BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock: ‘I believe a four-team playoff and a bowl system can coexist’
Don't count out the Bowl Championship Series quite yet, so says BCS executive director Bill Hancock in an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Sports and Dr. Saturday.
The future of the BCS is muddled at best as the current television deal is set to expire after the 2014 slate of bowl games. There are a variety of different permutations for a playoff system currently being floated about by conference commissioners, but with each and every one of them, Hancock sees a way for the five games that currently make up the BCS to coexist with (or within) a playoff format.
But he also doesn't see the current BCS format and way of deciding a national champion sticking.
"I will be surprised if the BCS continues to exist in its current format after this contract expires in January of 2014," Hancock told Yahoo! Sports and the Dr. Saturday Blog.
"But I am not concerned about that; in fact, quite the opposite. I am excited about the future of the great game of college football and about its post-season.
"I believe a four-team playoff and a bowl system can coexist."
Hancock doesn't think the Champions Bowl — a newly formed bowl game between the champions (or best available teams) from the Big 12 and the SEC - is the demise of the BCS with other conferences potentially following suit and creating their own bowls and alignment.
In other words, the current executive director of the BCS doesn't see the Champions Bowl as a sign that the SEC and Big 12 are disgruntled.
"No, not at all," Hancock said. "Both conference commissioners strongly support the BCS and are heavily involved in setting its course for the future. This new bowl will enjoy a strong existence within that future.
"I do not believe this new bowl will affect the current system significantly."
There does seem to be an advocate for the BCS, or at least a proponent of a BCS-type format.
In early May, the Big Ten said it supported a system that blended the ideals of the BCS and the playoff system. The Big Ten model would give a priority to conference champions ranked in the top six of the polls nationally, thus hoping to avoid a situation like last year's BCS title game, which was an all SEC matchup.
It is certainly a system that would work in the Big Ten's best interest, much like the BCS format has rewarded the rather plebeian conference over the past four college football seasons.
A Big Ten team hasn't finished in the top four of the rankings since Ohio State made the national championship in 2007. In a proposed four-team playoff format based solely on rankings, the Big Ten would have been shutout entirely since 2008, but could certainly squeak into the playoffs under their proposed system. A format that rewarded conference champions (much like the BCS) would give the Big Ten a better chance at making a proposed playoff format.
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