Since the 2000 regular season, the BCS Standings have been compiled by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

The Standings include three components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll and an average of six computer rankings. Each component will count one-third toward a team's overall BCS score.

All three components shall be added together and averaged for a team's ranking in the BCS Standings. The team with the highest average shall rank first in the BCS Standings. The first BCS Standings of the 2005 season will be released on Sunday, October 15. The BCS Standings will be used for:

1. Selecting the teams that will participate in the national championship game.

2. Determining any other automatic qualifiers; and,

3. Establishing the pool of eligible teams for at-large selection.

Polls

In the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll, a team will be evaluated on the number of voting points it receives in each poll. A team's Harris Interactive score will be its points in the poll divided by its total possible voting points (if 114 voters, then 2850=114 x 25). The same formula will apply to the USA Today Coaches poll and its total voting points (if 63 voters, then 1575=63 x 25).

The number of actual voters, which can vary, is figured into the computation on a weekly basis in stating each team's percentage of a possible perfect score.

Computer Rankings

Six computer rankings will be used: Jeff Sagarin, Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Dr. Peter Wolfe. Points will be assigned in inverse order of ranking from 1-25. A team's highest and lowest computer ranking will be discarded in calculating its computer rankings average. The four remaining computer scores will be averaged and the total will be calculated as a percentage of 100.