This week I transform from looking at what my design would look like for this year and will walk backwards one year per week, until the dawn of the BCS era.

Qualifying teams:

Top group: Oklahoma, Florida, Texas
Undefeated: Utah, Boise State
Total Teams: 5

Tournament:

On Decemeber 19th or 20th Utah would have hosted Boise State for the opportunity to play Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.  Florida and Texas would have played in a neutral site wild card game near New Year's Day.  The winners of the Fiesta Bowl and wild card game would play in the National Championship Game.

Possible BCS Bowls

Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Ohio State
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati

Teams in bold would have been tied to that berth, italics indicate a BCS berth would have been guaranteed.  TCU and Georgia Tech also would have been eligible.

What actually happened and a tier based plus one next.

What actually happened

BCS Games

BCS Championship Game: #2 Florida 24 - #1 Oklahoma 14
Fiesta Bowl: #3 Texas 24 - #10 Ohio St. 21
Sugar Bowl: #6 Utah 31 - #4 Alabama 17
Rose Bowl: #5 USC 38 - #8 Penn State 24
Orange Bowl: #19 Virginia Tech 20 - #12 Cincinnati 7

BCS Controversy

Texas an Florida were in a dead heat for the #2 spot but most people felt that Florida belonged and that Texas' dispute belonged with Oklahoma. A three way tiebreaker in the Big 12 South that fell to the BCS standings in the second to last poll generated far more controversy than the selection of Florida over Texas.

Utah and Boise State finished as the only two undefeated teams at the end of the regular season and were not invited to the championship game. Boise State was largely forgotten about after they lost to TCU 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl but Utah earned 25% of the AP poll's first place votes with a stunning upset of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. This left Utah as the only undefeated team in the nation.

The Fiesta Bowl also selected two loss Ohio State over Boise State for an at large berth despite Boise State's better record and higher ranking in the final BCS standings.

Both designs presented here reduced the strength of all controversies in 2008.

A Tier Based Plus-One

Oklahoma would have played Boise State and Florida would have played Utah in the semifinal games.  USC and Virginia Tech would have been selected for direct BCS participation in the Rose and Orange Bowl respectively.

Penn State and Cincinnati would have been guaranteed a spot in the first round games.

Texas, Texas Tech, Alabama, Ohio State, TCU, BYU, Ball State and Tulsa would have been eligible for the six remaining first round game spots.

[Editor's Note: I am in the process of updating my data to use 9 wins over FBS teams for eligibility.  This eligibility list reflects the original criteria of 10-2 or better. Once the data has been updated this post will be updated and this line removed]

Possible first round games:

Mid-West: TCU vs. Ohio State
North: Penn State vs. Cincinnati
South: Alabama vs. Texas
West: Texas Tech vs. BYU

The winners would advance to a BCS bowl.  The losers would advance to a lower bowl opting to leave a spot open for them in the first round of bowl selections.

Ball St. and Tulsa would have remained eligible for two bowls.