2009 Bowl Championship Series analysis
Which teams were available for BCS games?
A list of the teams that were available for BCS games, and where they ended up.
1 |
Alabama |
SEC champs |
automatic bid |
National Championship Game |
2 |
Texas |
Big 12 champs |
automatic bid |
National Championship Game |
3 |
Cincinatti |
Big East champs |
automatic bid |
Sugar Bowl |
4 |
TCU |
Mountain West champs |
automatic bid |
Fiesta Bowl |
5 |
Florida |
SEC |
at large bid |
Sugar Bowl |
6 |
Boise State |
WAC champs |
at large bid |
Fiesta Bowl |
7 |
Oregon |
Pac 10 champs |
automatic bid |
Rose Bowl |
8 |
Ohio State |
Big 10 champs |
automatic bid |
Rose Bowl |
9 |
Georgia Tech |
ACC champs |
automatic bid |
Orange Bowl |
10 |
Iowa |
Big 10 |
at large bid |
Orange Bowl |
11 |
Virginia Tech |
ACC |
|
|
12 |
LSU |
SEC |
|
|
13 |
Penn State |
Big 10 |
|
|
14 |
BYU |
Mountain West |
|
|
Which teams get automatic BCS bids?
- The 6 BCS conference schools get automatic bids (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, Big East).
- The highest-ranked non-BCS conference champion gets an automatic bid if it finishes in the top 12 (TCU from the Mountain West).
How do the matchups get set?
- Top 2 teams go to National Championship Game.
- Other teams with automatic bids are slotted based on pre-existing bowl ties.
- Rose Bowl -- Pac 10 vs. Big 10
- Sugar Bowl -- SEC
- Fiesta Bowl -- Big 12
- Orange Bowl -- ACC
Remaining teams are selected in order by the bowls themselves from the pool of eligible teams.
What are the initial matchups?
The Fiesta Bowl "loses" Texas and the Sugar Bowl "loses" Alabama to the National Championship Game.
Based on the rules above, the matchups become:
National Championship Game |
Alabama vs. Texas |
Rose Bowl |
Oregon vs. Ohio State |
Sugar Bowl |
??? vs. ??? |
Orange Bowl |
Georgia Tech vs. ??? |
Fiesta Bowl |
??? vs. ??? |
What are the at-large bids?
This leaves 5 slots that need to be filled, and we already know that Cincinatti and TCU must be selected at some point.
- Sugar Bowl picks first and selects Florida (as expected, since they are inclined to take the best-available SEC team).
- Fiesta Bowl picks second and selects TCU (more on this later).
- Orange Bowl picks third and selects Iowa (somewhat odd, but not really controversial).
- Fiesta Bowl picks fourth and selects Boise State (more on this later).
- Sugar Bowl picks fifth and selects Cincinatti (they have no choice).
Who got left out?
For the first year in quite a while, no one really got left out. The top 10 teams in the final BCS standings are all playing in BCS bowls. This is one of the least-chaotic years that the BCS has had, but none of that means that the BCS is without flaw. The BCS is a deeply flawed system.
Consider:
- There are 5 undefeated teams in the BCS, and three of them have ZERO CHANCE to win the national championship. A playoff is 100% required.
- Matching up Boise State and TCU isn't a "victory for a little guy" but rather an act of cowardice by the bowls and the BCS-powers-that-be who are afraid that a "major conference program" will be beaten by a "non-automatic-BCS-school" for the third year in a row.
- Remember that the BCS is set up to protect the interests of the big six conferences, and not to provide the end-viewer with the most compelling NCAA postseason. I have boycotted watching the BCS games for years now, and I encourage you to do the same.