BCS National Championship Game

The BCS National Championship Game was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four designated bowl games, and beginning in the 2006 season as a standalone event rotated among the host sites of the aforementioned bowls.
The game was organized by a group known as the Bowl Championship Series, consisting of the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Orange Bowl, which sought to match the two highest-ranked teams in a championship game to determine the best team in the country at the end of the season. The participating teams were determined by averaging the results of the final weekly Coaches' Poll, the Harris Poll of media, former players and coaches, and the average of six computer rankings. The Coaches' Poll was contractually required to name the winner of the game as its No. 1 team on the final postseason ranking; hence, the AFCA National Championship Trophy was presented to the winning team during a post-game ceremony.
The methodologies of the BCS system and its selections proved to be controversial. Although in most years the winner of the BCS National Championship would also be designated as the national champion by other organizations and polls, the 2003 season was a major exception, as the BCS rankings chose the AP's No. 3-ranked team, the University of Oklahoma, over the No. 1-ranked team in that poll, the University of Southern California, to participate in the national title game despite Oklahoma's loss to Kansas State University in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. That was the only season during the BCS era when the national championship was split, with Louisiana State University winning the BCS national championship and the University of Southern California winning the AP national championship, plus the football writers' national championship.
The BCS National Championship Game was played for the final time in 2013 after the same organizing group established a new system, the College Football Playoff, a four-team single elimination tournament, as the successor to the BCS.

History

The first BCS Championship was played at the conclusion of the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season in accordance with an agreement by the Big Ten Conference, the Pac-10 Conference, and the Rose Bowl Game to join the "Bowl Alliance" system. The expanded format was called the Bowl Championship Series.
The Bowl Alliance and its predecessor, the Bowl Coalition, featured championship games for the 1992 thorough 1997 seasons. However, these could not always ensure a matchup between the top two ranked teams because of the lack of participation by the Big Ten and Pac-10.
The BCS National Championship Game was initially rotated among the four participating bowl games: the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Rose Bowl. However, beginning with the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game was added as a separate contest, played after New Year's Day. The game rotated its location among the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose venues.

Game results

For Bowl Coalition championship game results from 1992 to 1994, see: Bowl Coalition
For Bowl Alliance championship game results from 1995 to 1997, see: Bowl Alliance

Season	Date	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Bowl game	Site	Attendance
1998	January 4, 1999	1 Tennessee SEC Champions	23–16	2 Florida State ACC Co-Champions	1999 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	80,470
1999	January 4, 2000	1 Florida State ACC Champions	46–29	2 Virginia Tech Big East Champions	2000 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans	79,280
2000	January 3, 2001	1 Oklahoma Big 12 Champions	13–2	2 Florida State ACC Champions	2001 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami	76,835
2001	January 3, 2002	1 'Miami Big East Champions	37–14	2 Nebraska At-large	2002 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	93,781
2002	January 3, 2003	2' Ohio State Big Ten Co-Champions	31–24	1 Miami Big East Champions	2003 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	77,502
2003	January 4, 2004	2 LSU SEC Champions	21–14	1 Oklahoma At-large	2004 Sugar Bowl	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans	79,342
2004	January 4, 2005	1 USC* Pac-10 Champions	55–19	2 Oklahoma Big 12 Champions	2005 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	77,912
2005	January 4, 2006	2 Texas Big 12 Champions	41–38	1 USC Pac-10 Champions	2006 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Stadium Pasadena, California	93,986
2006	January 8, 2007	2 Florida SEC Champions	41–14	1 Ohio State Big Ten Champions	2007 BCS National Championship Game	University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona	74,628
2007	January 7, 2008	2 LSU SEC Champions	38–24	1 Ohio State Big Ten Champions	2008 BCS National Championship Game	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans	79,651
2008	January 8, 2009	2 Florida SEC Champions	24–14	1 Oklahoma Big 12 Champions	2009 BCS National Championship Game	Dolphin Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	78,468
2009	January 7, 2010	1 Alabama SEC Champions	37–21	2 Texas Big 12 Champions	2010 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	94,906
2010	January 10, 2011	1 Auburn SEC Champions	22–19	2 Oregon Pac-10 Champions	2011 BCS National Championship Game	University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona	78,603
2011	January 9, 2012	2 Alabama At-large	21–0	1 LSU SEC Champions	2012 BCS National Championship Game	Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	78,237
2012	January 7, 2013	2 Alabama SEC Champions	42–14	1 Notre Dame^ Independent	2013 BCS National Championship Game	Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	80,120
2013	January 6, 2014	1 Florida State ACC Champions	34–31	2 Auburn SEC Champions	2014 BCS National Championship Game	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	94,208

USC's victory in the 2004 BCS national title game was later vacated due to NCAA violations
^Notre Dame's loss in the 2012 BCS national title game was later vacated due to the use of Ineligible players

Records by team

Records by conference

Note: Conference affiliations are contemporaneous with the game, which may differ from the current alignment.
* The American Conference was known as the Big East during the 1991–2012 seasons. Because of a split between the non-FBS schools and FBS schools, the conference adopted its present name for the 2013 season. All sports of the Big East conference were now under the right of the AAC. But with this new agreement the Big East basketball conference can still remain a conference after the collapse of the Big East football conference, and all other Big East sport conference affiliations.
** Alabama defeated fellow SEC member LSU in the 2012 BCS Championship Game, resulting in both a win and loss for the conference.

Game records

Team	Performance vs. Opponent	Year
Most Points	55, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Most Points Combined	79, Texas vs. USC	2006
Fewest Points Allowed	0, Alabama vs. LSU	2012
Fewest Points Combined	15, Oklahoma vs. Florida State	2001
First downs	30, Texas vs. USC	2006
Rushing yards	289, Texas vs. USC	2006
Passing yards	374, Oregon vs. Auburn	2011
Total yards	556, Texas vs. USC	2006
Total plays	85, Auburn vs. Oregon	2011
Largest comeback	18, Florida State vs. Auburn	2014
Individual	Performance, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Total offense	467, Vince Young, Texas vs. USC	2006
Rushing yards	200, Vince Young, Texas vs. USC	2006
Rushing TDs	3, Vince Young, Texas vs. USC	2006
Passing yards	363, Darron Thomas, Oregon vs. Auburn	2011
Passing TDs	5, Matt Leinart, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Receptions	11, Kellen Winslow Jr., Miami vs. Ohio State	2003
Receiving yards	199, Peerless Price, Tennessee vs. Florida State	1999
Receiving yards	199, Andre Johnson, Miami vs. Nebraska	2002
Receiving TDs	3, Steve Smith, USC vs. Oklahoma	2005
Field goals	5, Jeremy Shelley, Alabama vs. LSU	2012
Tackles	18, James Laurinaitis, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Sacks	3, Derrick Harvey, Florida vs. Ohio State	2007
Interceptions	2, Sean Taylor, Miami vs. Ohio State	2003
Long Plays	Performance, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Touchdown rush	65, Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Touchdown pass	79, Tee Martin to Peerless Price, Tennessee vs. Florida State	1999
Pass	81, Darron Thomas to Jeff Maehl, Oregon vs. Auburn	2011
Kickoff return	100, Levante Whitfield, Florida State vs. Auburn	2014
Punt return	71, DeJuan Groce, Nebraska vs. Miami	2002
Interception return	54, Dwayne Goodrich, Tennessee vs. Florida State	1999
Punt	63, A.J. Trapasso, Ohio State vs. LSU	2008
Field goal	46, David Pino, Texas vs. USC	2006