FBS Championship Information

Championship Structure

The FBS Championship provides for a maximum field of 16 teams.  Teams will play first-round games on the campuses of the higher seeded teams.  The eleven member conferences have been granted automatic qualifications for the championship.  The remaining five teams will be selected by rankings according to their BCS rankings.

All teams will be seeded based on BCS rankings.  Any unranked qualifiers will be seeded based on winning percentage.

Championship Selection

Teams will be selected for the BCS Championship based on a number of criteria:

Automatic Berths

Each of the eleven conferences will select one team, the conference champion, for the tournament.  Each conference will choose its own criteria for determining conference titles, except for conferences with twelve or more teams.  Larger conferences must choose their conference champion through a Conference Championship Game.

The eleven member conferences have been granted automatic qualifications for the tournament:

1. Atlantic Coast
2. Big East
3. Big Ten
4. Big Twelve
5. Conference USA
6. Mid American
7. Mountain West
8. Pacific Ten
9. Southeastern
10. Sun Belt
11. Western Athletic

At-Large Berths

The five highest ranked non-conference champion teams will be selected for the tournament based on the BCS system.  No limit will be set for the number of teams from each conference.

The BCS Rankings will be determined based on combined rankings from the AP, Coaches, and Computer Polls. 

Pairings

All participants will be seeded by their final BCS rankings in comparison to the other competing teams.  The highest ranked team will be given the #1 seed and will play the lowest ranked team, or #16.  The second-highest ranked team will be given the #2 seed and will play the #15 seed, and so on.  Once pairings have been set, no adjustments will be made.   All games in the same round will be played on the same Saturday, with the exception of the championship round.

Game Sites

All games in the first round will be played on the campuses (or home fields) of the higher seeds.  All monetary compensation will be divided evenly between the two teams.  The first round will be played on the first Saturday following the Conference Championship games.

The games of the second round will be played at the sites of the Fiesta (AZ), Capital One (FL), Cotton (TX), and Peach (GA) Bowls.  The higher seeded team will be designated the homes team and will wear the dark-colored jersey.  The quarterfinal games will be played on the Saturday following the first round.  Game times will be set by broadcast schedule to allow certain match ups to be aired in primetime.

The games of the third round will be played at the sides of the Sugar (LA)and Orange (FL) Bowls.  The higher seeded team will be designated the home team.  The semifinal games will be played on the Saturday following the second round.  Game times will be set by the broadcast schedule.

The championship game will be played on the second Monday following the semifinals at the Rose (CA) Bowl.  The higher seeded team will be designated the home team.  Game time will be 8:30 pm EST to allow maximum coverage.