The controversial Bowl Championship Series should start evolving again when the three-day BCS meetings begin today in Phoenix.
The 11 commissioners of the Division I-A football conferences will meet with BCS director Kevin Weiberg and others interested in reshaping the system that picks the teams for the national championship game.
There are three major issues the BCS hopes to resolve:
1. Replacement poll. When The Associated Press pulled its poll out of the BCS formula for this season, the BCS lost a major component. Now left is a USA Today/ESPN poll, which the coaches refuse to make public, and six computer polls of various repute.
Among those interested in developing polls are the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame and the National Association of College Directors of Athletics. The Football Writers Association of America will discuss it, but the AP pulled out because of a conflict of interest, and more media members are falling in the same line.
“Part of the analysis is who votes and how much credibility will the poll have?” Weiberg said Friday in a nationwide teleconference call. “That will factor in this discussion. Certainly the AP poll will continue to be in existence. But feelings have been brought to the surface about human polls, and I know there’s a certain degree of credibility in the minds of the public.”
2. Selection committee. This concept would be along the same lines of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee. However, the football version likely would pick only the top two teams. Past discussions have recommended former coaches and current athletic administrators.
While Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford says that possibility is losing steam, Weiberg sounded more optimistic.
“I don’t think any option is off the table,” Weiberg said. “If we went the path of the committee-type approach, we can look at all available data and create new data, which could include a separate strength of schedule.”
A committee option could take the most work. Needed to be arranged are the number on the committee, the members, criteria and date of release.
3. Coaches poll. An uproar increased last year when coaches again refused to reveal their votes, citing the additional criticism they receive atop their weekly second-guessing.
Weiberg is in favor of a transparent coaches poll and will discuss it further with Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.
“Grant has not said they’re unwilling to disclose the final ballots, but he hasn’t said they’re willing to do it,” Weiberg said. “Just a willingness to explore it, and he wanted to know where we’re headed. I think we’re primarily focused on the ballots prior to the final BCS poll.”
The poll, which began in 1998, has had major controversies four of the past five years, including last season when unbeaten Auburn was left out of the championship game.
However, a Plus-One format, in which an additional title game would be played after the currently scheduled BCS games, will not be discussed.
“It is a dead issue this season,” Weiberg said. “There’s a possibility in the future that it’s an issue that could come up.”
John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@denverpost.com or 303-820-1299.
