BCS releases 2003 college football rankings

By Aaron Juarez

Like a celebrity cutting the ribbon to open a brand-new facility, college football has clipped its own ribbon, opening up the 2003 debate over Bowl Championship Series rankings.

Monday, the BCS released its first set of rankings for the 2003 season. Undefeated teams Oklahoma, Miami and Virginia Tech secured the top three spots, respectively.

Started in 1998, the BCS was the brainchild of a gathering of the six Division I major college football conferences, the University of Notre Dame, and, the committees in charge of the four major bowl games.

The major conferences were: Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conference (SEC). The four major bowls that make up the BCS pool are the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls.

The BCS' informational Web page on ESPN.com states: "The BCS was established to determine the national champion for college football while maintaining and enhancing the bowl system which has provided significant support to college football for nearly a century."

Each of the six major conference champions are guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl and a payday of millions of dollars. The two "at-large" berths in the BCS bowl games are filled by the remaining teams in the BCS' top 12.

This year, however, the BCS comes under heavy criticism. From the recently unveiled rankings, the six teams that follow Oklahoma, Miami and Virginia Tech all have one loss on the season. Determining which of those teams gains a higher ranking comes down to a complex formula of calculations.

Essentially, each school's rank is the sum of four different totals. Such calculations take into account a school's ranking in the Associated Press [AP] and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, in addition to seven additional polls from such sources as the New York Times, Jeff Sagarin of USA Today and the Seattle Times (Anderson and Hester).

Each team's strength of schedule and any number of losses also count towards the eventual final ranking, while the "quality win component" allows teams that defeat a top 10 BCS school to shave up to a point off of their ranking. What usually complicates the BCS plans each season is when a glut of schools with one loss say they deserve a spot in the title game. This scenario played out most recently at the conclusion of the 2000 and 2001 regular seasons.

In 2000, Oklahoma was ranked at the top of the BCS poll as the only undefeated team in the poll's top 15. Behind the Sooners were five schools that each had one loss apiece. The main point of the debate centered around Florida State and the University of Miami, second and third in the BCS poll, respectively. Though Florida State was granted the second spot in the BCS poll and the remaining berth in the Orange Bowl for the national title, Miami laid out its case.

The Hurricanes of Miami at that time were ranked second in both the AP and ESPN Coaches Polls, one spot ahead of Florida State. But because six of the seven other polls (the lowest poll is dropped for each team) favored Florida State, the Seminoles edged out Miami for the berth.

One year later, the BCS had the same problem. While undefeated Miami was the obvious choice as the top-ranked team in the nation, the second spot in the Rose Bowl came down to three teams: Nebraska, Colorado and Oregon. Nebraska ended up with the bid to the national title game, despite not even winning their own conference. Colorado wasn't just the outright winner of the Big 12 (to which Nebraska belongs) with a victory over Texas in the conference title game, but the Buffaloes had trounced Nebraska 62-36 only a few weeks prior to the final BCS rankings being unveiled.

Oregon, in the meantime, argued its right to a Rose Bowl berth based on the fact that it had only suffered one loss. Nebraska had not even won their own conference and Big 12 champion Colorado had two losses on their record.

The AP and ESPN Coaches Polls even had Nebraska ranked fourth in the nation, behind second-ranked Oregon and third-ranked Colorado. Once again, favorable rankings for Nebraska from the seven other polls used by the BCS propelled the Cornhuskers into the national title game, where they were trounced 37-14 by Miami.

Another potential pothole for the BCS has been the success of "mid-conference" teams which argue their right for inclusion into a BCS bowl. Marshall University, from the Mid-American Conference, finished 12-0 at the end of the 1999 regular season but finished the season ranked only 12th by the BCS. Instead of landing a spot in the national title game (not to mention a berth in any BCS game), Marshall was relegated to the Dec. 29 Motor City Bowl, where they defeated Cincinnati 25-14.

So far in 2003, the BCS has not encountered the dilemma of one undefeated team in its top 10, but it is staring straight at the issue of a mid-major school fighting its way into a BCS bowl. Northern Illinois, a MAC school, has stormed out of the gates to a 7-0 record and are ranked 10th in the BCS poll. In the wake of this seven-game streak, the Huskies have defeated major conference teams such as Maryland (ACC), Alabama (SEC) and Iowa State (Big 12).

If Northern Illinois and Texas Christian, a 12th-ranked team from the Mountain West Conference, continue to roll this season, the BCS could suffer another major setback to add to its problems.

With its contracted run set to end after the 2005 season, the BCS is ever so slowly losing its influence on college football's national title.

Contact Aaron Juarez at (408) 554-4852 or at ajuarez@scu.edu.