Yin and Yang of the BCS

2006 Rose Bowl, Texas over USC 41-38 (BCS title): Vince Young put up one of the great individual performances, rushing for 200 yards and three touchdowns while completing 30 of 40 passes for 267 yards. The teams combined for more than 1,100 yards of offense, Young winning the game on an 8-yard, fourth-down touchdown run.

2003 Fiesta Bowl, Ohio State over Miami 31-24, 2OT (BCS title): Big plays and controversy reigned.

A Hurricanes field goal led to OT. An iffy fourth-down pass-interference call against Miami in first overtime kept the Buckeyes alive. Ohio State won in second OT on a Maurice Clarett touchdown run.

2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State over Oklahoma, 43-42, 2OT: Not all the highlights belong to a championship game. The perceived David beat the supposed Goliath with a series of gimmicks, capped by a Statue of Liberty play to claim the game. To make the evening complete, Boise State's star proposed to a cheerleader on the field directly afterward.

2006 Orange Bowl, Penn State over Florida State, 26-23 3OT: Arranged was one last meeting between Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. Both old coaches were kept up long after their bedtimes in the four-hour-plus game. Penn State's victory later was vacated as part of the Jerry Sandusky toxic cleanup.

SEC dominance: The BCS certainly has been very, very good to a certain conference important to this region. Parlaying every benefit of the doubt into appearances (and victories) in the past seven BCS Championship games, the SEC gained riches and prestige. There even was the unthinkable — an entirely SEC title game (Alabama-LSU in 2012).

The worst

2001 championship scenario: Ushered into the championship game despite losing its season finale 62-36, Nebraska was routed by Miami by 23 points in the Rose Bowl. On the outside looking in was Oregon, ranked No. 2 in the polls.

Politics and abuses: The BCS system caused multiple breeches in the separation of sport and state. From Utah's Orrin Hatch threatening congressional hearings to the U.S. Justice Department demanding the NCAA explain its often Byzantine system. Questions about the financial dealings of the bowls reached their zenith when six Fiesta Bowl employees, including the CEO, was convicted of improperly funneling bowl funds to political campaigns.

2004 championship scenario: The one time the SEC didn't get its way, Auburn was one of five undefeated teams left standing at the end of the season. Because USC and Oklahoma were atop the rankings from the season's beginning, there was nothing Auburn could do to dislodge them. The Loveliest Village on the Plain was sorely chapped.

2001 Orange Bowl, Oklahoma over FSU 13-2 (BCS title): It was Mark Richt's final and hardly finest game as the Seminoles' offensive coordinator. FSU was chosen to play in the game in defiance of the transitive property. Miami had beaten FSU, and Washington had beaten Miami during the regular season. Neither was invited to the big game.

2004 Sugar Bowl, LSU over Oklahoma 21-14 (BCS title): The AP's top-ranked team at the time, USC, was not included. Rather Oklahoma got in even after losing to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game. But who knows if USC had gotten in and won whether the title would have been vacated (as was the following season's)?

1998: In the first season of the BCS, Kansas State finished third in final standings, but was passed over for BCS bowls and went to the Alamo Bowl.