With Florida State’s victory over Auburn for the National Championship, the BCS era is officially over in college football. It is a system that has created a lot of controversy and constantly argued about, but it helped give us some incredible years of great football.

The BCS system was first implemented for the 1998 season after years where polls were the only determination of who was the National Champion, but the top two teams often played in one of the major bowls. However, often times, the Pac-12 and Big 10 were left out of the championship game because of commitments to the Rose Bowl. The BCS system was the first time the Rose Bowl allowed the conferences to play in what would be considered the National Championship if they qualified.

At the conclusion of the 1998 season, the first BCS title game was played between Tennessee and Florida State, where the Volunteers led by Tee Martin and Peerless Price came out victorious. Florida State would go on to appear in the next two title games, winning over Michael Vick’s Virginia Tech team and losing to Bob Stoops and the Sooners the year after that.

One large criticism, other than the use of computer polls, has been how it pushed the notoriously stronger conferences to the top, most noted near the end of the era that the SEC essentially carried an automatic bid into the Championship Game, and Ohio State’s consistently high ranking, despite having some underwhelming teams.

Despite the BCS system causing so much controversy, it has given us some incredible moments. It gave us moments that will be used in highlight reels forever. It helped cement legacies for many. It gave the little guy a chance to play against the big boys. Here are some of the more incredible moments:

2002 Fiesta Bowl: The battle between the Miami Hurricanes and Ohio State Buckeyes was an incredible intense battle. A game that went into triple overtime, it was easily the most exciting Championship game of the BCS era. It was the highest point of Maurice Clarrett’s football career, and likely the lowest for Willis McGahee, who suffered one of the most gruesome knee injuries a football player can take.

2006 Rose Bowl: Arguably the greatest BCS championship of the entire era, the showdown between the powerhouse USC Trojans, who rostered arguably one of the greatest college football teams ever assembled, faced off against Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns. The game was tight the entire way, but it is remembered because of one play, the fourth and five run from the 9-yard line, when Young rushed in along the sideline to win the game for the Longhorns. This was the game, and moment, that cemented Vince Young in Texas folklore as one of the greatest to ever put on the burnt orange. He is still a favorite on campus to this day, as shown in this recent commercial from the Longhorn Network.

2007 Fiesta Bowl: Though Utah was the first non-automatic qualifying conference team to appear in a BCS game, the most notable performance by a small team was by Boise State. The Broncos were major underdogs against powerhouse Oklahoma. However, the Broncos kept it close, but the two plays that will be forever remembered are the hook-and-ladder on 4th and 18 with less than 20 seconds left that ended up being the touchdown that set up the 2 point conversion. And on that two point conversion, the Broncos ran the “Statue of Liberty” and clinched the victory. Shortly after the play, running back Ian Johnson, who scored the 2-point conversion, ran to his girlfriend, a Boise cheerleader, and proposed.

Coaches like Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel and Bobby Bowden helped cement legacies for themselves from their consistent appearance in the BCS games, especially the Championship. Though, the coach that benefitted the most is easily Nick Saban, who won four National Titles under the BCS, placing himself among the greatest coaches, if not the greatest, of all-time.

So, as we say goodbye to the BCS, it’s important to remember that despite the problems the system had, it helped progress college football forward. Had the system never been implemented, it’s hard to say if there would be a playoff being installed next season. And in the end, all people are going to do now is argue.

Such debates will revolve around things like who will be the last team in and who the first team out are, whether teams should be required to win their conference to get in, who’s on the panel that selects the teams, etc. People will always find something to argue about. College basketball has a tournament of 68 teams, and people still complain about teams that should be in over others.

At the end of the day, the playoff does offer what appears to be a far more exciting postseason, so many will be very interested moving forward how it works out, but the BCS will never be forgotten. Sure it had it’s problems, but it certainly has given us some of the most memorable moments we will ever see.