Bcs

Mathematics of Politics

November 12, 2006

Bowl Championship Series

Since it's installation in the 1998 season the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has suffered criticism, has succeeded, and has undergone many changes. The BCS is a ranking system used in NCAA football to determine the best teams based on a compilation of different ranking methods. It has replaced the previous ranking systems based on their inabilities to match up the two best teams at the end of the year to play in the national championship. Despite ongoing criticism the BCS has had success in recent years and with the beneficial changes that have been made it looks as though it will continue to serve as the accepted national ranking system for college football.

The rankings are based on four components which are subjective polls (AP poll and Coaches' Poll), computer rankings, strength of a team's schedule, and number of losses. The controversial issue with this rating system is the accuracy of the computer rankings which is stirring much debate on whether or not the BCS system should be used. The computer rankings are generated by six sources from mathematicians, statisticians, or businessmen. They use a borda count method in which the six men vote their top twenty-five teams in order of preference with the top ranked team earning 25 points and the bottom ranked team earning 1. To avoid controversy in opinion the highest and the lowest ranking is dropped for each team leaving four rankings. These rankings are then added to give a total number and what ever team has the highest is the top computer ranked team. For example, if a given team received rankings of 1,1,2,4,3,2, the ranking of 1 and 4 would be dropped leaving 1,2,2,3. Points would then be given for each ranking equaling 25+24+24+23 = 96. This may seem fair, but it becomes more complicated because each source is responsible for a different variable: strength of schedule, location of game, upset factor, margin of victory, and offensive and defensive ratings. Although all of these statistics are computer-generated it is difficult to factor all of them in to one rating so this is why this system is so controversial.

Gaining a spot in a coveted BCS bowl game is another debated topic of the new system. NCAA division one football is comprised of 6 BCS conferences and 5 non-BCS conferences, so it is very hard for a non-BCS team to make it into a BCS bowl game. As of this year the BCS has added a bowl game, the BCS National Championship, to add to the already existing Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. There are many details in the eligibility process for which teams get to play in a BCS bowl game. The top two ranked teams automatically qualify for the BCS championship game while the winners of the five BCS conferences are guaranteed a spot in a BCS game. As for non-BCS conference teams, they have to be ranked in the top 12 in the final BCS rankings to gain entry to a game, and because Notre Dame is not part of a conference and is independent their requirement is to finish in the top eight of the final standings to get into a BCS bowl game. The two mandatory requirements for all BCS and non-BCS conference teams; however, is that they have to be ranked in the top 14 in the final BCS rankings, and they must have at least nine regular season wins. The main argument with this system is that non-BCS teams are not given an equal chance to compete with BCS teams. It would be impossible for a non-BCS team to win the national championship regardless of their achievements. This bias has also raised the argument that it is becoming harder for non-BCS conference schools to recruit top-notch players for their programs because they want to be in a BCS conference where they will receive the attention and get recognition for playing