SMQ: The FBS postseason and the history of bowl games

The BCS era and rampant growth of the 21st-century postseason

By 1998, the Rose Bowl had come into the fold of major bowl games and brought the Big Ten and Pac-10 with them. The short-lived Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance paved the way for the next iteration of the college football postseason. With the creation of the Bowl Championship Series, the top two teams were finally guaranteed to see one another in the postseason to square off for the national title.

Of course, the system was never without its own controversy. The tinkering with the formula over the first few years was an effort to solidify the transparency of the selection process. That tinkering backfired as the BCS — especially its reliance on computers — seemed to trip up the legitimacy of the BCS selection process.

Bowls continued to pop up on the calendar during this period. The 25 games of 2000 ballooned into the 30s soon thereafter, as leagues continued to consolidate and realign and bowl games continues to take on lasting significance to schools.

While the bulk of attention naturally focused on the two teams vying for national titles, the bowl system around that championship game continued to mature. The impact of ESPN seeking out content in the last era before widespread DVR technology and the shift toward mobile viewing played out was the growth of the calendar with network-owned contests.