BCS looks for a new formula

NEW YORK - Where the Bowl Championship Series goes from here remains to be seen - but it's definitely not going away.

"We're not heading toward a playoff," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said a day after The Associated Press told the BCS to stop using its poll to determine which teams play for a national title.

The BCS appears to be willing to move on without the AP poll. Coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg has said the BCS hopes to have a new formula ready by April.

So for the second straight season - and the fifth time since the system was implemented in 1998 - the BCS will change the way it computes its standings.

"I wasn't surprised by the AP's decision," Tranghese said. "I don't think it's a negative issue. We're just going to have to put our heads together and come up with an alternative way of picking the teams for the 1-2 game."

This season, the BCS streamlined its formula and put heavy emphasis on the AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls.

The goal was to make it more likely that Nos. 1 and 2 in the polls played in the national title game, unlike last season when Southern California was a consensus No. 1 but left out of the BCS championship game.

Without the AP poll, the current BCS formula is left with the coaches poll and six computer rankings.

The BCS could just stick with those two and change the weighting system.

Or it could add more computers.

Or maybe it could even revive the strength of schedule component, which was eliminated because it was deemed redundant.

"We certainly have other options on how to select and rank the teams," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said.

The BCS already was looking at the possibility of a selection committee picking the teams for the championship game, taking a page from the NCAA basketball tournaments.

But a committee probably wouldn't be the best way to fill the two at-large spots.

And starting with the 2006 season, the number of at-large teams is destined to go up as the BCS expands to five games to allow greater access to teams from outside the six conferences that now have automatic entry.

Organizers of the Bowl Championship Series appear willing to move on without the Associated Press poll, dashing the possibility of a playoff.