Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Winds Of Postseason Change Are Blowing termine a national champion, but there is already plenty of debate about the fairness of the plans on the table. With the current BCS contract set to expire following the 2013 season, commissioners from the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences, along with Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick, bowl and BCS officials, and television executives met in Hollywood, Fla., in April to flesh out a replacement system. Since the advent of the BCS in 1998, Nebraska (2001), Oklahoma (2003) and Alabama (2011) have all played for a na- tional title after failing to win their respective league crowns. The goal is to avoid this scenario moving for- ward, but not necessarily to level the playing field completely. One plan that seems to be gaining College football will adopt a four-team playoff to de- QUARTER. AND IT'S TIME TO GET IT DONE." "THEY KNOW THIS GAME IS IN THE FOURTH steam uses the current BCS bowls (Sugar, Fiesta, Rose and Orange), with two games serving as semifinals in a four-team playoff and another as the national championship between the two winners. A spin-off of that idea uses two BCS bowls as semifi- nals to feed a title game that will be independent of the bowls, similar to the current championship game. There are also proposals that aren't affiliated with the bowl structure, where semifinal games would be held on the campuses of the two highest-seeded schools and the championship at a neutral site, or all three contests played at neutral sites. The one gaining the most steam is one that Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany supports, which takes the top four conference champions as long as they're ranked sixth or higher in the national rankings, and preserves the tradition of longstanding bowls such as the Rose Bowl. Sounds simple enough, but the plan is far from foolproof. All one needs is to look at last season, which JUNE/JULY 2012 28 BCS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BILL HANCOCK produced only one team — the 2009 Cincinnati squad coached by current Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly that went undefeated and reached No. 3 in the national rankings — in the last four years that would have quali- fied for the playoff. What it would do, however, is essen- tially make conference championship matchups play-in games and extend the playoff field. As long as you're in the hunt for a league title in the final weeks of the regular season, there's still a chance to chase a national title. With access limited to confer- would have pitted No. 1 LSU against No. 5 Oregon and No. 2 Alabama versus No. 3 Oklahoma State. What about No. 4 Stanford? No Pac-12 title meant no playoff berth. Under this plan, the Big East and ACC would have independent Notre Dame, a lot will depend on at-large parameters that will be put in place. Whatever proposal is agreed upon, a decision will ence champions ranked in the top six, that's going to leave a lot of programs out in the cold. For an probably come soon. "They know this game is in the fourth quarter," BCS executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN in late April. "And it's time to get it done." — Wes Morgan