1999 Bowl Championship Series Rankings

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Nov. 29: Virginia Tech Virtually Locked In

Virginia Tech, thanks to their convincing win over Boston College and Colorado's big comeback against Nebraska to force overtime, has virtually locked up a spot in the Sugar Bowl against #1 Florida State on Jan. 4. The Hokies increased their BCS lead over third-ranked Nebraska from .63 points to 1.54 points in the most recent BCS standings released Monday, Nov. 29.

Although it won't be official until the final BCS Standings are released on Dec. 5, Nebraska's chances are infinitesimal. (They could theoretically overcome Virginia Tech for a spot in the national championship game with a huge rout over Texas in the Big 12 Championship game on Dec. 4.) The Cornhuskers blew any real chance they had for leap-frogging Virginia Tech when they allowed Colorado to score 24 unanswered points to force overtime in their final regular season game on Nov. 26. Although Nebraska won that game, 33-30, the margin of victory—which is used in the BCS calculations— was too close to help them.

The Hokies were further helped when it was clarified finally that the 1AA playoff games would not affect their strength of schedule. Virginia Tech beat 1AA and interstate rival James Madison, 47-0, to open the season and the JMU Dukes advanced to the 1AA tournament, but lost in the first round. The loss would have hurt Tech's strength of schedule had it been counted in the BCS formula.

Legend

Poll Average — The average of the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and AP media polls. Others receiving votes are calculated in order received.

Computer Average — Average of Richard Billingsley, Dunkel Index, Kenneth Massey, New York Times, David Rothman, Jeff Sagarin's USA Today, Matthews/Scripps-Howard and The Anderson & Hester/Seattle Times rankings. The computer component will be determined by averaging the seven highest computer rankings. The lowest computer rankings will be disregarded.

Schedule Rank — Rank of schedule strength compared to other Division I-A teams divided by 25. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponents opponents (33.3 percent).

Losses — One point for each loss during the season.

Notes — BCS Rankings each week will list the top 15 teams.

Table header &3151; AP (Associated Press poll): ESPN (ESPN/USA Today coaches poll): AVG. (Average of two polls); BILL. (Richard Billingsley); DUNK (Dunkel Index); MASS. (Kenneth Massey); NYT (New York Times); ROTH. (David Rothman); SAG. (Jeff Sagarin); S.H. (Scripps-Howard); S.T. (Seattle Times); C.AVG. (Computer services average, disregarding the worst ranking in each); S.SCHED (Schedule strength); S.RANK (Schedule rank); L (Losses).