Table Legend

Rewards standings before and after the bowl games.

Commentary: Alabama solidified its hold on the #1 position by defeating (then) #2 Texas 37-21 in the BCS Championship game, and the injury to Longhorn QB Colt McCoy in the first half, will leave many to wonder how the game might have gone if he could have played longer. Undefeated Boise State, #2 in the Rewards rating generated at the end of the regular season, but only #6 in both polls, stayed as the #2 team (according to Rewards) with their 17-10 over then #3 TCU (according to the polls, #5 according to Rewards), and moved up to #4 in both of the final polls that were taken. The average disagreement between Rewards and the polls, with regards to who should be in the top 20 for 2009 after all the bowl games, is the second lowest total since 1990; 1996 was 1.84. Rewards agreed with the placement of seven of those 20 teams, and another four were only "off by one". In fact, in the polls' top 25 teams, only Nebraska and Clemson were placed more than 5 positions by Rewards than where the polls put them: the Cornhuskers were voted #14, and given their impressive 33-0 win over Arizona, and their "somewhat controversial", one point loss to Texas in the Big-12 championship game, this seems reasonable, and Clemson was #24/#28 in the polls, but Rewards had them as #38, probably because their second best win was to 7-6 Florida State.