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Welcome to BCS Central

complete BCS rankings

analysis	week-by-week	first-place votes	BCS history
BCS bowls	strength of schedule	conference rankings	BCS computers

So, how does the BCS work anyway?

A team's BCS score is the average (technically, the arithmetic mean) of its computer, Harris Poll, and Coaches' Poll scores. There are six BCS computers. For any one team, its high and low computer rankings are discarded. Points are assigned in inverse order of rankings - from one point for a team ranked twenty-five up to twenty-five points for a team ranked number one on a particular computer. The four resulting numbers are added, and a team's BCS computer score is the ratio of the total to one hundred. The ratio ranges from 0.00 to 1.00. For both polls, points are again assigned inversely to rankings - that is - a team gets one point if it ranked number twenty-five, and gets twenty-five points if it is ranked number one by an individual voter. There are 114 voters in the Harris Poll and 60 voters in the Coaches' Poll. Therefore, the Harris score is the total number of points divided by 2850 (114 * 25). The Coaches' score is the total number of points divided by 1500 (60 * 25).

The BCS National Championship Game matches the #1 and #2 ranked teams. The champions of six conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10, and SEC) are guaranteed spots in a BCS bowl. Another team in one of these conferences thats earns a final ranking of #3 or #4 is almost certain to play in a BCS bowl. One, and only one, champion of any other conference (Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and Western Athletic) automatically gets invited to a BCS bowl with a top-twelve finish or if it has a ranking of #16 or better and is ranked higher than one of the BCS conference champions. If Notre Dame finishes in the top eight of the BCS rankings, it also is assured of a berth. Otherwise, to be eligible to play in a BCS bowl, a team must have at least nine wins and a final ranking of #14 or better. NEW: If the 10 BCS bowl spots cannot be filled from the top 14, teams will be selected from the top 18, 22, etc. as necessary.