Shakeup is coming, but not a playoff

GRAPEVINE, Texas - While there still won't be a playoff in the Bowl Championship Series, the system will definitely be changed again.

Commissioners from the 11 Division I-A conferences met for more than five hours Friday to discuss needed changes. The meeting on the first day of the NCAA convention was only the first step.

"We just really began conversations," Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford said. "I don't think any of us had the expectations that this would go too awfully far."

The primary issue is determining how to rank teams, especially the two that play for the BCS championship.

This was the commissioners' first meeting since The Associated Press asked in December that its poll not be used in the system's formula any longer.

BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said commissioners discussed a wide range of BCS issues. They also talked about determining which conferences get automatic spots in the system and the format for 2006, when a fifth BCS game is added.

"We had a productive discussion," Weiberg said. "We were framing the issues, not making any decisions."

There was no discussion of a playoff, Weiberg said, because there is no interest from school presidents and chancellors for such a system.

Weiberg said the BCS could look for a suitable replacement for the AP poll in rankings or use a committee approach similar to the one used by the NCAA to select the 65-team basketball tournament. Or there could be a combination of those two approaches.

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, the past BCS chairman, has championed the idea of a selection committee.

The I-A commissioners aren't expected to meet again until April.

"Our goal is to get to April with a pretty firm direction," Weiberg said.