TheBowl Alliance was an agreement amongcollege football bowl games (specifically theSugar,Orange, andFiesta Bowls) for the purpose of trying to match the top two teams in anational championship game and to provide qualitybowl game matchups for the champions of its member conferences. The agreement, which replaced theBowl Coalition, was in place for the1995,1996, and1997 seasons. Each participating team in the Bowl Alliance Championship received $8.5 million from the television sponsors.^[1]

In its beginnings, the Bowl Alliance involved theSEC,Big Eight,SWC,ACC, andBig East conference champions, as well as independentNotre Dame. Because of this, only one at-large slot was available for teams to vie for. With the disbanding of the Big Eight and SWC following the 1995 football season and the formation of theBig 12 Conference in its wake, an additional at-large bid became available. The Alliance bowls were held on three successive days in each of the three years of the Alliance's existence with one game played onNew Year's Eve, one onNew Year's Day, and one on January 2. A Bowl Alliance Poll was formed by adding together the point totals fromAP Poll andCoaches' Poll. The top two ranked teams from the Alliance conferences met in the Bowl Alliance national championship game, which rotated between the three Alliance bowls and was always held on January 2.

Because theBig Ten andPac-10 conferences were contractually tied to theRose Bowl via automatic bids for their conference champions, their conference champions could not participate in the Alliance Bowls. Nevertheless, the conferences could be represented in the games if one of their teams procured an at-large bid to a Bowl Alliance game. This occurred twice, with Penn State playing in the1997 Fiesta Bowl and Ohio State in the1998 Sugar Bowl.

CBS and ABC split television coverage of the Bowl Alliance, with CBS acquiring the rights to the Orange and Fiesta Bowls from NBC following their 1995 playings and ABC already being in possession of the Sugar Bowl rights as they had been since 1970.

In the last two years of the Bowl Alliance, the possibility existed for a split national championship. In 1996, No. 1Florida State played No. 3Florida for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl while No. 2 Pac-10 championArizona State was locked into playing in the Rose Bowl against No. 4Ohio State. Arizona State lost to Ohio State in the1997 Rose Bowl, ending the possibility for a split national championship for that season.

In 1997, the same problem occurred but with the #1 team in both polls being locked out of the Bowl Alliance's championship game. Following the regular season, the top three teams in both polls’ rankings wereMichigan,Nebraska, andTennessee. As the Big Ten champion, Michigan was contracted to play in theRose Bowl on January 1. TheOrange Bowl was to be played the next night between Nebraska and Tennessee, the top teams in the Alliance rankings, but only a Michigan loss toWashington State would result in an undisputed national champion. Michigan defeated Washington State in the Rose Bowl, which ensured that the winner of the Orange Bowl would receive a share of the national championship; the game was won by Nebraska, marking the third time in four years that they had been recognized as the national champion and the second time that they had been part of a split championship after the 1994 Bowl Coalition's final rankings.

Following the 1997 season the Bowl Alliance's member conferences and bowls joined with theBig Ten andPac-10 conferences and theRose Bowl to form theBowl Championship Series beginning with the1998 college football season.

The Bowl Alliance awarded its own trophy to the winner of its designated national championship game.^[2]

The Alliance trophy was a large crystalchalice. It was awarded to the winning coach on the field immediately following the Alliance national championship game.

Because the Bowl Alliance failed to include the Pac-10, Big Ten (and thus the Rose Bowl), or any so-called mid-major conferences, the Bowl Alliance was reformed just three years after it began.BYU's performance opened the door for mid-major conferences to participate in upper-tier bowls as well. In 1996, despite 18 conference championships in 23 years, one of the winningest records in college football and a #5 ranking in the AP poll, BYU was excluded from a Bowl Alliance bowl and was relegated to theCotton Bowl (which of the major bowls had been left out when the Bowl Coalition was reformed into the Bowl Alliance), beatingKansas State to finish the season 14–1. The Bowl Coalition was at risk ofantitrust enforcement because of itsmonopoly limiting participation in the most recognized bowls to members of just a few conferences.LaVell Edwards, BYU'shead coach, testified in Congress at that time about the inherent unfairness in recruiting for teams who were excluded from bowls simply because of conference affiliation. With the pressure of potential Congressional action, the Bowl Alliance reformed into theBowl Championship Series that not only included the Big Ten and the Pac-10 conference but also cracked open the door to allow the possibility of a "mid-major" team's participation. BYU's rivalUtah became the first mid-major team to participate in a BCS bowl game, the2005 Fiesta Bowl.

• December 31, 1995 –Sugar Bowl: #11Virginia Tech (Big East champion) 28, #6Texas (Southwest champion) 10
• January 1, 1996 –Orange Bowl: #9Florida State (ACC champion) 31, #8Notre Dame 26
• January 2, 1996 –Fiesta Bowl, (National Championship Game): #1Nebraska (Big 8 champion) 62, #2Florida (SEC champion) 24

• December 31, 1996 –Orange Bowl: #6Nebraska 41, #9Virginia Tech (Big East champion) 21
• January 1, 1997 –Fiesta Bowl: #7Penn State 38, #20Texas (Big 12 champion) 15
• January 2, 1997 –Sugar Bowl, (National Championship Game): #3Florida (SEC champion) 52, #1Florida State (ACC champion) 20

• December 31, 1997 –Fiesta Bowl: #10Kansas State 35, #14Syracuse (Big East champion) 18
• January 1, 1998 –Sugar Bowl: #4Florida State (ACC Champion) 31, #9Ohio State 14
• January 2, 1998 –Orange Bowl, (National Championship Game): #2Nebraska (Big 12 champion) 42, #3Tennessee (SEC champion) 17

+ Denotes Bowl Alliance National Championship Game

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