BCS memo lays out proposed playoff formats

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BCS memo lists playoffs as option

The Bowl Championship Series is focusing on four main options for changing the system that determines college football's national champion, from minor tweaks of the current system to a full-fledged, four-team playoff at neutral sites, USA Today reported.

According to a two-page memo obtained by the newspaper, the proposals are not the only options being considered, but have been the focus of discussion on how to change the system, which has been a topic of debate since its inception. The BCS' leaders are meeting April 24-26 in Hollywood, Fla.



"There is no leader in the clubhouse ... and frankly, that's just fine at this stage," BCS executive director Bill Hancock told USA Today.

Those supporting the BCS have insisted that a playoff would devalue the regular season and negatively impact the traditional bowl games and student-athlete academics. Critics have argued that the BCS has excluded deserving teams that are outside of the most powerful conferences, and has failed to reward teams for winning their conferences or going undefeated.

Among the proposals in the memo is "four teams plus" -- an arrangement that would expand to six teams to account for the traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-12 rivalry embraced by the Rose Bowl, according to the report.

In that scenario, if the top four teams in the BCS standings included teams from the Big Ten and/or the Pac-12, that team (or teams) would play in the Rose Bowl, while the other four highest-ranked teams would play in two other games. Finalists for a championship game would be chosen from among the three winners, according to the report.


There is no leader in the clubhouse ... and frankly, that's just fine at this stage.

-- Bill Hancock, BCS executive director
The most radical departure proposed in the memo is a four-team playoff, with semifinals and a championship game, according to the report. The memo does not use the word "playoff" to describe the proposal, instead calling it a "four-team event."

A wide range of options for a playoff are presented in the memo, including:

• Playing all three games at bowls;
• Playing the semifinal games at bowls and selecting a bowl game site for the title game;
• Playing all three games at neutral sites and not branding the games as bowls;
• Playing semifinal games at campus sites and selecting a bowl game site for the title game.

The remaining proposals outlined in the memo obtained by USA Today include the "plus-one" formula that would select two teams after the bowl games for a championship game, and a slightly revamped BCS system that would change or eliminate the automatic qualifying status for conferences, except for contracts between conferences and bowl games.

Furthermore, according to the memo, if a plus-one or playoff system were put in place, the BCS would consider having a committee select matchups for as many as 16 bowl games, "with the aim of providing the most evenly matched and attractive games that make geographic sense for the participants."
 

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BCS considers neutral-site proposal

If Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners and the sport's other power brokers approve a four-team playoff to determine college football's national champion, the semifinals and the national championship game will be played at neutral sites and the BCS bowl games will be played closer to New Year's Day, a source familiar with the negotiations told ESPN.com on Tuesday.

Commissioners of the 11 FBS conferences, Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick and other network TV and college football officials are meeting in Hollywood, Fla., this week to discuss the future of the BCS.

The source said he believed the commissioners "are too far out on a limb to turn back now," but said there were still many details yet to be finalized. A final decision on the BCS isn't expected this week, but the commissioners and other officials are expected to begin hammering out many of the details of a four-team playoff.

The proposed changes wouldn't go into affect until the 2014 season. The current BCS system, in which the top two teams in the final BCS standings play in a national championship game at the site of one of the current BCS bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar), will remain in place over the next two seasons.

"I don't know how they could walk back at this point, but they might," the source said. "I think because they're dealing in a world of compromise, I think there's a chance they could only tweak the current system and only deal with No. 1 vs. No. 2. But I think they're too far out on a limb to turn back now."

A proposal to play the semifinal games at the home stadiums of the higher-seeded teams is all but dead, according to the source. The semifinal games will either be hosted by the existing BCS bowl games or opened for bidding. The source said it seemed almost certain that the national championship game will be opened to bidding by the existing BCS bowl sites and other cities such as Atlanta, Dallas and Indianapolis.

The conference commissioners have reached a conclusion that some FBS schools' stadiums aren't large enough to host a national semifinal game and that many college towns don't have enough hotel rooms to accommodate bigger crowds.

"What happens if TCU finishes No. 2 in the country and hosts a semifinal game?" the source said. "TCU finished No. 3 two years ago. Are they really hosting No. 3 Ohio State in a 45,000-seat stadium? Where are people going to stay if Oregon hosts a semifinal game? In Portland? As much as it would be great for the sport to see a game played in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuscaloosa, Ala., or Lincoln, Neb., some of the logistical issues are just too severe. I think that idea has come home to roost as far as these guys are concerned."

The source said a proposal that would require teams to win their respective conferences to participate in a playoff is also all but dead. Under that proposal, Alabama, which didn't win the SEC last season but defeated No. 1 LSU 21-0 in the Jan. 9 Allstate BCS National Championship Game, wouldn't have been eligible for the playoffs.

Conference commissioners are still debating about what to do with the Rose Bowl as well, according to the source. Rose Bowl officials repeatedly have said they prefer to keep their traditional matchup between Big Ten and Pac-12 teams; Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott also favor keeping the traditional tie-in intact. But if the Rose Bowl isn't willing to give up its affiliations with those conferences, it might fall out of a potential national semifinals rotation. However, the Rose Bowl would still be eligible to bid for a national championship game.

The source said the conference commissioners also are eager "to take back New Year's Day." Last season, 35 college bowl games were played between Dec. 17 and Jan. 9. Of the traditional New Year's Day bowl games, only the Rose and Fiesta bowls were played on Jan. 2 (New Year's Day fell on a Sunday this year, a day reserved for the NFL). The Sugar Bowl was played on Jan. 3 and the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4.

The source said the commissioners would prefer to play the national semifinals games on New Year's Day and have the winning teams play in a championship game about a week later.
 

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I'd like to see a a 16 team 5 week playoff.

Start beginning of December. End first week of January.

There's 6 weeks in between the end of the season and the final bowl game anyway.
 

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+1 is the only way this will work...

1v4 and 2v3 in traditional BCS Bowl...2 weeks later have the MNC game...you can move up the BCS games a to New Year's Day to give two sets of teams time to prepare. You can rotate which BCS bowls host the play-in teams and play the title game at a neutral site that takes bids every year (sort of like the SB).
 

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Why does there need to be a playoff, or a defined #1?

Who cares if at the end of the season, there are 2-3 teams that folks can discuss who is the best?

IMO that adds to college football.
 

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The years that the Giants beat the 18-0 Pats does anyone here think the Giants were the "best" team overall? I sure don't.

The point being even when you have a playoff system, you are almost always going to have situations where the best team overall doesn't win.
 

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