BCS National Championship Game
The BCS National Championship Game was played following the 1998-2013 seasons; it was preceded by the Bowl Alliance Championship Game in 1995-1997 and the Bowl Coalition Championship Game in 1992-1994. For simplicity's sake, although the mechanics behind each different iteration of the game have been slightly different, they are all listed here as one.
The Bowl Coalition was an arrangement between four of the (then) five major bowls (Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Cotton Bowl), as well as the Sun Bowl, Gator Bowl, and (in 1992) the Blockbuster Bowl. The Southeastern Conference, Big Eight Conference, Southwest Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, and Big East Conference, plus Notre Dame, were signatories to the arrangement. The champions of these five conferences, plus five at-large teams, were thrown into a pool. Traditional host bowls for conference champions were retained for the Orange, Sugar, and Cotton; however, if necessary to force a title game, teams would be released. (This was never necessary in the Bowl Coalition era, as the #1 or #2 team each year came from the ACC or Big East.) The teams were ranked by a "Bowl Poll", which combined the AP and Coaches' poll votes.
Due to the impending collapse of the Southwest Conference and a shift in conference tie-ins which came about as a result, the Bowl Coalition was scrapped in 1995 and replaced by the Bowl Alliance. The Bowl Alliance was restricted simply to the Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta. In 1995, there was no at-large bid available at all; following the dissolution of the Southwest Conference, one became available (with a second potentially open if Notre Dame failed to win nine games, which happened in both of the succeeding years). The host bowl for the #1 team in the Bowl Poll hosted the Bowl Alliance championship game, and if a bowl lost a conference champion as a result, they got to select an unassigned team. After the 1997 season, the Big Ten Conference and Pacific Ten Conference and the Rose Bowl finally agreed to join the process, and the BCS was formed.
The BCS has generally followed the same mechanism as the prior attempts, with two exceptions: first, the host site for the BCS National Championship Game was determined ahead of time, as the four bowls agreed to rotate. (As a result, the 2002 Rose Bowl became the first Rose Bowl in 55 years that failed to pit Big 10 vs. Pac-10 -- and, indeed, neither conference was represented in the game for the first time ever.) Beginning in 2006, the BCS National Championship Game became a separate event; it was still played at one of the four BCS bowl sites, but no longer overlapped with the existing bowl.
The mechanism was subject to continued criticism for still being a completely subjective system which routinely seemed to leave one or more deserving teams without the chance to play for the national championship on the field. Further, repeated snubs of unbeaten or one-loss teams for the non-championship BCS bowls led to anger toward the system. After the 2013 season it was replaced by the [{College Football Playoff]], a four-team event intended to reduce the first of those complaints, while the latter were addressed by systemic guarantees that, barring major conference champions finishing outside the top 10, the top dozen teams in the land would play in the New Year's Six bowl games.
Results
| 01 JAN 1993 | Alabama (2) | 34 | Miami (FL) (1) | 13 | BC: (Sugar Bowl) |
| 01 JAN 1994 | Florida State (1) | 18 | Nebraska (2) | 16 | BC: (Orange Bowl) |
| 01 JAN 1995 | Nebraska (1) | 24 | Miami (FL) (3) | 17 | BC: (Orange Bowl) |
| 02 JAN 1996 | Nebraska (1) | 62 | Florida (2) | 24 | BA: {Fiesta Bowl) |
| 02 JAN 1997 | Florida (3) | 52 | Florida State (1) | 20 | BA: (Sugar Bowl) |
| 02 JAN 1998 | Nebraska (2) | 42 | Tennessee (3) | 17 | BA: (Orange Bowl) |
| 04 JAN 1999 | Tennessee (1) | 23 | Florida State (2) | 16 | BCS: (Fiesta Bowl) |
| 04 JAN 2000 | Florida State (1) | 46 | Virginia Tech (2) | 29 | BCS: (Sugar Bowl) |
| 03 JAN 2001 | Oklahoma (1) | 13 | Florida State (2) | 2 | BCS: (Orange Bowl) |
| 03 JAN 2002 | Miami (FL) (1) | 37 | Nebraska (2) | 14 | BCS: (Rose Bowl) |
| 03 JAN 2003 | Ohio State (2) | 31 | Miami (FL) (1) | 24 | BCS: (Fiesta Bowl)†† |
| 04 JAN 2004 | Louisiana State (2) | 21 | Oklahoma (1) | 14 | BCS: (Sugar Bowl) |
| 04 JAN 2005 | Southern California (1)‡ | 55 | Oklahoma (2) | 19 | BCS: (Orange Bowl) |
| 04 JAN 2006 | Texas (2) | 41 | Southern California (1)‡ | 38 | BCS: (Rose Bowl) |
| 08 JAN 2007 | Florida (2) | 41 | Ohio State (1) | 14 | BCS: (Glendale AZ) |
| 07 JAN 2008 | Louisiana State (2) | 38 | Ohio State (1) | 24 | BCS: (New Orleans LA) |
| 08 JAN 2009 | Florida (2) | 24 | Oklahoma (1) | 14 | BCS: (Miami Gardens FL) |
| 07 JAN 2010 | Alabama (1) | 37 | Texas (2) | 21 | BCS: (Pasadena CA) |
| 10 JAN 2011 | Auburn (1) | 22 | Oregon (2) | 19 | BCS: (Glendale AZ) |
| 09 JAN 2012 | Alabama (2) | 21 | Louisiana State (1) | 0 | BCS: (New Orleans LA) |
| 07 JAN 2013 | Alabama (2) | 42 | Notre Dame (1) | 14 | BCS: (Miami FL) |
| 05 JAN 2014 | Florida State (1) | 34 | Auburn (2) | 31 | BCS: (Pasadena CA) |
† - denotes overtime ‡ - Southern California's participation in the 2004 and 2005 BCS Championship Games was vacated following the declared ineligibility of USC running back Reggie Bush. The 2005 BCS title is deemed as vacant; Texas retains the 2006 title.
