Fond Farewell BCS

Fond Farewell For ... The BCS?!

"Each year, there would be talk of how the BCS bowls paid out anywhere from $10 million to $20 million to its participating schools. But with expenses and losses on unsold tickets, it was eventually shown that many schools actually lost money by appearing in BCS bowls. Virginia Tech lost $2.2 million on its 2009 Orange Bowl appearance, while Connecticut lost nearly $1.8 million on the 2011 Fiesta Bowl. Recent national champions Alabama and Auburn lost money on their trips to national title games."

"The Best Games

 4. 2014 BCS National Championship Game (at Pasadena): Florida State 34, Auburn 31 – The unbeaten Seminoles stormed through their 13 regular season opponents by an average margin of six touchdowns per game. But the Seminoles fell behind the Tigers 21-3 in the first half before mounting a huge comeback. Heisman winner Jameis Winston found Kelvin Benjamin for the game-winning 2-yard touchdown pass with just 13 seconds left. The win snapped the SEC’s seven-year hold on the BCS national championship.

* 9. 1999 Fiesta Bowl: Tennessee 23, Florida State 16 – This was the one that started it all. The SEC and ACC champions collided in the desert for the first BCS national title. The game, marred by penalties and turnovers, was far from a work of art. But Tennessee QB Tee Martin and the unbeaten Volunteers stood tall in the end."

*Note:  FSU was down to their 3rd string QB for this game (Chris Weinke & Dan Kendra...I believe, were injured).  Not an excuse...just interesting to note.


"* BCS Records By Conference -- Here are the best records by conference in all BCS games:
Mountain West, 3-1 (.750); WAC, 2-1 (.667); SEC, 17-10 (.629); Pac-12, 13-8 (.619); Big East/AAC, 9-7 (.563); Big Ten, 13-15 (.464); Big 12, 10-12 (.455); ACC, 5-13 (.278); MAC, 0-1 (.000); Independents (all Notre Dame), 0-4 (.000)."

"* Most Appearances By School -- Ohio State made 10 BCS bowl appearances in the format’s 16 years, although one of them (2011 Sugar Bowl) was vacated by NCAA sanctions. The list after Ohio State: Oklahoma, 9; Florida State, 8; USC, Florida, 7; Virginia Tech, Alabama, 6; LSU, Michigan, Oregon, Wisconsin, Stanford, 5; Miami, Notre Dame, Texas, 4. USC had two BCS appearance vacated by NCAA sanctions."

"* Most BCS Wins By School -- Here are the records of the top 10 teams with the most BCS wins: USC, 6-1; Ohio State, 6-4; Florida, 5-2; LSU, 4-1; Oklahoma, 4-5; West Virginia, 3-0; Miami, Texas, 3-1; Alabama, 3-3; Florida State, 3-5. Nine schools with two BCS wins and 11 with one win."

"* Multiple BCS National Championships -- Four schools won multiple national championship games during the BCS era. Alabama won three, while Florida, LSU and Florida State each won two. USC won one BCS title and also won an AP national title in 2003, when LSU won the BCS title game.
* BCS National Titles By Conference -- The SEC dominated the BCS era with five different schools combining for nine national championships. The ACC and Big 12 each had two BCS titles, while the Pac-12, Big Ten and Big East each had one.
In terms of BCS title game appearances, the SEC led with 11, followed by the Big 12 with seven, the ACC with four, the Pac-12, Big East and Big Ten with three each and an independent (Notre Dame) with one."


"* Tops In TV Ratings -- The 2006 USC-Texas Rose Bowl for the national title on ABC was the highest rated and most-viewed game of the BCS era by a wide margin (21.7 rating, 35.6 million viewers).
The next highest rated title games were: 2001 Orange Bowl (Oklahoma-Florida State), 17.8 rating on ABC; 2000 Sugar Bowl (Florida State-Virginia Tech), 17.5 rating on ABC; 2007 BCS National Championship (Florida-Ohio State), 17.4 rating on FOX; 1999 Fiesta Bowl (Tennessee-Florida State), 17.2 rating on ABC; 2003 Fiesta Bowl (Ohio State-Miami), 17.2 rating on ABC; 2010 BCS National Championship (Alabama-Texas), 17.2 rating on ABC.
The lowest rated national title game in the BCS era was for USC’s 55-19 blowout win over Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl. It drew a 13.7 rating on ABC.
Excluding BCS national title games, the highest rated BCS bowl was the 2004 USC-Michigan Rose Bowl (14.3 rating) and the most-viewed was also a Rose Bowl — a tie between Ohio State-Oregon in 2010 and USC-Michigan in 2007 (24.0 million viewers). The top non-championship Fiesta Bowl was Ohio State-Notre Dame in 2006 (12.9 rating), which aired in the traditional Rose Bowl slot late afternoon on Jan. 1.
The 2012 West Virginia-Clemson Orange Bowl was the lowest rated and least-viewed BCS bowl ever (4.5 rating, 7.2 million viewers).
ESPN took over all of the BCS telecasts in January 2011. ESPN’s highest rating for a BCS bowl was for the 2011 BCS National Championship between Auburn and Oregon (15.3 rating). With 27.3 million viewers, that game stands as the most-watched program in the history of cable television.
(Special thanks to SportsMediaWatch.com for facts and figures on TV ratings.)"