What is the BCS?
The Bowl Championship Series began in 1998, following the Bowl Coalition (1992-94) and Bowl Alliance (1995-97) as a way to determine a national champion by pitting the top two teams in a title game. The national championship rotates between four bowls, the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta and the three that don't host the No. 1 and No. 2 teams are part of the "series." This year the Orange Bowl gets the national championship game.
The NCAA, which doesn't sponsor a Division I-A football championship, is not involved in the BCS process at all and has no role in the selection of the teams. Six Division I-A conferences are in the BCS — the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10 and SEC, plus independent Notre Dame.
This year the BCS will rank teams according to a formula that is weighted one-third on the Associated Press poll, one-third on the USA Today/ESPN poll and one-third on the average of six computer rankings. The top 12 teams in the rankings are eligible to play in the BCS bowl games with the top six teams guaranteed spots in those games.