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GRAPEVINE, Texas -- While there still won't be a playoff in
the Bowl Championship Series, the system will definitely be changed
again. Commissioners from the 11 Division I-A conferences met for more
than five hours Friday to discuss needed changes. The meeting on
the first day of the NCAA convention was only the first step. "We just really began conversations," ACC commissioner John
Swofford said. "I don't think any of us had the expectations that
this would go too awfully far." The primary issue is determining how to rank teams, especially
the two that play for the BCS championship. This was the
commissioners' first meeting since The Associated Press last month
asked that its poll not be used in the system's formula any longer. BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said
commissioners discussed a wide range of BCS issues. They also
talked about determining which conferences get automatic spots in
the system and the format for 2006, when a fifth BCS game is added. "We had a productive discussion," Weiberg said. "We were
framing the issues, not making any decisions." There was no discussion of a playoff, Weiberg said, because
there is no interest from school presidents and chancellors for
such a system. Weiberg said the BCS could look for a suitable replacement for
the AP poll in rankings or use a committee approach similar to the
one used by the NCAA to select the 65-team basketball tournament.
Or there could be a combination of those two approaches. "I don't know if I heard a best idea, but I heard a lot of
thoughts," said Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive,
who is more open-minded to a committee approach since the AP poll
has to be replaced. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, the past BCS chairman, has
championed the idea of a selection committee. He left early to
catch a flight home, referring questions to Weiberg. The BCS formula had been streamlined this season to put heavy
emphasis on the two human polls, the AP and the ESPN/USA Today
coaches poll. Six computer rankings are also part of the formula. If the system moved ahead with just the coaches poll, Weiberg
said he would be concerned if the coaches continue to keep their
votes private. "The transparency issue is one of our most important," Weiberg
said. "That would put us is a position to have some level of
discomfort moving forward." The American Football Coaches Association is expected to discuss
that issue when it begins its convention Sunday in Louisville, Ky.
Coaches voted last month against releasing their final ballots. The I-A commissioners aren't expected to meet again until April,
but may not make any final decisions then. "Our goal is to get to April with a pretty firm direction,"
Weiberg said. Weiberg said a committee approach to the BCS would be different
than that of basketball, which uses a 10-person committee of
conference commissioners and athletic directors to set the 65-team
field at the end of the regular season. He envisions a committee
meeting several times through the season. "We did not get into the details, but I think there is interest
in it," Weiberg said. "We realize a lot of the same issues
apply." In the same way that coaches and media have voted on polls, a
committee would have to rank teams. Determining who votes and the
criteria they would use remain issues. This was the seventh year of the BCS. Five teams, two from
non-BCS conferences, went into the postseason undefeated. No. 1 Southern California won the BCS championship and completed
its undefeated season with a 55-19 win over No. 2 Oklahoma in the
Orange Bowl. No. 3 Auburn also finished 13-0, beating Virginia Tech
in the Sugar Bowl. Mountain West Conference champion Utah was the first BCS
outsider to play in one of the four big-money bowls, winning over
Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. Western Athletic Conference champion
Boise State had to settle for the Liberty Bowl, and lost its first
game to Louisville. Notre Dame is also part of the BCS, but athletic director Kevin
White was unable to attend Friday's meeting because of a football
recruiting weekend on the South Bend campus.
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