What if the Super Bowl was Run BCS Style?

Since 1998, college football has determined its national champion by selecting the two best teams and pitting them against each other in a National Championship game. The problem with this process is what are the two best teams? What if there are three teams with undefeated records, how do we decided which two are the best?

Rather than discussing why the system is so screwed up, let’s see what would have happened if the NFL used this system?

Let’s say that instead of the top two teams, the NFL just selected the top AFC team to play against the top NFC team.

2007 – #1 Dallas v. #1 New England. Actual game: N.Y. defeated #1 New England.

2006 – #1 Chicago v. #1 San Diego. Actual game: Indianapolis defeated #1 Chicago.

2005 - #1 Seattle v. #1 Indianapolis. Actual game: Pittsburgh defeated #1 Seattle

2004 – #1 Philadelphia v. #1 Pittsburgh. Actual game: New England defeated #1 Philadelphia

2003 - #1 Philadelphia v. #1 New England. Actual game: #1 New England defeated Carolina

2002 - #1 Philadelphia v. #1 Oakland. Actual game: Tampa defeated #1 Oakland

2001 - #1 St Louis v. #1 Pittsburgh. Actual game: New England defeated #1 St Louis

2000 - #1 N.Y v. #1 Tennessee. Actual game: Baltimore defeated #1 N.Y.

1999 - #1 St Louis v. #1 Jacksonville. Actual game: #1 St Louis defeated Tennessee

1998 - #1 Minneapolis v. #1 Denver. Actual game: #1 Denver defeated Atlanta

(these #1 seeds are by record. Some teams rest their starters and tank their last few games when they know they’ve clinched a playoff birth. This may skew the numbers and the rankings)

What does this all mean? Well, since the BCS was enacted in 1998, a #1 seeded team (AFC or NFC) has reached the Super Bowl every year. Seven of those ten times, the #1 seed lost and three of those times the #1 won.

Let me repeat that fact about the #1 teams losing. Of the ten #1 teams that have made it to the Super Bowl, seven have lost. Additionally, seven of those loses have come in the past 8 years. Number one teams suck.

There has never been a #1 AFC v. #1 NFC Super Bowl game in the past 10 years.

In other words, if the NFL did enact a BCS style Super Bowl in 1998, the two teams playing in every single Super Bowl since then would have been different and at least 7 of those 10 games would have had different results.