Hollywood, Fl. The BCS meetings (held in Hollywood, Fl.) went down with plenty of discussion but no real change. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive proposed a seeded plus-one system but fell mainly of deaf ears. With the exception of ACC Commissioner John Swofford, none of the other BCS commissioners were interested in any type of radical change. The Big Ten's and Pac Ten's continued opposition came as little surprise. There were rumblings that the Big East and Big 12 might have interest. However, that was very much not the case. In fact, after the meetings Dan Beebe disclosed that previous to the meetings he had met with his 12 member schools, and all 12 were against a plus-one. A non-seeded plus-one using the existing bowls and traditional tie-ins got nothing more than casual talk. The reason behind not giving that type of system more consideration is that it wouldn't limit any controversy.
Hollywood, FL. 2. One order of business taken care of at the meetings turned out to be significant due to how little news it made. The Big East's status as a BCS conference and their automatic bid was reconfirmed with almost no fanfare. When the ACC raided the Big East the BCS adopted rules for conferences to for qualifying for an automatic BCS bid. The rule became known as the "Big East Rule." The little news that the Big East's continued status made goes to show just how unexpectedly successful the Big East has been since the raid.
Hollywood, Fl. 3. Outside of the six BCS conference commissioners there were six other attendees to the meetings: Notre Dame AD Kevin White and the commissioners of the five non-BCS conferences. The representation shows just how powerful Notre Dame continues to be. The presence of the non-BCS commissioners shows that they at least have a place at the table. Whether they are allowed to speak unless spoken to is another question.
Big East Expansion. There have been rumors that East Carolina and Memphis have interest in joining the Big East, perhaps in a football only role. In the case of ECU, they may be willing to bend over backwards to gain membership. They have suggested things like not taking any share of the BCS money initially and guaranteeing 2,500 fans attending road games. Nonetheless, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese responded by stating that the Big East wants to stay at 8 football members. He suggests that they arn't interested in only a partial member. It is surprising that the Big East wouldn't be open to expansion due to the scheduling benefits a ninth football member would bring. Currently, Big East schools have to schedule five non-conference games, one more than all other FCS conference schools. Additionally, a seven game conference schedule requires each school to play an unbalanced number of home and road conference games. UConn head coach Randy Edsell has been outspoken about the scheduling challenges. Given the benefits, its surprising that Tranghese would take such a hard stance. Perhaps he is just trying to play a hard bargain or perhaps he just doesn't see ECU and Memphis as being good fits.
New Bowls. There were a significant number of 6-6 BCS conference teams that were left home for bowl season. The solution to that problem appears to be more bowls. Two new bowls were approved for the upcoming season. One bowl, to be played in Salt Lake City, did not earn certification. The motive for more bowls has less to do with including all 6-6 teams and more to do with the fact that the lesser bowls are profitable. One potential looming problem, however, is the possibility of not having enough bowl eligible teams. If that were to be the case, either a 5-7 team would have to play in a bowl or a bowl would have to be canceled. Either solution would be very embarrassing for the bowl system and would certainly cause there to be some very upset Blazers.
Manginotown. Rumor has it that the population of Manginotown may be on the decline. The burly ball coach has taken to a workout program this off season and supposedly has been dropping weight. In and interview with SI.com Mangino says, "I've started back in my workouts that I've ignored for a long, long time." The rigors of the workout program are unknown. Also, Mangino would not provide specifics for what his weight is...
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