GrapeApe
May-12th-2004, 01:14 PM
By TONY BARNHART
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/11/04
The controversial formula that left college football with two national champions last season is about to change again.
The new Bowl Championship Series formula, two people familiar with it say, will have just three equal parts: the Associated Press poll of sports writers and broadcasters, the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and the average of seven computer polls.
That eliminates three ingredients of the old formula: strength of schedule, losses and quality wins.
Commissioners of the six Bowl Championship Series conferences could approve the new formula as early as today, at a meeting in Chicago. The formula will go into effect this fall.
"I think everybody agreed that we needed to simplify things," said Florida State athletics director Dave Hart, who will represent ACC commissioner John Swofford in today's meeting. Swofford will stay here as the ACC wraps up its annual spring business meetings today.
Last season, Southern California and LSU were ranked first and second in both polls but, because of the old BCS formula, Oklahoma played LSU in the Sugar Bowl, the BCS national championship game. Sports writers and broadcasters ranked USC No. 1 in their post-bowl poll; LSU won the BCS national title.
The new formula should help avert future split national championships.
"I love the idea that the polls would be weighted more heavily so that something like this would not happen again," said Dr. Ralph Allman, a longtime USC fan. "The other way of doing it just didn't seem logical."
Three times in the past four seasons there has been controversy surrounding the teams picked to play in the BCS national championship game. In 2000, Miami defeated Florida State in the regular season but finished third behind the Seminoles in the BCS standings despite having the same number of losses. In 2001 Nebraska finished No. 2 in the BCS standings despite being blown out in the Big 12 championship game by Colorado. Oregon, the Pac-10 champ, was No. 2 in the human polls but was left out of the Rose Bowl game that decided the national title.
The BCS formula has undergone several tweaks since it was created in 1998. Until now, those changes have made the formula more complicated and more difficult for the public to understand. It spawned a cottage industry of experts who held forth on television and the Internet to explain the seemingly inexplicable, such as the connection between a Rice-Louisiana Tech game, an Alabama-Hawaii game and the BCS national championship.
Division I-A football is the only NCAA sport that does not have a tournament-style playoff to determine its champion.
THE FORMULA IN ACTION
The top five teams in the final 2003 Bowl Championship Series standings were 1) Oklahoma, 2) LSU, 3) USC, 4) Michigan, 5) Ohio State. Here is how the final BCS standings would have looked if the proposed new formula had been in place:
Team AP Poll Coaches poll Comp. Avg. Points
1. USC 1 1 2.67 1.56
2. LSU 2 2 1.83 1.94
3. Oklahoma 3 3 1.17 2.39
4. Michigan 4 4 4.67 4.22
5. Texas 5 5 5.89 5.29
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/gatech/0504/12bcs.html
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/11/04
The controversial formula that left college football with two national champions last season is about to change again.
The new Bowl Championship Series formula, two people familiar with it say, will have just three equal parts: the Associated Press poll of sports writers and broadcasters, the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and the average of seven computer polls.
That eliminates three ingredients of the old formula: strength of schedule, losses and quality wins.
Commissioners of the six Bowl Championship Series conferences could approve the new formula as early as today, at a meeting in Chicago. The formula will go into effect this fall.
"I think everybody agreed that we needed to simplify things," said Florida State athletics director Dave Hart, who will represent ACC commissioner John Swofford in today's meeting. Swofford will stay here as the ACC wraps up its annual spring business meetings today.
Last season, Southern California and LSU were ranked first and second in both polls but, because of the old BCS formula, Oklahoma played LSU in the Sugar Bowl, the BCS national championship game. Sports writers and broadcasters ranked USC No. 1 in their post-bowl poll; LSU won the BCS national title.
The new formula should help avert future split national championships.
"I love the idea that the polls would be weighted more heavily so that something like this would not happen again," said Dr. Ralph Allman, a longtime USC fan. "The other way of doing it just didn't seem logical."
Three times in the past four seasons there has been controversy surrounding the teams picked to play in the BCS national championship game. In 2000, Miami defeated Florida State in the regular season but finished third behind the Seminoles in the BCS standings despite having the same number of losses. In 2001 Nebraska finished No. 2 in the BCS standings despite being blown out in the Big 12 championship game by Colorado. Oregon, the Pac-10 champ, was No. 2 in the human polls but was left out of the Rose Bowl game that decided the national title.
The BCS formula has undergone several tweaks since it was created in 1998. Until now, those changes have made the formula more complicated and more difficult for the public to understand. It spawned a cottage industry of experts who held forth on television and the Internet to explain the seemingly inexplicable, such as the connection between a Rice-Louisiana Tech game, an Alabama-Hawaii game and the BCS national championship.
Division I-A football is the only NCAA sport that does not have a tournament-style playoff to determine its champion.
THE FORMULA IN ACTION
The top five teams in the final 2003 Bowl Championship Series standings were 1) Oklahoma, 2) LSU, 3) USC, 4) Michigan, 5) Ohio State. Here is how the final BCS standings would have looked if the proposed new formula had been in place:
Team AP Poll Coaches poll Comp. Avg. Points
1. USC 1 1 2.67 1.56
2. LSU 2 2 1.83 1.94
3. Oklahoma 3 3 1.17 2.39
4. Michigan 4 4 4.67 4.22
5. Texas 5 5 5.89 5.29
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/gatech/0504/12bcs.html