By the sweetest of ironies, the coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series is the man who stands to hear the most overwrought complaints in his own backyard when the BCS selections are announced Sunday.
Mike Slive is that coordinator. He’s also the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, the league most agitated about what could happen when the new five-bowl BCS picks are revealed.
“I don’t vote,” Slive said. “Our goal is to make sure the standings are fair. That’s not inconsistent with being an advocate for my conference.”
If USC beats UCLA on Saturday, the SEC stands to feel aggrieved. Only two years after an undefeated Auburn team failed to get a chance at the national title, Florida, ranked fourth in the BCS, could be this year’s most prominent bridesmaid.
Gators coach Urban Meyer has already lobbied against a rematch between Ohio State and Michigan. USC is his other immediate problem, because the Trojans leaped over Michigan in the BCS standings.
Meyer has pointed out that Florida’s defeat came against BCS No. 11 Auburn, while USC’s was against No. 24 Oregon State.
“All I can say about coach Meyer’s comments is, we’ll see if the format works,” Slive said. “What I’ve been saying since Day One is, if it doesn’t work, in a couple of years we’re going to sit down and take a look at it. Each conference will have to make decisions about the format.
“I don’t know if anybody is anxious to go back to the good old days. So we’ve tried to combine a long tradition of college football, the bowl system, with the regular season.”
With university presidents still chilly toward any sort of playoff format, the BCS begins a new four-year round of games taking college football through the 2009 season.
Under the “double-host” system, there will still be Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls, but the national title game will stand alone.
The new system is designed to be more inclusive toward non-BCS conferences. Indeed, Boise State is expected to nab one of the berths in the Fiesta Bowl.
Slive made it apparent he doesn’t oppose a “plus-one” proposal, saying he is “not married to the current format.” In the plus-one format, seen as a middle ground between a playoff and the system in place, BCS standings would be tallied after the bowls, and the top two teams would meet in one game.
Ohio State figures to meet USC in the title game if USC beats UCLA. Here’s how the rest of the games appear to shape up:
– Rose: Losing both of its anchor teams to the title game, the Rose would get the first two choices for replacements. That means Michigan (11-1), probably against Notre Dame (10-2), possibly Louisiana State (10-2). Michigan-Notre Dame means a rematch of the Irish’s unseemly 47-21 home loss to the Wolverines in September, but the Rose might not feel it has a choice.
– Fiesta: Boise State will meet the Big 12 winner, either Nebraska or Oklahoma.
– Sugar: The SEC winner, Florida (11-1) or Arkansas (10-2), likely would meet Louisville (10-1) if the Cardinals win the Big East.
More Top Picks Path Lights
– Orange: The ACC winner, Wake Forest (10-2) or Georgia Tech (9-3), figures to meet Florida if it loses to Arkansas, or LSU if Florida wins.
Not only is Florida a hot topic, but the SEC’s LSU is as well. The Tigers are ranked fifth by both the BCS and the Associated Press poll, the highest-ranked of all the two-loss teams, yet could end up out of a BCS bowl.
If Arkansas defeats Florida, the Tigers could move up to No. 4 in the BCS, possibly ahead of both SEC title-game participants and yet fail to get to a BCS bowl.