Changes to BCS Discussed

Although 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 in Grapevine, Texas, 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 Associated Press last month asked that its poll not be used in the formula any longer.

Kevin Weiberg, BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner, 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 bowl 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 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.

The I-A commissioners aren’t expected to meet again until April but may not make any final decisions then.