College Football Realignment: The BCS Gets in the Game

Mike Slive, the SEC Commissioner, told the press in a teleconference that the BCS top executive Bill Hancock had sent a list of issues that commissioners and the bowl oversight committee should look at. According to Slive, one of the big issues is whether to change the two-team per conference limit that is currently in place for BCS bowl bids.

The current state of the BCS allows for six conferences to send one team in an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. The ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10, and the SEC all get automatic qualifying bids.

The rule was instituted back when there were only four BCS bowl games and the national championship was on rotation. Now, there are 4 BCS Bowls and the National Championship, allowing for 10 BCS teams instead of 8. As a result there are 4 at-large bids given out for the bowls.

If the BCS were to drop the two team limit, this is most likely to impact the SEC which is now at 13 teams and the Big 10 which is now at 12 teams. While the ACC could also be effective, in the history of at-large bids, the ACC has never sent more than one team to a BCS bowl in a year (and neither has the Big East). The Big 10 however has sent two teams to BCS bowls in the same season 10 times and the SEC has done so 8. On a side note: if that statistic doesn't show you that the ACC and the Big East are not football conferences then I don't know what will.

With the conference realignment really the focus of today, what other options or regulations do you think the BCS still has to address?

Depending on this post season, the talk about instituting a playoff might come back in full force this off-season, especially with the beginnings of the super conferences.