Taco Bell of Irvine will become the official "Quick Service Restaurant" for the college football Bowl Championship Series, the company announced Wednesday.

The nation's largest Mexican fast-food chain said it reached an agreement with Fox Sports to be the sponsor for four years. The agreement, which runs from 2007 through 2010, provides Taco Bell exclusive rights to use the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and the new BCS National Championship Game in its marketing, the company said. The company can also use the championship trophy for promotional purposes. In addition, Taco Bell will receive advertising spots during the games.

"Our partnership with Fox allows Taco Bell to deliver our 'Think Outside the Bun' brand personality to millions of Taco Bell consumers in innovative ways, " said Debbie Myers, vice president of media services for Taco Bell.

Bob Sandelman, president of Sandelman & Associates in San Clemente, called the deal a "coup" for Taco Bell as it taps the industry's core customers: young males.

• The combined television rating for the 2006 Bowl Championship Series was 55.79, the highest in BCS history. The combined total was 29.6 percent higher than the 2005 total rating of 43.03.
  
  
• A combined total 61,487,059 households viewed the four 2006 BCS bowls, an average of 15,371,764 households per game. The national championship game was watched by almost 24 million people.
  
  
• The national championship game between Texas and Southern California drew a 21.7 rating for ABC, which is not only the highest BCS rating ever, but the highest college football rating since a 25.1 rating for the Penn State vs. Miami (Fla.) Fiesta Bowl in 1987.
  
  
• The national championship game was the highest rated football game (excluding the Super Bowl), including NFL regular season, playoffs and all college football, on ABC Sports since Jan. 1999 when Dallas played Arizona in an NFL wildcard playoff game.
  
  
• The national championship game was the highest rated ABC-TV program, excluding the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl, since May 4, 2000 when "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," averaged a 22.1 rating.
  
  
• Comparing the national championship game to other professional sports championships -- the last World Series game to break a 21.0 rating was Game 7 of the 2001 series (23.5) and the last NBA finals game to break a 21.0 rating was Game 7 of the 2001 series (23.5).
  
  
• During the national championship game timeslot (Jan. 4/8 p.m. ET), the Rose Bowl on ABC Sports was watched by more people (21.4 rating/32 share) than the remaining "big four" television networks during that timeslot combined (16.6 rating/24 share). The premiere of "The Biggest Loser: Special Edition," drew a 5.6/8 for NBC while reruns of "Still Standing" and "Yes, Dear" scored a 4.8/7 for CBS. "That '70s Show," 3.4/5, and "Stacked," 2.8/4, came in fourth for FOX.
  
  
• The four BCS bowls had a total attendance of 322,552, which is 104.5 percent of the capacity of the four bowl games. All four bowl games were sellouts. The Rose Bowl drew 93,986 fans, the Sugar Bowl had 74,458 fans, the Fiesta Bowl had 76,196 fans and the Orange Bowl's attendance was 77,912.
  

Compilation of Standings

Since the beginning of the 2000 regular season, the BCS Standings have been compiled by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

This year, the BCS Standings will include three components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll and an average of six computer rankings. Each component will count one-third of a team's overall BCS score in the BCS Standings.

Polls

In the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll, a team will be evaluated on the number of voting points it receives in each poll. A team's Harris Interactive score will be its points in the poll divided by its total possible voting points (2850=114 x 25). The same formula will apply to the USA Today Coaches poll and its total voting points (1550=62 x 25).

The number of actual voters, which can vary and has varied in the past, is figured into the computation on a weekly basis in stating each team's percentage of a possible perfect score.

Computer Rankings

Six computer rankings will be used for 2005: Jeff Sagarin, whose rankings are published in USA Today, Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Dr. Peter Wolfe. Points will be assigned in inverse order of ranking from 1-25. A team's highest and lowest computer ranking will be discarded in calculating its computer rankings average. The four remaining computer scores will be averaged and the total will be calculated as a percentage of 100. All three components shall be added together and averaged for a team's ranking in the BCS Standings. The team with the highest average shall rank first in the BCS Standings. The first BCS Standings of the 2005 season will be released on Monday, October 17. The BCS Standings Will Be Utilized for:

1. 
   
   Selecting the teams that will participate in the national championship game.


2. 
   
   Determining whether any independent or team from Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conferences shall qualify for a guaranteed selection in one of the games of the Bowl Championship Series.


3. 
   
   Determining any other automatic at-large selections.


4. 
   
   Establishing the pool of eligible teams for at-large selection.