What is the BCS?

The Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, replaced what was known as the Bowl Alliance. It is the latest attempt to create a National Championship without having an actual playoff. The BCS is administered by the conference commissioners and the Notre Dame AD. They have created a rating system to determine who should play in the National Championship game at the end of the season. The top two teams in the ratings at the end of the regular season will meet in the title game.There are four bowls involved in the BCS: Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta.
Starting with the 2006 season, a fifth BCS game has been added to serve as the championship game. This is not the "plus one" system. This simply means that there will now be ten teams playing in BCS games instead of eight. The fifth game is played at the site of one of the other four. The four bowls will rotate as hosts. The Fiesta hosts the championship game this year, followed by the Sugar, Orange and Rose in the rotation.

Information provided by: BCS