Sports briefs for March 1, 2004

Monday, March 1, 2004 | 10:40 a.m.

The controversial Bowl Championship Series, which began as a consortium of six major conferences and Notre Dame, will be overhauled after the 2005 season with the addition of a fifth bowl game, university presidents said Sunday in Miami Beach.

The fifth game will mean teams from the conferences outside the original BCS agreement -- the Mountain West, Western Athletic, Sun Belt, Mid-American and Conference USA -- will have greater opportunities to play for big money.

University of Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer, a member of the committee, said the fifth game is likely to be chosen from existing bowls and will join the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange on the BCS marquee. The fifth bowl will also join the rotation of being the site of the national championship game.

The group did not reveal details about how the non-BCS conferences would be fit into the bowl mix.

But Tulane president Scott S. Cowen, who organized the reform, said if these changes had been in place, smaller conferences would have been represented in BCS games in four of the past six seasons.

Agassi withdraws

Four-time champion Andre Agassi withdrew from the Franklin Templeton Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz., because of a hip injury.

Rebels show power

Home runs by Brent Johnson, Johnny Uriegas, David Miller and Eddie Gill powered an impressive show of UNLV hitting as the Rebels (7-5) pounded Michigan State 20-8 at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Toomey gets double

Jen Toomey ran away with the 1,500-meter run to go with her victory Saturday in the 800, and Stacy Dragila won her seventh high jumping title in eight years at the U.S. indoor championships at Boston.

Kerrigan just misses

Jackie Kerrigan lost her no-hitter one out from completion, but pitched UNLV (8-10) to a 6-0 victory against Utah Valley State, as the Lady Rebels rebounded from a 4-2 loss to Simon Fraser earlier Sunday.