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| TEBOW AND SLIVE (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) |
''I've always tried not to use the dreaded P word, but now
we're all using it. So what the heck.''
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive who has been leading the charge
for a college football playoff for the past four years after the news broke
that college football is on the verge of implementing a playoff to include two semifinals and a title game.
''I'm very stunned,'' said former Alabama running back and
Cleveland Browns draft pick Trent Richardson, who won two BCS championship
games with the Crimson Tide.
According to the AP, there's still plenty left to figure
out, though. First of all, where and when to play the games and how the bowls
fit in. After that, Slive and his cohorts have to come up with a way to select
the four teams. The new postseason format would go into effect for the 2014
season.
As for the 14-year-old BCS, it's on life support. Any chance
that it survives past the next two seasons? ''I hope not,'' Slive said.
''This is a seismic change for college football,'' BCS
Executive Director Bill Hancock said after the 11 conference commissioners and
Notre Dame's athletic director wrapped up three days of meetings in south
Florida.
Hancock said the commissioners will present a ''small
number'' of options for a four-team playoff to their leagues over the next
month or so at conference meetings. He estimated that between two and seven
configurations are being considered.
It'll be up to each conference to determine which plan it
likes best. The commissioners will get back together in June and try to come up
with a final version, and eventually the university presidents will have to
sign off on it. Hancock has said they'd like a new format ready for
presidential approval by July 4.
And he warned that if no agreement is reached, the fallback
could be sticking with an overhauled version of the old system, which aims for
a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship game.
The powers that be seem to agree on the timetable, but where
to play the games are a subject of heated debate…
Slive among others have made it clear that they are not a
fan of playing semifinals on campus, a plan the Big Ten has presented and the
Pac-12 supports.
''I'm a big proponent of it,'' Pac-12 Commissioner Larry
Scott said. ''That was the choice we made in our conference with our
championship game. Collegiate atmosphere. Guaranteed sellout. We've said all
along preserving the regular season is important. What better way to emphasize
the importance of the regular season then having a chance to earn a home game?
It's a proven NFL model.''
Slive prefers playing the games at neutral sites, the way
the NCAA basketball tournament does.
That leads to the question: How do the bowls fit in?
The national championship game has shifted between the
Sugar, Orange, Fiesta and Rose bowl sites during the 14 years the BCS has been
in existence. First, the bowl itself was the championship game. Then the BCS
moved to a five-game model in which the championship was played after the bowls
but at one of those four stadiums.
The commissioners are considering allowing the bowls to be
involved, but not necessarily calling the three playoff games ''bowls.''
The Fiesta Bowl would be fine not hosting a bowl in certain
years, if it can host a playoff game. On the other hand, the Rose Bowl would
prefer to just be the Rose Bowl, sticking with its traditional matchup of Big
Ten champion vs. Pac-12 champion on New Year's Day. But those league champions
will often be heading to the playoffs in a new format.
The commissioners won't even get into how they pick the
teams until after they have presented a format to the presidential oversight
committee.
''The whole topic of selection and who would get in is
something that we've really parked for now,'' Scott said. ''We realize that's
going to require a whole lot more debate and study.''
Among those debates: Slive prefers the four top-ranked teams
regardless of conferences in the playoffs. Scott likes the idea of taking the
top four conference champions as a way of moving away from the subjectivity of
polls that dominate the current BCS standings.
Much to be decided, but at least everybody is speaking the
same language.
''Yes,'' Scott said, ''we've agreed to use the P word.''
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