Popular Usage
Most sports media and college football fans consider the term "BCS conference" to refer specifically to one of the six conferences whose champions receive an automatic berth in one of the five BCS bowl games. After the two top teams in the BCS rankings are matched up in the BCS National Championship Game, the other four bowls select other top teams. Each of the bowls has a historic link with one or more of the six BCS conferences with the exception of the Big East, and selects a team from each of these conferences if it is eligible for a BCS bowl and not playing in the national title game. The conferences included in this group, with their traditional bowl links, are:
- Atlantic Coast Conference (Orange Bowl)
- Big 12 Conference (Fiesta Bowl)
- Big East Conference (not tied to any specific BCS bowl)
- Big Ten Conference (Rose Bowl)
- Pacific-12 Conference (Rose Bowl)
- Southeastern Conference (Sugar Bowl)
Notre Dame is an independent in football, but is a founding member of the BCS. Because of the "Notre Dame rule", it has guaranteed access to the BCS bowls when it meets certain defined performance criteria.
The BCS and non-BCS designators generally refer to college football programs, though they often are applied to all collegiate sports. A BCS conference may also be referred to as a "power conference", with others that compete in NCAA Division I called "mid-major" conferences. When the BCS adopts a playoff system as of the 2014-2015 season, the Big East will no longer be a "power conference" according to the popular definition.
Read more about this topic: Automatic Qualifying Conference
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or usage:
“The press is no substitute for institutions. It is like the beam of a searchlight that moves restlessly about, bringing one episode and then another out of darkness into vision. Men cannot do the work of the world by this light alone. They cannot govern society by episodes, incidents, and eruptions. It is only when they work by a steady light of their own, that the press, when it is turned upon them, reveals a situation intelligible enough for a popular decision.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
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—A.J. (Alfred Jules)