No desire to see BCS format grow
By Tom Kensler | The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/20/2008 09:03:00 PM MDT
COLORADO SPRINGS — The Big Ten and Pac-10 have a new ally in their opposition to a "Plus One" system to determine a national champion in major-college football.
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said Tuesday during the league's spring meetings at The Broadmoor that the Big 12's official position is against any proposal that adds a game (or more) to the present bowl system.
Beebe said personally he is opposed to any playoff format.
"I kept that private until I was able to share that with my colleagues at the BCS meetings that we had recently; I think what we have is enough," said Beebe, who succeeded Kevin Weiberg as Big 12 commissioner in September. "I think the 'Plus One' is just a four-team playoff by another name."
Beebe conceded that the NCAA could well devise a playoff system that would work, even one involving 16 teams.
"But the question is whether it's the best thing to do," he said. "My view is, I don't think it would be a benefit. We have to distinguish ourselves from the NFL, continue to do that.
"We've got the best regular season of any sport. The bowl games have been highly beneficial."
During his years as commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, Beebe served on the former Division I-AA football committee which brackets an eight-team playoff. Because of the second-guessing of the seeding, "it did not avoid controversy," he said.
Five years of eligibility? A member of a national college football-and-academics working group, Beebe said he intends to strongly recommend NCAA members revisit a proposal that, for football only, student-athletes be allowed to play five seasons rather than the present system of getting five years to play four seasons. Under the five-year plan, there would be no redshirting.
"I think it makes sense," Beebe said. "You're talking about a sport that I think has more redshirts than any other sport. The practices are long and hard. You get beat up and, if you're a redshirt, there's nothing to play for."
The five-year plan has been opposed by school presidents and faculty representatives who feel it would send wrong signals about what the college experience should entail. Beebe said he is encouraged by "a new climate" among college administrators that football, in some respects, differs from other sports.
Footnotes. By a unanimous vote, Big 12 men's basketball coaches voted Tuesday against increasing the number of conference games from 16 to 18. "We discussed beating each other up for another two games," Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said. ... Tipoff for the championship game of the ESPN-televised 2009 Big 12 men's basketball tournament in Oklahoma City was set at 4 p.m. Mountain time. It will be played on Saturday for the first time, moving from its traditional slot during the afternoon of Selection Sunday.
This article appeared in the Denver Post on Tuesday, May 20, 2008.