The BCS, which runs through the 2009 regular season and 2010 bowl season, consists of the Rose Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, FedEx Orange Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Tostitos BCS national championship game. Before the start of the 1998 season, the four bowls joined with the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conferences and the University of Notre Dame to form the BCS. Conference USA also signed on to the agreement.

Until the early 1990s the selection process for bowl games was disorganized at best; chaotic at worst. Some bowls would effectively make selections after seven or eight games. As a result, the conference commissioners worked to develop a system that not only allows the selection process to be completed at the end of the regular season, but also creates better matchups.

Because of the BCS arrangement, the bowl agreements are more open than they have ever been. Every Division I-A team is eligible to quality for the National Championship game or for one of the at-large berths-all within the framework of the bowl system that is an integral part of college football's grand tradition. Look no further than last season's Rose Bowl matchup as an example of the BCS at its best.

Reflecting the importance of traditional regional considerations, the four BCS Bowls will host the following conference champions: .FedEx Orange Bowl, ACC; Allstate Sugar Bowl, SEC; Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Big 12; Rose Bowl, Big Ten and Pac-10. Should a BCS Bowl's host champion be ranked number one or two in the final BCS standings, those teams will move to the national championship game and the bowl shall select a replacement team from the BCS pool of eligible teams. The pool will consist of automatic qualifiers and all other Division I-A teams that have won at least nine games and are ranked among the Top 14 in the final BCS standings.