Colorado Springs – None of the issues at the Big 12 spring meetings this week has been of the blockbuster variety. But new Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn, who is attending his first league meetings, addressed some of the underlying issues facing the league.
He is a proponent of the new instant replay system, the format of which was finalized Wednesday morning and will be ratified today.
“It’s the wave of the future for college football,” Bohn said. “I fully embrace the direction the conference is going.”
He is not so high on the one-division system, in which the top two teams would advance to the Big 12 title game – an idea that had gained traction mainly in Texas and Oklahoma.
“I don’t think there’s any real reason to spend time on that right now,” Bohn said. “From my perspective, we’re working hard to continue to build the rivalries within the (North) division. I believe our fans have gravitated to that, and it’s working well for the University of Colorado.”
One gray area has been chatter among the athletic directors about the conference moving to a nine- or 10-game conference schedule, which would help reintroduce annual rivalries such as Nebraska vs. Oklahoma.
“I don’t know about that,” Bohn said. “It’s obviously premature to determine what that means, because we need to find out so much more information. Is it nine? Is it 10? Are there other changes in what we’re trying to do? I think we have to continue to look at models that are user-friendly to our fan base.”
Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said Wednesday the league’s athletic directors were in support of each team scheduling at least one high-profile nonconference opponent that might be an attractive TV game. Colorado is set to make an announcement next week of just such a game, widely believed to be Georgia for games in 2006 and 2010.
Bohn, however, said a deal has not been finalized.
Footnotes
The Big 12’s instant replay system will feature a referee on the field in addition to one in the booth, Weiberg said. The Big Ten had only a replay official in the booth last year in its first year of using replay. … The Big 12 conducted a study to find out how effective replay would have been last season. All its conference games were reviewed, 14,000 plays in all. The study found 34 plays would have been reviewed and eight likely would have been overturned. … ABC has moved the Big 12 championship game from 6 p.m. to 11 a.m. this season to put the inaugural ACC championship game in prime time.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
