In the 13 years since the BcS came onto the college football scene, no conference has ever placed more than two teams in the five-bowl (since the 2006 season) series. Why? Because BcS bylaws have always capped the number at two per league.
Apparently, that cap could be raised in the not-too-distant future.
Speaking on a teleconference to discuss the addition of Texas A&M, SEC commissioner Mike Slive told reporters that the BcS is considering raising the number of schools a conference can place in the bowl games that constitute the BcS -- Fiesta, Orange, Rose, Sugar and the title game. Slive said raising the cap is one of several issues the series’ executive director will put before the conference commissioners at some point in the future.
“I do know this: That Bill Hancock has put together a list of issues that he believes the commissioners and the BCS bowl oversight committee ought to be looking at as the BCS develops a position on upcoming negotiations. I think that’s one of them,” Slive said according to the Associated Press.
“I think there are going to be several issues that are important enough to have serious discussion about, and that would be one of them.”
There are at least two conferences that would likely be very much in favor of eliminating the two-team limit. In the 13 years the BcS has been in existence, the Big Ten has placed two teams in BcS bowls 10 times, including each of the past six postseasons. The SEC has received two BcS bids in a year eight times, including each of the past five years. Because of how well each conference travels, they would likely be an attractive target for bowls if the maximum per-conference number is upped.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany actually broached the two-team limit earlier this month, albeit in a modified version.
“Two teams per conference is a rule that needs to be evaluated now,” Delany told SI.com. “It would be good for the system to pull in a top 10 team even if it’s a third from a conference, but politically it’s difficult. A fair compromise might be: How about one time in a four-year cycle, a conference could have a third team? As these conferences get larger, it’s something we should consider.”
The SEC and Big Ten have also expanded or announced plans to expand over the past 15 months, which would give Slive and his Midwestern counterpart further reason to support a change. The Pac-12, while it’s only received multiple bids three times, would also likely be in favor as they’ve expanded by two in the last year. By contrast, the Big 12, with five multiple BcS bids in 13 years, has actually contracted by three -- for now -- and may be leery of lifting the cap. The ACC and Big East have never received more than allotted automatic bid, and have been staunch opponents of a change.
The incentive for any conference to support a change in the limits is, of course, money. Each of the automatic qualifying conferences -- ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC -- receive $22 million for one BcS bid, and an additional $6 million for a second bid. Adding a third bid in a single year would obviously add millions to the conference members’ coffers.
Slive mentioned that reconsidering the two-team conference limit is just one of several issues that will be under serious discussion. It stands to reason that, if the limit is raised, adding a sixth game to the series would be under consideration as well. That’s been speculated on for months; a move to change the limit would very likely to trigger the bulking up of the BcS roster.
As for which game could be added to the rotation, the Cotton Bowl appears to be far and away the favorite. The postseason game is played in Jerry Jones’ Ode To Excess, and the owner of the Dallas Cowboys has been stumping furiously behind the scenes to get the game played in his Arlington stadium added to the BcS.
“The commissioners are committed to making the BCS the best it can be. It’s very good now,” Hancock wrote in an email to the AP and with a straight face steeled by years of propping up a bogus system. “Just what ‘making it the best’ might entail will be evaluated in a thoughtful and deliberate process over the next six or eight months.”
