BCS has fifth bowl in works
SAN ANTONIO -- Representatives of the Bowl Championship Series met here yesterday and began to put together a formula that will incorporate a fifth BCS bowl by the 2006 season.
"It's important to have the process established first," said Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese. "We can then decide who the fifth bowl will be."
BCS sources suggested each of the six conferences that are guaranteed a BCS bowl berth would be linked to one of the bowls.
The most likely setup:
Rose Bowl: Pacific-10 champion vs. Big Ten champion (except when the Rose Bowl hosts the BCS title game).
Sugar Bowl: Southeastern Conference champion vs. at-large team.
Fiesta Bowl: Big 12 champion vs. at-large team.
Orange Bowl: Atlantic Coast Conference champion vs. at-large team.
Fifth BCS Bowl: Big East champion vs. at-large team.
The Gator Bowl, which would eagerly accept the Big East conference champion as its anchor team, could be the leading contender for the fifth BCS bowl. At-large slots would be awarded to conference champions that finish in the top 12 in the BCS standings. Another way to get a BCS slot for a non-BCS team would be to finish in the top 16. If that happened, and a champion from a BCS league was lower than 16th, the non-BCS team would also be guaranteed a slot.
The rotation of at-large teams at BCS bowls is still undetermined. The Rose Bowl has created its own deal of having the Pac-10 champ play the Big Ten champ every year it does not host the national championship.
Not surprisingly, some bowls are reluctant to take an at-large team from a non-BCS league rather than a runner-up from a more high-profile conference.
Tranghese said the impact of the BCS computers would be lessened so it would be impossible for a team ranked No. 1 in either of two human polls to be excluded from the championship game.
"There can still be problems if you have five teams with one loss or three undefeated teams, that the computers would have to be used to make the final call," said Tranghese. "But if the two human polls are in agreement as to the top two teams, that will be the game."
