BCS Rankings

The bowl championship series formula used to ultimately determine the Nos. 1 and 2 teams that will play for the national championship at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3. Rankings are for games through Oct. 19.

EXPLANATION KEY

Poll Avg.--The average of The Associated Press media poll (AP) and USA Today-ESPN coaches poll (U-E). Others receiving votes are calculated in order received.

Computer (Comp) Avg.--The average of Anderson & Hester (AH), Richard Billingsley (RB), Colley Matrix (CM), Kenneth Massey (WM), David Rothman (DR), Jeff Sagarin (JS), and the Peter Wolfe (PW) computer rankings. The computer component will be determined by averaging six of the rankings. The lowest will be disregarded.

Schedule Rank--Rank of schedule strength (Strgh) compared to other Division I-A teams divided by 25. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/loss records of the team’s opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative won/loss records of the team’s opponent’s opponents (33.3 percent).

Losses--One point for each loss (L) during the season.

Quality Win Component--The quality win component (QWin) will reward to varying degrees teams that defeat opponents ranked among the top 10 in the weekly standings. The bonus point scale will range from a high of 1.0 points for a win over the top ranked team to a low of 0.1 for a victory over the 10th-ranked BCS team. The final BCS standings will determine final quality win points. If a team registers a victory over a team more than once during the regular season quality win points will be awarded just once. Quality win points are deducted from the team’s total of poll average, computer average, schedule rank and losses.

Total--Total BCS points, by adding poll average, computer average and schedule ranking, plus one point for each loss.