Best Year of the BCS Ever?

So long Bowl Championship Series; it's been fun. You may not have always accomplished your goal of providing a clear-cut National Champion, but you gave us so much to talk, argue and complain about.

With the four-team playoff starting next year, this season was the last year of the BCS and it went out with a bang. But was it the best year of the BCS's 16-year reign?

I decided to take on this question and rank each year. In honor of the BCS, I came up with a formula that factored in the total points and scoring margin of each game, with extra weight on the National Championship game. (If that doesn't make sense, it shouldn't - it's the BCS!)

16. 2000 season

The first season of the millennium ended in a lackluster way. You don't need to look much further than the Orange Bowl, which served as the National Championship game, to see how bad the BCS games were: Oklahoma beat Florida State 13-2. Thirteen to two. That's a blowout baseball score, not a football score. Making it even worse was the fact that the closest game was a 10-point win by Washington over Purdue in the Rose Bowl (34-24). The Sugar Bowl featured a 37-20 victory by Miami (FL) over Florida, while the Fiesta Bowl was an Oregon State 41-9 blowout win over Notre Dame.

15. 2012 season

Everyone remembers Alabama's 42-14 massacre of Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship, but the 2012 season's other BCS bowls were also pretty bad. The Rose Bowl was a pretty good game, as Stanford beat Wisconsin 20-14, but the other three games were decided by an average of 16.3 points per game. Louisville's 33-23 upset win over Florida in the Sugar Bowl was the next closest game, but if you watched it, you know it wasn't really that close. In the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon beat Kansas State 35-17, while Florida State blew out BCS-buster Northern Illinois 31-10 in the Orange Bowl.

14. 2001 season

These bowl games were decided by an average of 22.8 points per game, the largest average margin of victory in the history of the BCS. The closest game was LSU's 47-34 victory over Illinois in the Sugar Bowl. All of the other games were decided by at least three touchdowns. Oregon beat Colorado 38-16 in the Fiesta Bowl and Florida beat Maryland 56-23 in the Orange Bowl. Miami (FL) won the National Championship by beating Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl.

13. 2008 season

If you like a lot of points, the 2008 season's BCS bowl games were not very fun. The 44 points per game were the second-lowest in the history of the BCS. This season did, however, have close games. The largest victory this year was Utah's 31-17 upset win against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Texas squeaked out a 24-21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl and Virginia Tech pulled away with a 20-7 win over Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. Florida won its second BCS National Championship in three seasons with a 24-14 win over Oklahoma.

12. 2006 season

The Southeastern Conference's dominance began this season, as Florida blew out Ohio State in the BCS National Championship and LSU blew out Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, both by a score of 41-14. The Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl were somewhat competitive, as Louisville beat Wake Forest 24-13 and USC beat Michigan 32-18, respectively. If this were a "human poll," I would rank 2006 higher because of one game: the Fiesta Bowl. Boise State used a hook-and-ladder and Statue of Liberty play to upset Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime. Then Ian Johnson, the player that scored the game winning two-point conversion, proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend. Easily one of the fondest memories of my childhood.

11. 2004 season

If you have only watched college football for eight years and I told you that a Pac-12, Big 12 and an SEC team finished the season undefeated and the SEC team was left out of the National Championship game, you probably wouldn't believe me. But that's exactly what happened in 2004. How'd it work out? USC blew out Oklahoma 55-19 in the National Championship game (Rose Bowl). The 36-point victory is the largest in a National Championship game since the BCS's inception. The Fiesta Bowl was also a blowout, as Utah beat Pittsburgh 35-7, but the other two games were very close. Auburn, the undefeated SEC team, beat Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl, while Texas beat Michigan 38-37 in the Rose Bowl. There's no telling where this season would rank if Auburn was given the spot in the National Championship game instead of Oklahoma.

10. 2003 season

The 2003 BCS bowls featured even less points than 2008, as there were an average of 42.5 points per game. However, the games were pretty close. Many BCS haters point to this season when criticizing the system. LSU beat Oklahoma 21-14 in the National Championship game (Sugar Bowl), but USC, who some thought deserved the championship berth instead of LSU, beat Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl, leading to a split national championship, which the BCS was designed to avoid. In the other games, Ohio State beat Kansas State 35-28 in the Fiesta Bowl and Miami (FL) beat Florida State 16-14 in the Orange Bowl.

9. 2011 season

If you aren't an SEC fan, you probably hated this season. LSU and Alabama played in the regular season, but after all sorts of dominoes fell, they matched up again for the BCS National Championship game. LSU beat Alabama 9-6 the first time, but Alabama won the rematch 21-0. The Sugar Bowl was an exciting game that Michigan won 23-20 in overtime over Virginia Tech. In another overtime game, Oklahoma State beat Stanford in a 41-38 shootout. The Rose Bowl was a shootout, as well, with Oregon's high-powered offense beating Wisconsin 45-38. Clemson scored 33 points in the Fiesta Bowl, but it wasn't nearly enough to beat West Virginia, which scored a BCS-record 70 points.

8. 1998 season

The first season of the BCS gave us some exciting games. Despite being a 5.5-point underdog, Tennessee beat Florida State 23-16 to win the National Championship (Fiesta Bowl). The Rose Bowl was also a one-touchdown game, with Wisconsin beating UCLA 38-31, and the Sugar Bowl was a 10-point game, with Ohio State beating Texas A&M 24-14. The only blowout the first season of the BCS came in the Orange Bowl. Syracuse, led by Donovan McNabb, lost to Florida 31-10.

t6. 2009 season

The "computers" spat out a tie for sixth. In 2009, the SEC's dominance was already well-established, but Alabama and Florida helped further it, with a 37-21 victory over Texas in the BCS Championship and 51-24 victory over Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, respectively. The other three BCS bowls were pretty close games. Iowa beat Georgia Tech 24-14 in the Orange Bowl and Ohio State beat Oregon 26-17 in the Rose Bowl, while Boise State beat TCU 17-10 in a battle of BCS-busters in the Fiesta Bowl.

t6. 2007 season

Chaos in the final week of the 2007 regular season created a lot of buzz for the BCS bowl games. After much speculation, LSU became the first, and only, 2-loss team to play in the BCS National Championship game. The Tigers capitalized on their opportunity and beat Ohio State 38-24. The best BCS game this year was the Orange Bowl, which Kansas won 24-21 over Virginia Tech. The other three games were blow out wins by West Virginia (48-28 over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl), Georgia (41-10 over Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl) and USC (49-17 over Illinois in the Rose Bowl).

5. 2002 season

This season's BCS bowls were highlighted by an epic double overtime 31-24 win by Ohio State over highly favored Miami (FL) in the National Championship game (Fiesta Bowl). The other games were decided by three touchdowns or less, as well. USC won the Orange Bowl (38-17 over Iowa), Oklahoma won the Rose Bowl (34-14 over Washington State) and Georgia won the Sugar Bowl (26-13 over Florida State).

4. 2010 season

For the sixth and final time in the history of the BCS, the National Championship game paired two undefeated teams and it appeared to an epic matchup. While the game didn't go the way many expected, it was still a great game, as Auburn beat Oregon 22-19. The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl also featured close games. Ohio State hung on for a 31-26 win over Arkansas in the Sugar, while TCU hung on for a 21-19 win over Wisconsin in the Rose. The other two games were four-touchdown blowouts. Oklahoma beat UConn 48-20 in the Fiesta Bowl and Stanford beat Virginia Tech 40-12 in the Orange Bowl.

3. 1999 season

The 1999 season concluded with three really good BCS games and one that wasn't that exciting. Unfortunately, that game was the National Championship (Sugar Bowl), which Florida State won 46-29 over Virginia Tech. The Fiesta Bowl had the next largest margin of victory, as Nebraska beat defending National Champion Tennessee 31-21. Wisconsin won a defensive struggle in the Rose Bowl 17-9 over Stanford, while Michigan won a more offensive game in the Orange Bowl 35-31 over Alabama.

2. 2005 season

An epic season of BCS bowls concluded with one of the best BCS National Championship games in its 16-year history. Defending National Champion USC came into the game undefeated and favored over Texas, which was also undefeated, but Vince Young carried the Longhorns to a 41-38 victory in the Rose Bowl. The Orange Bowl was also a great game, as Penn State beat Florida State 26-23 in triple overtime. The Sugar Bowl featured a three-point classic, as well. West Virginia won a 38-35 shootout over Georgia. Ohio State's 34-20 victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl was the biggest win by any of the team in the BCS this season. In fact, the 5.8 average margin of victory is smallest in the history of the BCS.

1. 2013 season

These BCS bowl games will forever remain the freshest on our minds, as the College Football Playoff begins with the 2014 season, and the BCS could not have gone out any better. Underdogs won the first four games and it took an 18-point comeback to keep them from going five-for-five. Michigan State had to make a fourth quarter fourth-and-one stand to hang on for a 24-20 victory over Stanford in the 100th Rose Bowl. UCF, a team most people didn't think deserved a BCS berth, kept the ball rolling as they pulled off an upset in the Fiesta Bowl, winning a 52-42 shootout over Baylor. The drama continued in the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma, a two-touchdown underdog, shocked Alabama 45-31. After winning his first 24 games at Ohio State, Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes lost their second consecutive game in the Orange Bowl, as Clemson won the shootout 40-35. These four games set the stage for undefeated Florida State, which had dominated every team it played in the regular season, and Auburn, which needed a pair of miracle plays to keep its season alive. At first, it appeared as if Auburn would run away with the win, but Florida State came back and made it a game. In a crazy final 4:42, which featured 24 points and three lead changes, the Seminoles ended the SEC's streak of titles and won 34-31.

Whether you agree with these rankings or not and whether you hated the BCS or not, we can all agree on one thing: it was captivating and took college football to another level.

Other Random BCS Stats

Highest Scoring BCS Game
1. Fiesta Bowl - 58.4 ppg
2. Sugar Bowl - 55.5 ppg
3. Rose Bowl - 54.4 ppg
4. Orange Bowl - 51.7 ppg
5. National Championship - 51.2 ppg*

Closest BCS Game
1. Rose Bowl - 10.9 avg. margin
2. Sugar Bowl - 13.4 avg. margin
3. Fiesta Bowl - 13.6 avg. margin
4. National Championship - 14.6 avg. margin*
5. Orange Bowl - 16.2 avg. margin

*The first eight years of the BCS had only four BCS bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Rose, Sugar), with one of them designated at the National Championship. For these years, I counted the championship game twice. For example, the 1999 Fiesta Bowl served as the National Championship game, so it counted toward the Fiesta Bowl stats and the National Championship stats.

Most BCS Bowl Appearances (team)
1. Ohio State - 10
2. Oklahoma - 9
3. Florida State - 8
t4. Florida - 7
t4. USC - 7

Most BCS Bowl Wins (team)
t1. Ohio State - 6
t1. USC - 6
3. Florida - 5
t4. LSU - 4
t4. Oklahoma - 4

Most BCS Bowl Appearances (conference)
1. Big Ten - 28
2. SEC - 27
3. Big 12 - 22
4. Pac-12 - 21
5. ACC - 18
6. Big East - 15
t7. Independent - 4
t7. MWC - 4
9. WAC - 3
t10. American - 1
t10. MAC - 1

Best BCS Bowl Winning Percentage (conference)
1. American - 1.000 (1-0)
2. MWC - .750 (3-1)
3. WAC - .667 (2-1)
4. SEC - .630 (17-10)
5. Pac-12 - .619 (13-8)
6. Big East - .533 (8-7)
7. Big Ten - .464 (13-15)
8. Big 12 - .455 (10-12)
9. ACC - .278 (5-13)
10. MAC - .000 (0-1)
11. Independent - .000 (0-4)