It could happen...
CHICAGO -- Marshall, Tulane, TCU -- in fact, all of college football's unwashed masses -- now have a detailed road map on how to reach the sport's most hallowed bowl game.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany on Wednesday revealed the Rose Bowl's parameters for including eligible teams from the five so-called non-BCS conferences beginning in 2006. Those 54 schools rose up against the six major conferences as a "coalition" last summer demanding more access to, and more money from, the BCS.
They got both, but the public didn't know the particulars because negotiations between ABC and the Rose Bowl didn't begin until June 11. Speaking at the Big Ten Football Kickoff, Delany said the Rose will take a BCS-qualified coalition school no more than once during an eight-year period beginning with the 2006 postseason. The coalition schools are the members of Sun Belt, WAC, MAC, Mountain West and Conference USA.
For one of those schools to play in the Rose Bowl, the Pac-10 or Big Ten champion would have to be ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the BCS ratings, thus moving up to the BCS title game. A coalition team would have to be ranked 12th or higher in the final BCS ratings (or higher than the lowest-ranked BCS champion).
Non-BCS schools now have a slim chance at playing in the Rose Bowl.(Getty Images)
If no coalition team qualifies and one of its champions moves up, the Rose could pick a second BCS-eligible from the Pac-10 or Big Ten. However, the conference cannot defer on taking a coalition team. The first time one becomes available in the eight-year window, the Rose must take it if it loses one of its champions.
Currently, a coalition school must finish in the top six of the BCS to get into a BCS bowl. That has never happened. But in four of the previous six years of the BCS, a coalition team would have qualified for a BCS bowl under the new 2006 standards: Tulane in 1998, Marshall in 1999, TCU in 2000 and Miami (Ohio) in 2003.
According to research, there is only an 11 percent chance in any year that the circumstances would align so that the Rose Bowl would take a coalition team, Delany said. It should be noted that a Pac-10 team has never played in the BCS title game. Ohio State in 2002 was the only Big Ten team to do so. That year no coalition school finished in the top 12.
The resolution of the Rose Bowl/coalition issue is key to ongoing BCS negotiations. Delany said that ABC and the Rose Bowl are "very near the end of the process" of a new deal beginning in 2006.
"When the Rose Bowl joined the BCS in 1998, we were trying to maintain as much tradition as we could," Delany said. "We had to give some of that up but give up as little as we could and still make the system work. This system that we have has broader access. We've got to accommodate that."
BCS chairman Kevin Weiberg confirmed the Rose Bowl agreement but cautioned that nothing is finalized all parties have agreed on a new BCS. After the Rose Bowl/ABC deal is completed, ABC can begin negotiations this fall on deals with the rest of the BCS as a group -- Fiesta, Orange and Sugar.
"All of this is subject to making it through the marketplace," said Weiberg who is also the Big 12 commissioner. "We've been cautious publicizing this stuff because clearly if we don't have success in negotiations (things could change)."
It has not been determined what kind of rotation qualified coalition teams will have with the other three BCS bowls. Each of the four BCS bowls will continue to play host to the title game once every four years.
? Back ? 1 ? 2
To accommodate the coalition schools, earlier this year the BCS added a fifth game. The "piggyback" model means that the four bowls will rotate playing host to two games once every four years. Presumably, those same-site games will be a week to 10 days apart.
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What is so earth-shaking is the perception that the Rose's tradition is being further diluted. From 1946 through 1997, the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10 met exclusively each New Year's in Pasadena.
When it agreed to join the BCS, the Rose knew it would most likely lose its traditional partners at least once every four years. But it went two consecutive years (2001-2002) without its Pac-10-Big Ten game because of BCS language that allowed Iowa to play in the Orange Bowl in 2002.
Now with addition of a second game once every four years and coalition qualifiers, what, some might ask, has become of the Granddaddy of Them All?
"I think that the game involving a Big Ten and Pac-10 champion will never be perceived as (devalued)," Delany said. "I think you could put a Super Bowl in there the following week and that (previous) game could stand on its own merit."
Better coalition access and retaining the Big East's automatic bid, some believe, devalues the BCS as a whole as it goes to the negotiating table. Now in 2006, instead of six BCS champions and two at-large teams, there will seven automatics (if a coalition team qualifies) and three at-large teams.
"At the end of the game, maybe it's good for college football," Delany said, "but it's something that probably wouldn't have gotten done without a great amount of pressure from (the coalition schools)."
CHICAGO -- Marshall, Tulane, TCU -- in fact, all of college football's unwashed masses -- now have a detailed road map on how to reach the sport's most hallowed bowl game.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany on Wednesday revealed the Rose Bowl's parameters for including eligible teams from the five so-called non-BCS conferences beginning in 2006. Those 54 schools rose up against the six major conferences as a "coalition" last summer demanding more access to, and more money from, the BCS.
They got both, but the public didn't know the particulars because negotiations between ABC and the Rose Bowl didn't begin until June 11. Speaking at the Big Ten Football Kickoff, Delany said the Rose will take a BCS-qualified coalition school no more than once during an eight-year period beginning with the 2006 postseason. The coalition schools are the members of Sun Belt, WAC, MAC, Mountain West and Conference USA.
For one of those schools to play in the Rose Bowl, the Pac-10 or Big Ten champion would have to be ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the BCS ratings, thus moving up to the BCS title game. A coalition team would have to be ranked 12th or higher in the final BCS ratings (or higher than the lowest-ranked BCS champion).
Non-BCS schools now have a slim chance at playing in the Rose Bowl.(Getty Images)
If no coalition team qualifies and one of its champions moves up, the Rose could pick a second BCS-eligible from the Pac-10 or Big Ten. However, the conference cannot defer on taking a coalition team. The first time one becomes available in the eight-year window, the Rose must take it if it loses one of its champions.
Currently, a coalition school must finish in the top six of the BCS to get into a BCS bowl. That has never happened. But in four of the previous six years of the BCS, a coalition team would have qualified for a BCS bowl under the new 2006 standards: Tulane in 1998, Marshall in 1999, TCU in 2000 and Miami (Ohio) in 2003.
According to research, there is only an 11 percent chance in any year that the circumstances would align so that the Rose Bowl would take a coalition team, Delany said. It should be noted that a Pac-10 team has never played in the BCS title game. Ohio State in 2002 was the only Big Ten team to do so. That year no coalition school finished in the top 12.
The resolution of the Rose Bowl/coalition issue is key to ongoing BCS negotiations. Delany said that ABC and the Rose Bowl are "very near the end of the process" of a new deal beginning in 2006.
"When the Rose Bowl joined the BCS in 1998, we were trying to maintain as much tradition as we could," Delany said. "We had to give some of that up but give up as little as we could and still make the system work. This system that we have has broader access. We've got to accommodate that."
BCS chairman Kevin Weiberg confirmed the Rose Bowl agreement but cautioned that nothing is finalized all parties have agreed on a new BCS. After the Rose Bowl/ABC deal is completed, ABC can begin negotiations this fall on deals with the rest of the BCS as a group -- Fiesta, Orange and Sugar.
"All of this is subject to making it through the marketplace," said Weiberg who is also the Big 12 commissioner. "We've been cautious publicizing this stuff because clearly if we don't have success in negotiations (things could change)."
It has not been determined what kind of rotation qualified coalition teams will have with the other three BCS bowls. Each of the four BCS bowls will continue to play host to the title game once every four years.
? Back ? 1 ? 2
To accommodate the coalition schools, earlier this year the BCS added a fifth game. The "piggyback" model means that the four bowls will rotate playing host to two games once every four years. Presumably, those same-site games will be a week to 10 days apart.
Advertisement
What is so earth-shaking is the perception that the Rose's tradition is being further diluted. From 1946 through 1997, the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10 met exclusively each New Year's in Pasadena.
When it agreed to join the BCS, the Rose knew it would most likely lose its traditional partners at least once every four years. But it went two consecutive years (2001-2002) without its Pac-10-Big Ten game because of BCS language that allowed Iowa to play in the Orange Bowl in 2002.
Now with addition of a second game once every four years and coalition qualifiers, what, some might ask, has become of the Granddaddy of Them All?
"I think that the game involving a Big Ten and Pac-10 champion will never be perceived as (devalued)," Delany said. "I think you could put a Super Bowl in there the following week and that (previous) game could stand on its own merit."
Better coalition access and retaining the Big East's automatic bid, some believe, devalues the BCS as a whole as it goes to the negotiating table. Now in 2006, instead of six BCS champions and two at-large teams, there will seven automatics (if a coalition team qualifies) and three at-large teams.
"At the end of the game, maybe it's good for college football," Delany said, "but it's something that probably wouldn't have gotten done without a great amount of pressure from (the coalition schools)."
