Every football fan knows the BCS rankings calculate which teams will play in the BCS Bowl for the national championship, but how many of those fans know how their BCS rankings are determined?

The BCS rankings are devised by using three different pools of data. This includes the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, the Coaches Poll, and a computer average which is calculated using six computer ranking systems. Each of the three different pools of data counts as 1/3 of the final BCS rankings. This way each of the different data pools holds the same weight when selecting BCS rankings.

Both the Harris poll and the Coaches poll contribute to the BCS rankings through the points awarded to the ranked teams. Obviously the more points awarded to a team in either of those polls, the better they will do in the BCS rankings. The computer rankings toss out the highest and lowest ranks from the six rankings systems and use the remaining four to calculate the BCS rankings.

Taking the points from all three data sources builds the BCS rankings and decides who plays for the national championship. If you’re a Gators fan you probably love the BCS way. If you’re a Wolverines fan, you probably don’t.