the Gunther Rating System: the BCS Years

These are the final regular-season, pre-bowl rankings from the BCS Years according to my system.

1998
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	SEC	Tennessee	542.80	(12-0)	100%	977.64
2	ACC	Florida State	503.74	(11-1)	91.67%	1,658.39
3	Big12	Texas A&M	398.18	(11-2)	84.62%	1,645.50
4	CUSA	Tulane	391.85	(11-0)	100%	-638.60
5	Big10	Ohio State	373.20	(10-1)	90.91%	748.47

Tennessee & Florida State by a large margin. Yes, Tulane was undefeated too, but their Opponent's Points (my version of Strength of Schedule, calculated by adding a team's opponent's total points) was atrocious.

1999
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	ACC	Florida State	507.48	(11-0)	100%	1,197.31
2	BigEast	Virginia Tech	446.26	(11-0)	100%	303.00
3	Big12	Nebraska	421.70	(11-1)	91.67%	1,101.47
4	MAC	Marshall	413.51	(12-0)	100%	-606.38
5	SEC	Alabama	398.36	(10-2)	83.33%	1,853.52

Florida State & Virginia Tech. This time Marshall's schedule did them in.

2000
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	Big12	Oklahoma	567.64	(12-0)	100%	1,012.19
2	ACC	Florida State	486.43	(11-1)	91.67%	1,625.52
3	BigEast	Miami (Florida)	435.06	(10-1)	90.91%	1,089.46
4	Pac10	Washington	361.73	(10-1)	90.91%	1,136.08
5	BigEast	Virginia Tech	352.19	(10-1)	90.91%	980.19

This one requires some explanation. Everyone was upset when Florida State made it to the NC game over Miami (FL) even though they'd lost to the Hurricanes that year. The reason they're such a solid #2 in my rankings is because
#1 - they played a significantly tougher schedule
#2 - they played one more game than Miami did (and won)
#3 - all but 1 of their wins was by more than 26 points.
Miami's game against D1-AA McNeese State definitely hurt them. But I'll still count this as the one strike against my rating system because the outrage did force the BCS Committee to make adjustments to their own system.

2001
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	BigEast	Miami (Florida)	511.11	(11-0)	100%	807.04
2	Big12	Colorado	378.61	(10-2)	83.33%	1,374.87
3	SEC	Tennessee	363.03	(10-2)	83.33%	1,624.34
4	Big12	Nebraska	362.85	(11-1)	91.67%	1,147.56
5	SEC	Florida	349.49	(9-2)	81.82%	1,083.06

Miami (FL) is a solid #1 this year, and there's a logjam at #2 with a lot of teams fighting for the position. The choice is Colorado though, with their demolition of Nebraska and conference championship over Texas. Yes, they had two losses, but they were early in the year and to excellent teams. This year shows how important it is to end the regular season on a high note.

2002
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	Big10	Ohio State	614.66	(13-0)	100%	1,480.06
2	BigEast	Miami (Florida)	605.29	(12-0)	100%	1,259.75
3	SEC	Georgia	506.11	(12-1)	92.31%	1,566.11
4	Pac10	Southern California	494.77	(10-2)	83.33%	2,445.31
5	Big10	Iowa	473.68	(11-1)	91.67%	867.02

Ohio State and Miami (FL) by a landslide.

2003
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	SEC	Louisiana State	490.19	(12-1)	92.31%	842.60
2	Pac10	Southern California	447.07	(11-1)	91.67%	794.09
3	MAC	Miami (Ohio)	446.86	(12-1)	92.31%	392.76
4	Big12	Oklahoma	432.95	(12-1)	92.31%	1,321.91
5	Big10	Michigan	411.11	(10-2)	83.33%	1,179.79

Interestingly, the fight for #2 wasn't between Southern California & Oklahoma, but between USC and Miami (OH). Southern California's SoS wasn't all that great, but it was better than Miami's. Their single loss was a good one too, at California in overtime by a field goal. At the same time, Miami provided a text-book comeback season: their first game was a bad loss to 10-3 Iowa, but they ran the table after that, showing how useful losing at the beginning rather than the end of the season can be.

2004
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	Pac10	Southern California	551.14	(12-0)	100%	1,221.02
2	Big12	Oklahoma	548.93	(12-0)	100%	1,226.67
3	SEC	Auburn	531.37	(12-0)	100%	596.47
4	MtnWest	Utah	445.53	(11-0)	100%	-47.80
5	WAC	Boise State	427.23	(11-0)	100%	128.66

Auburn's SoS killed them this year - who knows if they would have been #2 if their non-conference slate had included even just one decent team. SoS kept Utah & Boise State down here too.

2005
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	Pac10	Southern California	553.88	(12-0)	100%	1,165.42
2	Big12	Texas	546.13	(12-0)	100%	1,075.61
3	Big10	Penn State	418.80	(10-1)	90.91%	1,066.44
4	Big10	Ohio State	393.54	(9-2)	81.82%	1,647.25
5	ACC	Miami (Florida)	332.65	(9-2)	81.82%	670.23

Southern California & Texas by a wide margin.

2006
Rank	Conf	Team	Points	W-L	W%	oPoints
1	Big10	Ohio State	555.21	(12-0)	100%	859.58
2	SEC	Florida	519.35	(12-1)	92.31%	1,992.12
3	WAC	Boise State	491.04	(12-0)	100%	89.32
4	Big10	Michigan	433.28	(11-1)	91.67%	1,448.68
5	BigEast	Louisville	422.18	(11-1)	91.67%	847.15

Finally, Ohio State and Florida comfortably. Boise State was undefeated, but their SoS was far below Florida's.

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