DeFilippo endorses a playoff
NEW YORK -- Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo said yesterday he endorsed an idea proposed by University of Oregon AD Bill Moos at a panel discussion on the Bowl Championship Series where elements of the current BCS system would be incorporated into an eight-team playoff to determine a national football champion in Division 1-A.
''Bill Moos and I were both for a playoff," said DeFilippo, one of seven panelists who spoke during the fourth annual Intercollegiate Athletics Forum.
''His model differed from mine in that he wanted to take the conference champion -- Big Ten vs. Pac-10 -- and then have the four winners from [the BCS] bowls come out and play in a Final Four."
Meanwhile, BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg told Congress yesterday in Washington that it ''is possible to have a playoff at the Division 1-A level . . . We have chosen not to go down that path."
Between jokes about needing tickets for bowl games and remarks about more important matters they could be addressing, lawmakers on the House Subcommittee on Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection -- which examined steroids in professional sports earlier this year -- made clear they are not interested in pursuing legislation.
''We're not going to introduce a playoff bill after this hearing," said Representative Joe Barton, Republican of Texas, ''but I hope this hearing causes discussion. I would like to see the NCAA and the major conferences and the BCS come together on their own to develop a playoff system."
The BCS, controversial though it has been since its inception in trying to match the top two teams in a championship game, will pair No. 1 Southern Cal (12-0) vs. No. 2 Texas (12-0) in the Rose Bowl Jan. 4.
It will be only the fourth time in its eight-year history the BCS has matched the undisputed top two teams in the country.
''The way [the BCS] is set up, you've got to win every game to win the national championship," said Georgia coach Mark Richt, whose No. 8 Bulldogs (10-2) won the Southeastern Conference title. ''Even if you win every game, you may not get there, but that's the way life is and that's the way it is right now with us.
''When it comes to the bowl system, we know if we win the SEC we're in the BCS, but after that we have no control. But I can live with that."
DeFilippo was joined on the panel by Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione, Ohio State AD Gene Smith, Fox Sports president Ed Goren, and Orange Bowl CEO Keith Tribble. DeFilippo said his idea was to take the six BCS conference champions -- from the Pac-10, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC, and Atlantic Coast Conference -- and two at-large entrants and seed them 1-8. ''Then we'd play the four games and have the four teams come out," DeFilippo said. ''All we have to do is keep every single thing the way it is and then go take the four winners that come out of the bowls, and it's all set up for us."
Under Moos's proposal, though, conference bowl ties would be preserved, meaning that the Rose Bowl would go back to hosting the champions of the Pac-10 and Big Ten.
''I want to keep everything the same, play the four BCS games, then have the four teams left standing -- the four winners -- play a playoff," DeFilippo said. ''The two at-larges would have to be worked out. Again, would you do it with the computers like the BCS or would you do it with a committee like they do in basketball? I don't know."
Asked if a playoff would fly with university presidents, DeFilippo said flatly, ''No, not at all. There's just so many presidents who really don't want to talk about a playoff. There's so many different constituencies and so many people who want to preserve this and that, so I don't think we can get it done right now. But I'd sure love to see it done."
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. 
