BCS set to move top bowl games to ESPN

The Bowl Championship Series is close to an agreement with ESPN to televise college football's championship game and biggest bowls - a deal that would put up a huge barrier to any playoff system for at least six years.

The title game and BCS bowls, save the Rose, are currently on broadcast network Fox and would be going to cable for the first time since the system was implemented in 1998.

"We are currently in the process of finalizing with ESPN a television rights agreement for the BCS games that will be played January 2011 through January 2014," BCS coordinator John Swofford said. "ESPN has been a great supporter of college football and we are excited to be completing a future deal that will give them an even larger presence in the postseason."

ESPN and the BCS are keeping mum on details of their negotiations, but whatever Fox's offer was, it wasn't enough for the BCS. Fox paid $320 million to broadcast the games from 2007-10.

"Even with today's vast economic uncertainties, Fox Sports made a very competitive bid to keep broadcasting BCS games free to every home in America, one that included a substantial rights fee increase, and certainly as much as any over-the-air network could responsibly risk," Fox spokesman Lou D'Ermilio wrote in an e-mail.

A vocal contingent of college football fans - including President-elect Barack Obama - has clamored for a playoff to determine its champion. They'll all probably have to wait until January 2014, when this deal would end.

ESPN broadcast partner ABC already has the rights to the Rose Bowl and before the Fox deal, held the rights ever since college football's major conferences set it up.

After a series of awkward matchups some - but by no means all - fans have grown frustrated by the BCS.

Two disputed past matchups have involved teams coming off big losses (Nebraska in 2001 and Oklahoma in 2003; neither won the title) and a perfect Auburn team was snubbed in 2004.

The past two years, Ohio State has lost lopsided affairs that only provided grist for the mills of playoff proponents.

About the only time there has been no uproar has been when two and only two teams managed to finish the regular season unbeaten.

Utah State dismisses Guy

Utah State fired football coach Brent Guy, 11 games into his fourth season. Guy will coach the Aggies' season finale Nov. 29 at home, but that will be the end of his disappointing tenure at Utah State. The Aggies fell to 2-9 last week with a loss to Louisiana Tech and are 8-38 since Guy took over as coach in 2005 . . . Rocky Long is stepping down after 11 seasons at the helm of New Mexico's football program, saying he believes this year's team should have been much better and that the coaching staff - including himself - did a "terrible job." The Lobos wrapped up their season Saturday with a 20-6 loss at Colorado State to fall to 4-8 . . . A UConn spokesman confirmed that coach Randy Edsall does not want to be considered for the coaching vacancy at Syracuse, his alma mater. Edsall told The Day of New London yesterday that he is not interested in becoming a candidate for the job, and didn't want speculation over his status at UConn to distract his team . . . Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said that he is close to finalizing an agreement for a contract extension that he hopes would end speculation that he could leave for another job. The Cardinal are 5-6 heading into the regular-season finale against Cal .

Dukes remain No. 1

James Madison, which clinched the CAA automatic berth to the playoffs Saturday, retained the No. 1 ranking in The Sports Network FCS-Top 25 poll. The Dukes (9-1) received 106 of 120 first-place votes to hold off Appalachian State. New Hampshire (8-2), coming off a 52-21 win over UMass, moved up two spots in the poll to No. 11. Maine (8-3) jumped four spots to No. 17, and Harvard (8-1) remained at No. 19 . . . . . . Boston College free safety Marcellus Bowman was named the ACC defensive back of the week after returning an interception 87 yards for a touchdown in the Eagles' 27-17 win over Florida State Saturday . . . Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said he doubts quarterback Steven Threet or running back Sam McGuffie will play against 10th-ranked Ohio State Saturday. The Buckeyes are a 19-point favorite, matching the largest spread in the rivalry.