, June 25 (UPI) -- Officials for the Bowl Championship Series Tuesday announced alterations to its selection process for the upcoming college football season, and they include the elimination of the margin of victory component.
Responding to mounting criticism, the BCS was prompted to make changes that it hopes will insure that a qualified team is not left out of the national championship game.
"By eliminating margin of victory, it takes the idea of how you win and puts it in a proper perspective," said Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese, who is serving as BCS Coordinator this season. "The coaches didn't want it and the athletic directors didn't want it. We're putting more value in strength of schedule."
In another move, the BCS has narrowed its quality win component from wins over teams in the top 15 of the BCS to teams in the top 10. Tranghese said that move was made to increase the benefit of a win over an elite team.
The selection process has been mired in controversy the last two seasons.
Nebraska (11-1) ended up playing undefeated Miami in the Rose Bowl last season and was chosen over Oregon (10-1), which won a number of games by close scores, and Colorado (10-2), which routed the Cornhuskers, 62-30, at the end of the regular season. Nebraska was clearly against the Hurricanes.
Two seasons ago, Florida State was second in the BCS standings and played Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, even though it lost during the season to Miami, which was ranked third.
FSU did not play very competitively against the Sooners and lost the title game.
"We'll never get a system that will satisfy everyone," said Tranghese, who admitted that Nebraska might not have qualified for the Rose Bowl under the new formula. "This is no perfect system. College football has never had a perfect system."
Trangehese said that the BCS officials considered but ultimately decided against using a human element in choosing the teams for the title game.
"There was genuine interest in a human element. But if we are going to make a change there has to be a consensus and there was not a consensus," Tranghese said. "We thought the stakes were too high to put that in the hands of a few individuals."
The BCS was formed in 1998 in an effort to match the top two teams in the country in what amounts to a national championship game.
BCS rankings are derived from a formula that factors in rankings in both major polls and several computer rankings, strength of schedule and number of losses.
Seven computer rankings will be used this season, one less than a year ago. David Rothman and Herman Matthews were against removing the margin of victory component and will no longer take part. The New York Times, dropped from the BCS a year ago, will return this season.
The holdover rankings from last season will be those compiled by Anderson & Hester, Jeff Sagarin (USA Today), Richard Billingsley, Atlanta Journal Constitution Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Peter Wolfe.
The complicated BCS system has five parts: the media and coaches' polls, computer rankings, strength of schedule, team record and quality wins.
Its members include the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conferences as well as Notre Dame.
The format calls for the championship game to be rotated among the Orange, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls. On Jan. 3, 2003, the Fiesta Bowl will host the BCS title game.
