Bowl Championship Series

Bowl Championship Series
BCS logo (2010–2013)
In operation	1998–2013
Preceded by	Bowl Alliance (1995–1997) Bowl Coalition (1992–1994)
Succeeded by	College Football Playoff (2014–present)
Number of BCS games	5 per season (4 from 1998–2006)
Championship trophy	AFCA National Championship Trophy
Television partner(s)	ABC (1999–2010) FOX (2007–2010) ESPN (2011–2014)
Most BCS appearances	Ohio State (10)
Most BCS wins	USC Trojans (6*), Ohio State (6*), Florida (5) *Includes vacated wins
Most BCS championships	Alabama (3)
Conference with most appearances	Big Ten (28)
Conference with most game wins	SEC (17)
Conference with most championships	SEC (9)
Last championship game	2014 BCS National Championship Game
Executive director	Bill Hancock
Website	bcsfootball.org

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created five bowl game match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff.

The BCS relied on a combination of polls and computer selection methods to determine relative team rankings, and to narrow the field to two teams to play in the BCS National Championship Game held after the other college bowl games (the game rotated among four existing bowl games from the 1998 to 2005 season, and was a separate game from the 2006 to 2013 seasons). The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) was contractually bound to vote the winner of this game as the BCS National Champion and the contract signed by each conference required them to recognize the winner of the BCS National Championship game as the official and only champion. The BCS was created to end split championships and for the champion to win the title on the field between the two teams selected by the BCS. Despite this objective, it failed to produce a consensus champion on one occasion, as the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split title, with the Associated Press (AP) Poll selecting the USC Trojans and the Coaches' Poll being contractually committed to select the LSU Tigers.

The system also selected match-ups for four other prestigious BCS bowl games: the Rose Bowl Game, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl. The ten teams selected included the conference champion from each of the six Automatic Qualifying conferences plus four others (two others prior to the 2006 season). The BCS was created by formal agreement by those six conferences (the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big East [now the American Athletic Conference (The American)], Big Ten Conference (Big Ten), Big 12 Conference (Big 12), Pac-10 [now the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12)], and Southeastern Conference (SEC) conferences) and the three FBS independent schools, and evolved to allow other conferences to participate to a lesser degree. For the 1998 through 2005 seasons eight teams competed in four BCS bowls.