The changing face of college football Options

[Herr Tiggee]

The NCAA is looking into the possibility of a 5th BCS bowl as part of its future. In 2002, the Capital One Bowl (formerly Citrus) dished out a higher payout than the Orange Bowl. The powers-that-be have certainly taken notice of what Orlando has put together, and the hue and cry over a true title game has pushed the NCAA toward changing the BCS format.
The NCAA has confirmed that they may tweak things as follows; rather than pitting #1 vs. #2, the BCS would have #1 vs. #4 in one of the big bowls, while #2 takes #3 in another one of the grand old bowls. The winners of those two games would then square off in a true title game.
Of course, that will hardly placate all the folks who are screaming for an 8-team format, but given the length of the NCAA season, and the logistical nightmares of asking these student athletes to play three playoff games to determine a champion, the idea as the NCAA is currently floating it seems like a happy medium.
The addition of the Citrus-Capital One venue has been developing without much disagreement, assuming of course that the NCAA can get over the hump in implementing this "playoff" scenario.
The BCS bowls exert a tremendous amount of influence over whether this actually happens. Word is that the Rose officials favor the idea. The Rose, apparently, is looking for concessions or "clauses" that would allow more control over keeping a Big 10-Pac 10 matchup. Since the BCS incorporated the Rose, the folks in Pasadena have been miffed at the loss of their tradition.
I have not heard much about how the Sugar and Fiesta officials feel about this idea, although rumors are that the Orange may be trying to squash the playoff format. Seems as though Miami is none too happy about the upstart bowl up the road trying to carve out a piece of the power structure.

Conference shakeups -
Strange coincident that the ACC-Big East war is taking shape at the same time as the NCAA playoff idea. If the ACC successfully poaches Miami, Va Tech and either Boston College or Syracuse, then the ACC will join the SEC and Big 12 with a conference title game. If the third team turns out to be Syracuse, then Boston College, Pitt and West Virginia will be left in a conference that will lose its automatic bid to the BCS. Ouch!
If ‘Cuse, Va Tech and Miami jump to the ACC, can Pitt avoid joining the Big 10? The fall-out between Pitt and Penn State happened because PSU joined the Big 10 with the verbal agreement that Pitt would do so also. That never happened. Given Notre Dame’s recalcitrance over becoming a Big-10 member, negotiations will probably begin in earnest between Pitt and the Big-10.
The Big East is one decision (Miami’s) away from the whole thing crashing like a house of cards.
The net effect will be the elimination of the Big East from an automatic BCS bid.

I’ve read a few columns over the last few weeks that are pointing to the distinct possibility that both the Big 10 and ACC will be in a 12-team format before you know it. For the moment, all eyes are on Miami. But don’t think that the ACC can engineer this without Miami. The ACC has been watering at the mouth over the extra money a conf title game generates, and the Big 10 is right there with them (see romancing of Notre Dame).

The trajectory of all this is simple, if you do the math. And the Pac-10 may not like it. Ten years hence, the conference title game may become a de facto first round for the BCS invitees. If you have 12 teams, then the conference title game champ gets an automatic bid. No conference title game? You can stand in line with the Mountain West’s of the world, and hope that your BCS score is high enough to earn a place at the table. Are you listening, Pac-10? Better get crackin’ on selecting your 11th and 12th members. There’s a cow college in Fresno that would love to join.