You know, im new to college football, and when i ask fans to explain the "computer system" to a simple minded person like me, they usually tell me it is "unexplainable"
They're pretty much correct, but I'll give it a shot anyway.
Currently (the formula has been different in previous years), the BCS rankings are computed with 3 basic factors:
1) Point total in the AP poll.
2) Point total in the coaches' poll.
3) Average ranking in the six selected computer ranking systems, after throwing out the best and worst ranking for each team.
For the 2 polls, a team's score is its point total divided by the best possible point total for that poll. In 2003, there were 65 AP voters and 63 coaches voting, which meant that the best possible score for the AP poll was 1625 (65 voters x 25 points for a first place vote) and in the coaches' poll, the best possible score was 1575.
The 6 computer rankings (conducted by pencil necked computer uber-geeks Anderson-Hester, Richard Billingsley, Wes Colley, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin and Peter Wolfe) use their own unique mathematical formulae to determine their rankings. Within each nerd's system the team ranked #1 gets 25 points. The #2 team receives 24, and so on, down to the #25 team getting one point. Each team's four computer scores (after tossing the best and worst computer score) will be added and divided by 100 (the best possible score) to give the computer average.
Then, the three numbers - writer's poll, coach's poll and average computer ranking - are averaged in equal weight for the total BCS score, highest being better.
There are eight spots in the four BCS bowl games - Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar. Six of those spots are reserved for the champions of the six BCS conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big LEast, Pac Ten, SEC), regardless of their ranking in the complicated BCS standings listed above.
Two at-large teams are also included. The at-large teams must come from different conferences, unless the #1 and #2 teams are at-large and from the same conference.
At-large teams can earn guaranteed selection in the following ways (in order of preference):
1) Finish first or second in the BCS rankings.
2) Finish in the top six of the BCS standings as an independent team or team from a non-BCS conference. If a team other than Notre Dame qualifies in this manner, then the Irish would also automatically qualify by winning 9 games or finishing in the top 10 in the BCS standings.
3) Be the highest rated at-large team remaining and finish either third or fourth in the BCS rankings. Only one team can automatically qualify under this provision.
4) If the two at-large spots become filled via steps 1, 2 or 3, the process stops.
5) If a situation arises where there are 3 or more teams who "automatically qualify" under step 2, then the individual bowls get to select from among the automatically qualified teams, and someone gets their feelings hurt (like Cal, Louisville & Boise State).
6) If there are still open spots after all of the above, then any team can be selected if it has 9 wins and is rated in the top 12 of the BCS standings.
Now that you know the 8 teams, where do they play?
The top two teams in the BCS rankings play in the designated national title game, which rotates among the 4 BCS bowls. Then, the remaining conference champions are paired with their tie-in bowls:
Rose - Big Ten & Pac10
Fiesta - Big XII
Orange - ACC & Big LEast
Sugar - SEC
After that, there is a priority order to the selection.
1) Any bowl losing its tie-in team to the championship game can pick a replacement from among the remaining teams.
2) If two bowls lose their tie-ins to the title game, the bowl losing the #1 team in the BCS standings picks first.
3) Any bowl with open spots submits a list of three teams they would like for its game.
4) If there are any BCS conference champions still in the pool, they must be first or second on that list.
5) Each bowl will then be given its first choice on its list.
6) If more than one bowl chooses the same team, the priority order is:
a) the bowl with the highest payout
b) the bowl that did not get first choice the previous year.
Okay, everyone got all that?
Like your friends said, it is unexplainable.