quarter of a game between the home-standing Miami Hurricanes and the less than mighty Temple Owls. Miami has just scored their eighth touchdown of the game to go ahead 56-7. You expect them to pull off the dogs and let the reserves get a crack at the hopeless Owls. Not so fast. Miami needs more points to spread the margin of victory as much as it can in the time left. Why, you may ask, would they do a heartless act such as this? The Bowl Championship Series is why my friends. .
Situations similar to this hypothetical one Miami have happened quite often as top teams battle for the #1 position in the B.C.S. The B.C.S. is sort of an alliance between a group of postseason bowls and some of the top conferences in the nation. However, this system, according to many, still does not crown a true champion. A team could go undefeated throughout the regular season and still not play for the national championship.
According to ABC Sports, the Bowl Championship Series standings are made by combining a number of items together. Fortunately, for this new college football season, point spread was eliminated from the formula. All of the other factors still remain, though. Seven computer polls are taken from around the country and the average of those polls is taken towards the team's point total. Next is an average of the two major non-computer polls, the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today. The strength of the team's schedule is figured in next and points are awarded for playing a tough schedule. Number of losses and quality wins are the last items to go in to the formula. A quality win would be a victory over a top 10 team and an extra bonus point would go to the team for this feat. All of these equations are added up and then determine the national rankings. .
Collegiate football is unarguably the most revenue generating college sport.