The amazing thing is there have been 42 of these suckers.
That's 42 BCS bowl games in 10 years. Hard to believe this whole thing started in July 1998 with a confusing press conference at a Chicago hotel. The key word being "confusing". None of us quite knew what college football was getting into -- including college football.
Heading into its 11th season, the BCS has been both a curse and a boon. Good: The BCS has given us some sort of certainty at the end of each season, something the old bowl system couldn't deliver. Two teams play for the BCS championship. They might not be the two teams you wanted, but it's a work in progress.
Bad: Well, where do you want to start?
Nebraska in 2001. LSU and Southern California in 2003. Auburn in 2004. Georgia and USC in 2007. Last season ended in a car wreck unless you were in Baton Rouge. LSU became the first team in 47 years to win a national championship with two losses.
It has been great: Thirteen of the 42 games have been decided by a touchdown or less. Four of those were BCS title games. It has been a bore: Twenty-four of the games have been decided by 10 or more points, including the other six championship games.
Where's this thing headed? Who knows, but we thought we'd kick off our season previews with a look at where we've been. Here's how the 42 games have stacked up -- 1 to 42 -- over the past 10 years. We're also including an all-BCS team chosen from the 11 teams that have played for a BCS title in the past decade.
That's right; there have been only 11 teams in 10 years filling those 20 slots.
Where are we going? First, we have to figure out what just happened in the past decade. For championship games, the years refer to the season in which the game was played.
All-BCS Title Team
Pos Player, School Season
Offense
QB Vince Young, Texas 2005
RB Maurice Clarett, Ohio State 2002
RB Justin Vincent, LSU 2003
WR Peter Warrick, Florida State 1999
WR Peerless Price, Tennessee 1998
TE Jeremy Shockey, Miami 2001
OT Bryant McKinnie, Miami 2001
OT Justin Blalock, Texas 2005
OG Will Allen, Texas 2005
OG Taitusi "Deuce" Lutui, USC 2005
C Brett Romberg, Miami 2001
Defense
DL Marcus Spears, LSU 2003
DL Derrick Harvey, Florida 2006
DL Jerome McDougle, Miami 2001
DL Will Smith, Ohio State 2002
LB Torrance Marshall, Oklahoma 2000
LB Jonathan Vilma, Miami 2001
LB James Laurinaitis, Ohio State 2007/2008
DB Sean Taylor, Miami 2002
DB Dwayne Goodrich, Tennessee 1998
DB Michael Huff, Texas 2005
DB Carlos Rogers, Auburn 2004*
Special Teams
K Mike Nugent, Ohio State 2002
P Jeff Ferguson, Oklahoma 2000
* - Rogers was selected because Auburn deserved a player from its undefeated team in 2004.
Rating all 42 BCS bowl games
1. Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 -- 2007 Fiesta Bowl ... The Statue of Liberty at night is a thrilling sight.
2. Texas 41, USC 38 -- 2005 championship game (Rose Bowl) ... Texas hasn't been as good before or after Vince.
3. Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT) -- 2002 championship game (Fiesta Bowl) ... Ohio State MVP Terry Porter changed the course of two programs.
4. LSU 21, Oklahoma 14 -- 2003 championship game (Sugar Bowl) ... Sabanator's best moment.
5. Florida State 46, Virginia Tech 29 -- 1999 championship game (Sugar Bowl) ... Vick goes down with a bang.
6. Penn State 26, Florida State 23 (3OT) -- 2006 Orange Bowl ... This Paterno fella can coach.
7. Texas 38, Michigan 37 -- 2005 Rose Bowl ... Will they ever stop scoring?
8. West Virginia 38, Georgia 35 -- 2006 Sugar Bowl ... WVU saves the Big East.
9. Michigan 35, Alabama 34 --- 2000 Orange Bowl ... 'Bama's immortal Ryan Pflugner went wide right in overtime.
10. LSU 38, Ohio State 24 -- 2007 championship game (in New Orleans) ... Funny how LSU keeps getting home games in the BCS.
11. Tennessee 23, Florida State 16 -- 1998 championship game (Fiesta Bowl) ... So THIS is how this BCS thing works.
12. USC 55, Oklahoma 19 -- 2004 championship game (Orange Bowl) ... The worst of Oklahoma's current four-game BCS bowl losing streak.
13. Florida 41, Ohio State 14 -- 2006 championship game (in Glendale, Ariz.) ... Ted Ginn Jr. makes an early exit. Florida never lets up.
14. West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28 -- 2008 Fiesta Bowl ... Bill Stewart gets a battlefield promotion.
15. Oregon State 41, Notre Dame 9 -- 2001 Fiesta Bowl ... Dennis Erickson's jucos embarrass ND.
16. USC 28, Michigan 14 -- 2004 Rose Bowl ... Half a championship is better than none.
17. USC 49, Illinois 17 -- 2008 Rose Bowl ... At least Illinois earned its trip to Pasadena, right Georgia?
18. Oklahoma 13, Florida State 2 -- 2001 championship game (Orange Bowl) ... Still Bob Stoops' best Oklahoma defense.
19. Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 -- 2006 Fiesta Bowl ... Uh, Charlie, speed might be an issue here.
20. Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 14 -- 2008 Orange Bowl ... Aqib Talib high-steps the Jayhawks to their greatest victory.
21. Georgia 41, Hawaii 10 -- 2008 Sugar Bowl ... Warriors' junior varsity is no match for the mighty Dawgs.
22. Miami 37, Nebraska 14 -- 2001 championship game (Rose Bowl) ... At least Nebraska deserved to be there, right?
23. Miami 37, Florida 20 -- 2001 Sugar Bowl -- The Hurricanes thought they should have been champions.
24. Oregon 38, Colorado 16 -- 2002 Fiesta Bowl -- So did the Ducks.
25. USC 38, Iowa 17 -- 2003 Orange Bowl -- No Heisman Jinx for Carson Palmer (303 passing yards).
26. USC 32, Michigan 18 -- 2007 Rose Bowl -- Dwayne Jarrett catches 11 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Michigan secondary hitchhikes home.
27. Miami 16, Florida State 14 -- 2004 Orange Bowl ... Another Wide Right by FSU. Miami beats the 'Noles for fifth consecutive time.
28. Wisconsin 38, UCLA 31 -- 1999 Rose Bowl ... The first Wisconsin team to win 11 games takes over the Rose Bowl with Badger red.
29. Ohio State 35, Kansas State 28 -- 2004 Fiesta Bowl ... Kansas State is distracted by a sexual assault charge against quarterback Ell Roberson.
30. Louisville 24, Wake Forest 13 -- 2007 Orange Bowl ... Two BCS strangers meet in South Florida.
31. Nebraska 31, Tennessee 21 -- 2000 Fiesta Bowl ... Nebraska's 11th consecutive bowl win against the SEC.
32. Georgia 26, Florida State 13 -- 2003 Sugar Bowl ... Something named Fabian Walker throws two interceptions and loses a fumble for FSU.
33. Auburn 16, Virginia Tech 13 -- 2005 Sugar Bowl ... Auburn goes unbeaten and feels like spit.
34. Ohio State 24, Texas A&M 14 -- 1999 Sugar Bowl ... John Cooper actually had a shot at a national championship had Florida State beaten Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl.
35. Washington 34, Purdue 24 -- 2001 Rose Bowl ... Yes, kids, the Boilermakers and Huskies were once this good.
36. LSU 47, Illinois 34 -- 2002 Sugar Bowl ... SEC champions trounce defenseless Big Ten. Sound familiar?
37. Florida 56, Maryland 23 -- 2002 Orange Bowl ... "I was in the NFL for five years," Maryland's Ralph Friedgen said, "and the only team that was better was the Oakland Raiders."
38. LSU 41, Notre Dame 14 -- 2007 Sugar Bowl ... JaMarcus Russell outplays Brady Quinn. The NFL takes care of both of them.
39. Oklahoma 34, Washington State 14 -- 2003 Rose Bowl ... Okie outsiders dare to soil the sacred Rose Bowl turf.
40. Wisconsin 17, Stanford 9 -- 2000 Rose Bowl ... The nation's fifth-worst defense holds down Rose Bowl MVP Ron Dayne -- in the first half.
41. Utah 35, Pittsburgh 7 -- 2005 Fiesta Bowl ... The first non-BCS qualifier of the BCS era proves it is for real.
42. Florida 31, Syracuse 10 -- 1999 Orange Bowl ... Wait, you mean Syracuse played in a BCS bowl?
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