You've got to start somewhere in shaping a new postseason model. Using this humble correspondent's preseason top 25 posted Monday as a template, here are a few possibilties. All of them are among the 50 or so discussed last month in New Orleans.

A seeded Plus One on campus (The Delany Model. Top-four rated teams meet in national semifinals):

No. 4 Oregon at No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Oklahoma at No. 2 USC.

Winners meet this season in the Orange Bowl based on the BCS rotation.

A Plus One in the bowls Oregon vs. LSU in the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma vs. USC in the Sugar Bowl. Winners meet in the Orange Bowl.

An unseeded Plus One (Playing a championship game after the bowls. In this model, all six BCS league champions guaranteed a berth. No. 7 Arkansas and No. 9 Georgia are left out. Unranked Rutgers is in as Big East champion. A human committee and/or rankings determine the top two teams after the bowls):

Rose Bowl: USC* vs. Wisconsin*

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma* vs. Oregon

Sugar Bowl: LSU* vs. Clemson*

Orange Bowl:  Rutgers* vs. Alabama

*-conference champs

Two highest-ranked teams after the bowls meet for the national championship. Championship game location TBA.

No automatic qualifiers (No. 1 vs. No. 2 meet in the championship game. Four other major bowls are populated by the remaining teams in the top 10. Ohio State not eligible. In this scenario, five SEC teams are included. Big East and ACC not represented because no teams are ranked in top 10.)

BCS title game (Orange Bowl): LSU vs. USC

Rose: Oregon vs. Wisconsin

Sugar: Alabama vs. West Virginia

Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. South Carolina

Cotton: Georgia vs. Arkansas

Are there any other postseason models? Probably. For now, this is your lump of Play-Doh to shape.

 

You've got to start somewhere in shaping a new postseason model. Using this humble correspondent's preseason top 25 posted Monday as a template, here are a few possibilties. All of them are among the 50 or so discussed last month in New Orleans.

A seeded Plus One on campus (The Delany Model. Top-four rated teams meet in national semifinals):

No. 4 Oregon at No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Oklahoma at No. 2 USC.

Winners meet this season in the Orange Bowl based on the BCS rotation.

A Plus One in the bowls Oregon vs. LSU in the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma vs. USC in the Sugar Bowl. Winners meet in the Orange Bowl.

An unseeded Plus One (Playing a championship game after the bowls. In this model, all six BCS league champions guaranteed a berth. No. 7 Arkansas and No. 9 Georgia are left out. Unranked Rutgers is in as Big East champion. A human committee and/or rankings determine the top two teams after the bowls):

Rose Bowl: USC* vs. Wisconsin*

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma* vs. Oregon

Sugar Bowl: LSU* vs. Clemson*

Orange Bowl:  Rutgers* vs. Alabama

*-conference champs

Two highest-ranked teams after the bowls meet for the national championship. Championship game location TBA.

No automatic qualifiers (No. 1 vs. No. 2 meet in the championship game. Four other major bowls are populated by the remaining teams in the top 10. Ohio State not eligible. In this scenario, five SEC teams are included. Big East and ACC not represented because no teams are ranked in top 10.)

BCS title game (Orange Bowl): LSU vs. USC

Rose: Oregon vs. Wisconsin

Sugar: Alabama vs. West Virginia

Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. South Carolina

Cotton: Georgia vs. Arkansas

Are there any other postseason models? Probably. For now, this is your lump of Play-Doh to shape.

 

There was at least a "discussion" of a plus-one college football playoff system by Pac-12 and Big Ten ADs, CBSSports.com has learned.

The Seattle Times reported that a "consensus" had been reached by the ADs after a straw vote, favoring a radical departure from the current BCS system. The report said the consensus was nonbinding and not a recommendation. Any such official move would have to come from the BCS presidents.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told the Chicago Tribune Saturday that his conference's ADs do not favor a plus-one system. He called the Times report "erroneous". However, CBSSports.com has determined that the subject was at least raised during a meeting last week. Even a discussion about the subject would suggest a possible sea change in college football's postseason.

It could be simply a matter of semantics as to what went on in the room last week during a meeting in Newport Beach, Calif. The Pac-10 (now 12) and Big Ten have been in lockstep supporting their exclusive arrangement with the century-old Rose Bowl.

The Times said the proposed format would include adding a fifth BCS bowl, most likely the Cotton. Four bowls would then rotate a four-team playoff system with two semifinal winners meeting in a championship game. According to the Times, the Rose would not host semifinal games but would remain in a five-year championship rotation.

The current championship rotation is four years. In the past, adding a fifth bowl was seen as an impediment because it would be harder to lure bowl sponsors to a championship that would take place once every five years.

BCS executive director Bill Hancock was not immediately available for comment.

NCAA Football 12 is out today and I'm jacked. Hope the feeling is mutual because college football needs a break. The sport has been dipped in controversy, cheating, lawyers and courts too long this offseason. We need us some cfb even if it is from a PS3.


Quick background: For those of you who don't know, NCAA Football 12 is a video game. It is more addicting than 30 Rock depicting the thrills, detail and game day experience. This year's edition is the best yet. The Coaching Carousel function puts coaches on the hot seat. The new version includes the ability take the BCS out of the equation. That fantasy alone should be worth the $60 price. A MAC team can play in the Rose Bowl. The Big East can be kicked out of the BCS.

Think of the possibilities:

--Can't wait to play Ohio State in "shame" mode. That's assuming I can navigate my way through the "having a conscience" function to access the Buckeyes.

--Miami (Ohio) in the Rose Bowl. The RedHawks have never won a national championship in anything. Ever. This streak goes back a couple of centuries to when the school was founded. This being a video game is it possible Paul Brown (Class of '30) could jump on the dog pile if Miami beats USC for the national championship?

--Will asking the game to assemble the current membership of the WAC crash my PS3? Don't even try to sort out Legends and Leaders.

--If the Big East is cut out of BCS will West Virginia start an ugly rumor about the game's creator having a "reputation of being a partier"? 


--Mascot mode must: Delanys vs. Slives.

--There has to be a seven-on-seven function where gamers start with $10,000 in funny money and can pay it out to players any way they want. Will Lyles could narrate the tutorial.

--In light of the upheaval at Ohio State and deadlines for the game's production I'm really interested in who will be coaching the Buckeyes. Mike Leach is available.

--Need input, gamers: Jordan Jefferson on EA: Cotton Bowl version or spring-game version? 

--Does Texas Tech include Craig James on the sidelines or not?

--Where's the Pac-12 Network button?

--It seems only fitting that Mark Ingram graces the cover of this year's game. A tailback who won the Heisman in 2009 is pimping a fantasy version of the 2011 season marketed as NCAA 12.

Some things never change. In what might be an EA first, it is featuring a player whose school is currently on probation. Since 1987, Bama has been involved in more major football infractions cases (three) than national championships (two).

In this offseason of sleaze, there are some things you can't escape.

The Cotton Bowl would have "no problem" taking a spot in the BCS rotation if the Fiesta Bowl is kicked out, a source told CBSSports.com Wednesday morning.

The Cotton's television affiliation with Fox was thought to be a barrier toward the bowl joining the BCS rotation. ESPN has the BCS contract for the next three years. However, that source close to the situation said it would be easy for the Cotton to slide in to a spot vacated by the Fiesta. 

It is not known if there is an out in the Cotton-Fox contract should a BCS spot open up. However, it is thought that Cotton Bowl sponsor AT&T could be involved in the transition process. Also, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would most likely support the move because his palace, Cowboys Stadium, is involved.

That revelation makes the Cotton the overwhelming favorite if the Fiesta is kicked out. The bowl was put on notice by the BCS on Tuesday following the firing of Fiesta CEO John Junker. In a strongly worded statement the BCS said the Fiesta would have "to demonstrate why it should remain a BCS bowl game."

The Fiesta is confident that, with reforms, it can remain in the BCS rotation. The Dallas-based Cotton was left out of the original BCS, established in 1998. Since then, it has been aggressively upgrading its bowl that currently features Big 12 and SEC teams.

Other bowls in line to join the BCS lineup if the Fiesta is kicked out: Chick-Fil-A in Atlanta and Capital One in Orlando, Fla.

Jerry Jones has been typically aggressive lately. Somehow the Cowboys' owner convinced Wade Phillips to stay for another season, then got him boy scout Dez Bryant in the draft.

There's another side to JJ's aggressiveness -- filling his new stadium. Since it opened it has been filled with basketball games (including the NBA all-star game), a soccer game, the Cotton Bowl and other neutral site games. About the only thing missing from Cowboys Stadium is a BCS game.

Trust me, it's coming. It's coming because the Cowboys owner remains aggressive. Don't be surprised if the city of Dallas, backed by Jones, makes a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Cowboys Stadium could be expanded to 100,000 for soccer and could easily be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies.

It's coming because you can't keep the best stadium in the world (at least for football) out of the mix. Three-plus months ago I wrote that the BCS would listen if Jones called. The devil is in the details. The current BCS bowls have a hard enough time hosting a championship game once every four years. Theoretically, the addition of Cowboys Stadium would push that to once every five years.

Unless ...

Unless the BCS has to expand. There are two ways...

1) As part of conference expansion the Big Ten and SEC demand the BCS rescind the two BCS-bowl limit per conference. A case can be made for both expanded 16-team super conferences having enough members to merit a chance at three BCS bowls.

That's up to six of the 10 slots taken by two leagues. With the Big 12, Pac-10, Big East and ACC still guaranteed slots, there stkill has to be room made for the non-BCS qualifier. The reasonable thing to do is expand the BCS by one bowl. No one said that Cowboys Stadium bowl has to be a championship game. Have the Cotton Bowl replace the double-hosting game on Jan. 1.

The big four bowls get to stay in the rotation, the Cotton gets into the BCS with a better game than it could ever get now with the Big 12 and SEC. Everybody is happy.

2) Extrapolate this expansion thing out to its likely conclusion -- four, 16-team conferences. At some point or another the commissioners have to think about a plus-one.

The four super conference winners meet in a four-team bracket. While the commissioners are against such a set-up at the moment, think of this:

If the Super 64 broke away from the NCAA, they could do anything they wanted. No Orrin Hatch, no anti-trust threats, just a lucrative entity that they could market to the highest bidder.

There's no worry about rotating the championship game because all five major bowls (Fiesta, Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton) are involved in the bracket every year. Here's one five-year rotation example...

First year: Fiesta-Cotton winner vs. Orange-Rose winner in the Sugar Bowl.

Second year: Sugar-Fiesta winner vs. Cotton-Orange winner in the Rose Bowl.

Third year: Rose-Sugar winner vs.  Fiesta-Cotton winner in the Orange Bowl.

Fourth year:  Orange- Rose vs. Sugar-Fiesta winner in the Cotton Bowl.

Fifth year:   Cotton-Orange winner vs. Rose-Sugar winner in the Fiesta Bowl.

In the years when a bowl isn't hosting a championship, it is hosting a national semifinal. There's a huge hurdle to get over here with the Rose Bowl. It says it will never be part of a playoff. But as we've seen lately, the game is about to change in radical ways.  

Maybe it works or maybe all this expansion talk has made loopier than after my second martini...

The latest from the coaching rumor mill is that there is a mutual interest between Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and Louisville.

It is almost a certainty that Cardinals’ coach Steve Kragthorpe will be relieved of his duties after this, his third season. Louisville is 4-6 with games left against South Florida and Rutgers. It needs to win those to have a chance to go bowling for the first time since 2006. Kragthorpe is 15-19 at Louisville.

The school is already assured of its first consecutive non-winning season since 1987. 

Leach just went through a bitter contract extension negotiation earlier this year. But he emerged with a who’s-your-daddy chip after a battle with AD Gerald Myers. Leach owes no buyout if he leaves. The Red Raiders are 6-4 which ties for their worst 10-game start since 1999, the year before Leach was hired.

The colorful coach is known to have a wandering eye. He interviewed with Washington last year and was reportedly interested in the opening at UCLA  before Rick Neuheisel took over in 2008.

"If there are communications [from Louisville], it's not been with us," said a Leach representative on Tuesday.

Louisville AD, Tom Jurich, is one of the more aggressive ADs in the country. He got Rick Pitino to coach basketball and moved quickly after Bobby Petrino left to coach the Atlanta Falcons after the 2006 season. At the time, Kragthorpe was one college football’s hottest coaching properties.

Such a move would make sense. Texas Tech is coming off its best season in Leach’s decade-long stay. It went 11-2, losing to Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl in 2008.

The Big 12 South Division is one of the most rugged in the game with annual powers Texas and Oklahoma in control. A move to the less competitive Big East would allow Leach better access to a conference title and BCS bowl.

Leach is in the first year of the extension which pays him $2.8 million this season. That includes an $800,000 bonus he will be paid on Jan. 1 if he is still at Texas Tech.

Thank you Florida State for releasing the 695-page transcript of the school's hearing with the NCAA earlier this year.

What the school gained in transparency, it lost in embarrassment. In the transcript we found out that one academic advisor said a player had a 60 IQ and was unable to read. Gee, what was he doing at Florida State then?

• Jan. 1 used to be a holy day of obligation. Hook up an IV of beer, spread out the snacks, let the belt out a notch and veg in front of the TV.

Lately, our day of football daze has been denuded of significance. The calendar for Jan. 1, 2011 now shows at least six games. Six! The announcement of the Dallas Classic beginning in 14 months further degrades what used to be the best football day of the year.

Just what the world needs, a No. 7 team from the Big 12 vs. some slug from Conference USA. Jan. 1 used to be special. All the majors played on the same day. Now the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange are so spread out you need a GPS to locate them all.

In addition to the Rose and Sugar, this year we’ll get the Gator, Capital One and Outback. The roster swells next year because Dallas felt the need to replace the Cotton Bowl game it is losing to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The new Dallas Classic will be played in the Cotton Bowl.

Can’t wait to see the attendance in the 92,000 stadium which is essentially used twice a year. The other time being for Texas-Oklahoma. Got a birthday or a bar mitzvah coming up, the Cotton Bowl is available.

The Rose Bowl has been the Jan. 1 stalwart. We could always look forward to seeing the parade and the San Gabriel Mountains each New Year’s Day. Nurse that hangover, suck on a Bloody Mary. It was all good. In recent years, even the Rose has been moved around in years it is in the BCS championship rotation.

The game itself has become almost an afterthought with the Big Ten having lost seven Grandaddys in a row.

Sure, it’s a national holiday and advertisers know we’re going to be home to watch, but we want our NYD back. The beer is going flat.

• Expanding on the Ndamukong Suh angle. If the Nebraska defensive tackle is on top of the list, here are the other top five defense players in the country.

2. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee. The SEC defensive player of the year hasn’t backed off. Berry has an incredible 50 tackles and one interception of Tim Tebow.

3.Tyler Sash, S, Iowa. Tied for the national lead in interceptions with five.

4.Brandon Spikes, LB, Florida. The fastest, meanest linebacker around playing for the No. 1 defense. Thirty-two tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks.

5. Rolando McClain, LB, Alabama. Bama has the No. 2 defense in the country. McClain is the center of it with 42 tackles, 5 ½ for loss, two sacks and two interceptions.

 • This week’s Scripps Howard Heisman poll which yours truly votes in.

            (10 voters. First-place votes in parentheses.)
            1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida. 40 points (8).
            2. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas, 25.
            3. Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati, 13.
            4 (tie). Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame;
            Case Keenum, QB, Houston, 12.
           
            Others receiving votes: Nebraska DT Ndamukong, Suh, 7; Miami QB Jacory Harris, 6; Texas WR Jordan Shipley 5 (1); Kansas QB Todd Reesing 5 (1); Alabama RB Mark Ingram 5; Stanford RB Toby Gerhart, 2; Boise State QB Kellen Moore, 2.
 
 
• Weird meeting of the headsets Thursday in South Florida.

Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly fired defensive coordinator Joe Tresey after last season. Tresey was then hired by Bulls’ coach Jim Leavitt. South Florida enters Thursday’s showdown fifth in scoring defense (9.4 points per game) after allowing 20 per game last season.

Advantage Tresey who knows Cincy’s personnel and whose team is at home? Not exactly. Kelly’s new d-coordinator Bob Diaco has the Bearcats at No. 10 in scoring defense (13.8 points).

• Props to Lousiana-Monroe which has its longest conference winning streak (three games) since 1992. The Warhawks have one of the smallest budgets in I-A and are coached by the coach thought to be the lowest paid in the division, Charlie Weatherbie.

• The WAC is at it again. Idaho’s Tre’Shawn Robinson was reprimanded by the conference after throwing a punch against San Jose State. Reprimanded, not suspended. Sound familiar, Boise State?

• We’ll know more next week but Washington looks to be the most improved team in the country at the halfway point. The Huskies are 3-3 heading to Saturday’s game at Arizona State. That’s a net improvement of six games over last season’s 0-12 record. The season reaches its halfway point on Saturday.