(01-17-2015 01:40 AM)billybobby777 Wrote: My question is more about the conferences picked, and the ones included:
Before the SWC disbanded, historically there were 5 "power leagues" up until around 1990 the longstanding traditionally recognized 5 were:
-big 10
-PAC 10
-SWC
-SEC
-Big 8
There were a handful of what they called major independents, most notably penn st, Miami and Florida St
The ACC consisted of 8 mostly basketball schools that looking back was not quite a power football conference yet and definitely weren't as strong as those 5 football conference powers. They did have a few Yearly bowls they had bids to most notably the Peach Bowl. The WAC was in a similar spot with 9 schools (lost AZ, AZ St a decade earlier) and had the Holiday bowl which BYU played in almost every year vs the 2nd or 3rd place big 10 team, and had the liberty bowl for Air Force, and Copper and Liberty Bowls vs "power school opponents"
Fast forward to summer of 98. SWC is gone and their schools have merged into the big 8 and WAC. The big 3 indies have joined leagues. Now in 98 there's not 4 power conferences, there's 6. FSU legitimized ACC making them 5th and Miami helps make the BE 6th when they joined also allowing the BE to sponsor football. Why was WAC excluded? Big 12 and SEC blocked them? I've always wondered about how the Big East made the cut (with some of the worst programs in the country) and the WAC didn't. That BCS decision destroyed their once solid league. The WAC/BE inclusions/exclusions seem odd even now. Any thoughts?
1998 was not the key year. The key year was 1992 with the formation of the Bowl Coalition. The Bowl Coalition is essentially the first iteration of the BCS/CFP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_Coalition
The early 1990's saw a major realignment not dissimilar to the one that we have recently experienced. The reallignment was driven largely by TV rights, which had shifted from the NCAA to individual conferences. During the 1980's, college football had been heavily dominated by independent schools. By 1992, most major independents had committed to conferences. In addition, turmoil in the SWC led to Arkansas being picked off by the SEC and ultimately four Texas schools joining with the Big 8 to form the Big 12 in 1996.
The Bowl Coalition was formed by the Big East, SEC, Big 8, SWC, ACC and Notre Dame. They guaranteed places for the champions of each conference in a major bowl, with the SEC, Big 8 and SWC champions committed to the Sugar, Orange and Cotton, respectively, and the ACC and Big East champions guaranteed the Sugar, Orange, Cotton or Fiesta.
It also provided for the highest ranked school not committed to contract bowl (i.e. from the Big East, ACC, independent, or conference runner up) to play the highest ranked school committed to a contract bowl (i.e., the SEC, SWC or Big 8). Alternatively, if the two highest ranked schools were not committed to a contract bowl, they would have played in the Fiesta. This was largely in response to the fact that 1990 and 1991 had both been split national championships.
Major credit for the creation of the Bowl Coalition goes to Mike Tranghese, Commissioner of the Big East. Essentially, at the time of formation of the Big East, he wanted to guaranty the Big East champion access to a major bowl. He might have been able to arrange something directly with the Fiesta Bowl, but he was incredibly creative in imagining a system that would provide floating access to a group of major bowls that would also increase the chance of a national championship game matchup. He also did an incredible job "herding cats" by getting all of these conferences and bowls to buy in to his vision. His importance to the process at that time is reflected by his presence today on the CFP Selection Committee.
Notably, the Big East placed two schools in tier 1 bowls in each of the first two seasons of the Bowl Coalition, having two top 10 schools each year.