College football rankings: BCS makes decision on Florida State, Alabama

The final four-team College Football Playoff selections are also arguably the most controversial in the CFP era, after the committee elected to rank one-loss, SEC champion Alabama ahead of undefeated, ACC champ Florida State, keeping the Seminoles from competing for a national championship. But not all rankings systems agreed with that decision, and that includes the old BCS computers.

Ever since the playoff era began, the BCS system was able to correctly predict every iteration of the final four, but that streak of predictions ended after the committee excluded the Seminoles in favor of Alabama. What would the BCS rankings look like? Here's their final poll, thanks to the folks at BCSKnowHow.com.

The BCS top-five rankings

1. Michigan. No change from the playoff, AP top 25, or Coaches Poll, and as expected the undefeated Big Ten champions inched into pole position in all the rankings after Georgia's loss in the SEC Championship Game.

2. Washington. The BCS computers agree about No. 2, as well, after the Huskies completed the undefeated season with a Pac-12 championship, also moving up one spot in the rankings after the Bulldogs' loss.

3. Alabama. In the end, the selection committee respected Texas' win over the Crimson Tide so much that they couldn't move Bama up without also moving the Big 12 champion Longhorns up, too. But the BCS disagreed, judging Alabama's win over Georgia as better than Texas' win over Alabama.

4. Florida State. Yes, if the BCS had its way in the committee room, the Seminoles would have made the College Football Playoff. And until this year, it was unheard of for the playoff to exclude an undefeated Power Five conference champion. And in the end, it was too much for the BCS system, too.

5. Texas. Winning the Big 12 championship with one loss on the year was not enough to supersede the Seminoles' achievement, nor Alabama's, in the eyes of the BCS system, which counted the Tide's win over Georgia as the clincher for the top four. These rankings consider the SEC Championship Game a result superior even to the Longhorns' victory over that Bama team.

The complete BCS rankings

1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. Alabama
4. Florida State
5. Texas
6. Georgia
7. Ohio State
8. Oregon
9. Penn State
10. Missouri
11. Ole Miss
12. Oklahoma
13. LSU
14. Notre Dame
15. Arizona
16. Louisville
17. Liberty
18. Iowa
19. SMU
20. NC State
21. Oregon State
22. James Madison
23. Oklahoma State
24. Tennessee
25. Troy