Well, they did get it right this time. Without the BCS we would have seen:

USC vs. Penn St in the Rose Bowl

and

Florida St in the Orange
Texas in the Fiesta
Georgia in the Sugar

with Ohio St, Auburn, Oregon or Notre Dame providing the visitors in those three

and a split poll between USC and Texas, each 13-0

West Va nowhere to be seen.

Lest one forgets, there were many good matchups in the "old days." Now the Big 10 and Pac 10 were tied up in the Rose Bowl, but well into the 70s the other good teams often found a way to meet. It was only in the 80s when the conferences allowed the bowls to tie them down to a specific bowl that things really started going wrong. The BCS is about allowing those bowls to continue to control things.

Then again, would a four-loss Fla St. made it in the old system?

Westwolf, I am not convinced, under the old system, that if USC and Texas were in separate bowls, either or both would necessarily remain undefeated. Heavy favorites in bowl games have been upset in the past, including the old system. I believe there are some one or two loss teams out there that could, under a play-off system, knock off the undefeated.
I agree, the BCS, this year, short of any kind of playoff, worked in terms of their rules and preferences for the selection process.

Prior to 1998, four-loss major conference champions (and Notre Dame) played in (and sometimes won) bowl games...

In 1996, 8-4 Texas was the Big 12 Champion...

In 1995, 8-4 Virginia was the ACC Champion, but FSU was the Alliance selection by virtue of the "FSU/Miami" tie-breaker...

In 1994, 6-5 Texas Tech represented the SWC in the "last" Cotton Bowl (10-0-1 Texas A&M was on probation)...a 6-4-1 Notre Dame was in the Fiesta Bowl...

In 1984, 7-4 Houston was the SWC Champion...

In 1983, 6-4-1 UCLA was the Pac-10 Champion...

It is true that I was referring only to the tie when the bowls have had the tie-ins. It's hard to remember when they did not in the years prior to the BCS.

Orange was always Big 8, often vs. ACC
Sugar was always SEC
Cotton invited the SWC winner
and the Rose was Big 10-Pac-10

My recollection is that you are correct, except the ACC was rarely in the Orange Bowl. It was Big 8 vs. at-large.... the at-large (from about 1983 on) was often Miami or FSU, but they were independent into the 1990s. Several times the at-large was PSU or a Big Ten School.

For a long time the WAC Champ had a tie-in to the Fiesta, then at some point after Arizona and ASU left, they were looking more to at-large invitees, and somehow when the Bowl Alliance came along, the Big 12 shifted it's tie-in to the Fiesta, and the ACC/BE got the Orange (which was often able to choose Miami or FSU).

For a few years after the formation of the ACC (1953), the Orange Bowl paired the champions of the ACC and the Big 8, reverted to at-large bids, and then officially resumed its affiliation in 1975...

As for the 1975-1994 opponents:

Miami: 5 (1983, 1987-1988, 1991, 1994)
Florida State: 4 (1979, 1980, 1992-1993)
Arkansas: 2 (1977, 1986)
Notre Dame: 2 (1989-1990)
Michigan: 1 (1975)
Ohio State: 1 (1976)
Oklahoma: 1 (1978)*
Clemson: 1 (1981)
LSU: 1 (1982)
Washington: 1 (1984)
Penn State: 1 (1985)

The Fiesta Bowl's position as Big XII anchor helps restate the historical myth that was the "merger"...