Colleges

BCS will consider four-team playoff

A few hours before Ohio State and LSU kicked off in Monday night's Bowl Championship Series national title game, organizers of the oft-criticized system offered a preview of the debate to come.

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published January 8, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - A few hours before Ohio State and LSU kicked off in Monday night's Bowl Championship Series national title game, organizers of the oft-criticized system offered a preview of the debate to come.

They are set to explore in earnest a major change in the BCS: The creation of a de facto four-team playoff that would pair the winners of two of the current BCS games in a sixth BCS game.

It's commonly called the Plus-One model.

"We haven't really sat down and had the full discussion and all we can do is give it a full airing and a full discussion," said John Swofford, the ACC commissioner who now begins his two-year stint as the coordinator of the BCS. "I think the subject deserves that. I think college football deserves that."

But problem is that the topic seems to be a nonstarter with the Big Ten, Pac-10 and their long-standing bowl partner, the Rose Bowl. The tradition of maintaining the game on New Year's Day (along with the famed Rose Parade) and a pairing of teams from those two leagues appears paramount to those entities.

The leagues and the Rose also have a television contract with ABC that runs through the 2013 season, four years longer than the current deal the other BCS games (Sugar, Orange and Fiesta) have with Fox.

"That's part of the landscape we deal with," Swofford said.

A Plus-One model, which undoubtedly would need a fifth bowl site (currently, one site hosts two games each year, including the championship game, on a rotating basis), would seed the top four teams for a No. 1 vs. No. 4 and a No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup. The winners would meet a week later.

"There's a comfort level in our conference with what we're doing today, but I would tell you in our conference, there is much more of an open-mindedness about the Plus-One model than what there was two years ago," Swofford said. "Considerably more."

Nothing will change for the next two years, but the BCS has to determine its format so it can renegotiate its bowl and television contracts in the coming year.

"So our meeting in April (in Miami) will simply be a part of the process and we'll see where that leads us," Swofford said. "It may lead us to where we are today."

FAVORITE SPOT: Coming into the BCS title game as the No. 1 team hasn't been the best of positions of late. In the previous five games, the No. 2 team had won four times, including Florida last year. OSU and LSU were both No. 2 when they won.

FOND MEMORIES: Accompanying the captains to midfield for the coin toss were Florida's Danny Wuerffel, Florida State's Chris Weinke and Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett, who tossed the coin. All three led their college teams to national titles in New Orleans.

BUCKEYES PAST: A dozen former Ohio State stars were on the sideline, including two Heisman Trophy winners, running back Eddie George and quarterback Troy Smith.

WELCOME SCENE: The French Quarter was filled with people on Monday afternoon, most wearing purple and gold or scarlet and gray shirts. Lines wrapped around street corners for even the hole-in-the-wall cafes.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said it was a great experience for his team's players, coaches and fans to "feel the importance of this week" and see the "importance of hosting an event like is and to see the strength and passion" of the locals who are still rebuilding their community after the Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

HOT TICKET: Online ticket broker StubHub.com said Monday's game surpassed last year's Super Bowl as its top-selling event, based on dollar volume. StubHub said the average price on its site was $1,395, the lowest Monday afternoon was $640 for the top deck behind the end zone.

[Last modified January 8, 2008, 00:26:52]