2000 Sugar Bowl - Team Selection

Team Selection

By contract, the top two teams in the BCS Poll at the conclusion of the regular season are invited to the BCS national championship game. In 2000, the BCS Poll was a combination of four different systems: media and coaches' polls (Associated Press college football poll and USA Today Coaches' Poll), team records, a collection of eight different computer ranking systems, and a strength-of-schedule component based on opponent records. The AP Poll has since been replaced by the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and the strength-of-schedule component has been removed, but the BCS system functions roughly the same as it did in 2000.

Under the BCS, the site of the national championship game rotates every year. In 2000, there were four BCS bowl games: the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and the Fiesta Bowl. The national championship game rotated to a different location each year, and the other three games served as bowl games for lower-ranked teams. Today, the system is slightly different—the national championship game host also hosts an additional bowl game—but the principle is the same. In 2000, the Sugar Bowl was scheduled to host the national championship game.