The BCS Formula

Have Questions? We Have the BCS Know How.

Understanding the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) formula is easier than it seems. Let’s break down the three elements that make up this controversial ranking system:

Human Element

The BCS consists of two human elements, or polls from which two thirds of the BCS Rankings are taken. The two polls are the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

The human element is used is as follows: First, take the Harris Interactive which includes 114 voters. All 114 voters vote on teams 1-25 and points are awarded on a reverse basis, 25 for a first place vote, 24 for a second place vote, 23 for a third place vote, and so on until one point is awarded for a 25th place vote.

So, if all 114 voters decided to vote one team first, the team would be awarded 114 times 25 points, or 2850 Harris Poll Points. Therefore, a perfect score in the eyes of the Harris Poll voters is a 2850. The BCS takes the votes received by a team and divides that number by the perfect score of 2850 for a decimal value of 1.000 or less.

For example, Texas, the nation’s #3 in Week 1 of this year’s BCS received 2661 points from the Harris Poll voters on October 18th, the sixth Harris Poll of the year, which included 4 first place votes. The BCS divides 2661 by the perfect score 2850, to arrive at the Penn State’s Harris Poll score.

Harris Poll BCS Calculation Texas Example: (2661/2850)=0.934

The same calculation is then mirrored with the ESPN/USA Today Coach’s Poll. The Coach’s Poll consists of 59 voters, and the scale scoring for the votes mirrors that of the Harris Poll’s. Therefore, in the Coach’s Poll, the perfect score is 59 times 25, or 1475. The BCS then completes the same calculation and divides the score received by a team by the perfect score, 1475. For example, the Texas Longhorns received 1386 points from the Coaches, which included 1 first place vote. The BCS would divide 1386 by 1475, the perfect score in 2009 to arrive at Texas’s Coaches Poll score.

Coaches’ Poll BCS Calculation Texas Example: (1386/1475)=.940

Computer Element

The third and final part of the BCS calculations is derived from six computer rankings posted weekly. The six computer polls, managed by people, newspapers and the BCS itself are: Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today and Peter Wolfe.

The BCS looks at the standings of each of the six computer polls and awards teams 25 points for a first place standing on a computer poll, 24 for a second, 23 for a third, and so on, just as in the human element, until one point is given for a 25th place vote. The BCS then takes the six point values and takes away the lowest and highest point values given to a specific team. Four point values are left and the BCS adds the four together. Because a perfect score would be receiving four first place votes, or four 25 point values, the BCS divides the team’s received computer rankings by 100 to arrive at the computer ranking value.

Computer Poll BCS Calculation Texas Example:

22+22+17+19=80

80/100=.800

Final Calculation

The BCS finishes the procedure by averaging the three values it received from the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, the USA Today Poll and the Computer Polls. The final BCS Ranking is a decimal between .0000 and 1.0000.

(Harris Poll % + Coaches’ Poll % + Computer Poll %)/3 = BCS Ranking

Texas BCS Ranking Example

(.934+.940+.800)/3= .891

That’s it! That’s not too bad now, is it?