Tuesday, March 2, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.
A day after Bowl Championship Series officials reached a tentative agreement to allow a fifth football game into its marquee fold, details were vague about how a premier bowl could include Marshall, Miami of Ohio or Tulane.
Or UNLV.
"But it is movement in the right direction," said Rebels athletic director Mike Hamrick. "I don't know if it's the final answer, but adding a fifth bowl game, that would open up two more at-large berths, is movement in the right direction."
In a statement, Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson noted that there is much to be determined, and clarified, before teams from his league can be assured of a chance to play in a premier bowl game.
Still, he succinctly summed up what needs to be done when the new BCS measures kick in, most likely for the 2006 season.
"It (will be) up to the Mountain West Conference," Thompson said, "to win football games."
The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee and the Presidential Coalition for Athletic Reform (PCAR) announced plans for a revised BCS system Sunday in Miami Beach, after the parties' third meeting since September.
Since its inception in 1998, the BCS has been comprised of teams from six so-called elite football conferences -- the Big East, Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big 12, Big Ten and Pacific-10.
Its national championship game has rotated between the Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls every four years.
Successful programs from the Mid-American, Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences, as well as Conference USA, were left with scant ability to qualify for a big-money bowl berth.
The current system, which will expire after the 2005 season, has enabled the 63 BCS schools to annually hog 95 percent of the roughly $100 million in BCS revenue, leaving the 54 "lower-ranked" programs to survive on relative pennies.
Now, it appears the Capital One Bowl, the Orlando, Fla.-based, game commonly known as the Citrus Bowl, is the favorite to play host to a fifth BCS game between two additional at-large teams, drawn from a complex formula based on national rankings.
At about $5.1 million, the Citrus was the highest-paying non-BCS bowl game last season. The Cotton, in Dallas, doled out about $2 million less than the Citrus.
Originally, any team qualified for BCS consideration with a top-12 finish in the final BCS ratings. A top-six finish was rewarded with an automatic berth, but no non-BCS team has finished among the top six in the system's six seasons.
That led to the non-BCS outrage.
Tulane president Scott Cowen, who established the PCAR in July -- when the Green Wave nearly dropped football -- led the latest charge. Under the tentative new system, he said four non-BCS teams would have qualified for a premier bowl over the past six years.
Cowen did not name them, but they are believed to have been Tulane in 1998, Marshall in '99, Texas Christian in 2000 and Miami (Ohio) in '03. All but TCU finished those seasons with Top 10 rankings in the Associated Press poll. Computers are also used in the BCS mix.
"From a Mountain West perspective," Thompson said, "there were four areas of concern, and all were addressed."
Increased access to the BCS bowls, more equitably distributed revenue, branding and marketing issues, and an active role in future overall BCS administration were those issues.
"I look forward to putting details to the agreement made (Sunday)," Thompson said.
UNLV football coach and former athletic director John Robinson did not return calls seeking comment.
Cowen attributed the possibility of Tulane quitting football, and a $7 million athletic department deficit, to the game's inequity.
During his tenure at East Carolina, another C-USA program, Hamrick became acutely aware of the imbalance between football's first- and second-tier schools.
"It was something we were dealing with in Conference USA," Hamrick said. "It's not a UNLV issue, it's all of (the non-elite football programs). (Thompson) spearheads everything, and he made it clear, within our conference, that this is a major issue for us ... to get more access to the BCS.
"Therefore, you're helped from a recruiting standpoint. Eventually, you have to hope that it (also) helps you from a financial standpoint."
Concessions were made Sunday. The Big East, which had football powerhouse Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College poached from its roster by the Atlantic Coast last year, retains its BCS status.
Overall, though, Cowen shook up a system, with the help of governmental hearings that threatened the BCS with anti-trust action.
The BCS commissioners meet again in late April, in Phoenix, in what will likely be the first of a series of talks to establish guidelines, and a site, for that fifth bowl, revise payouts and concoct a new television deal.
"A lot needs to be solidified before an agreement is codified," Thompson said.
"Is this the final answer?" Hamrick said. "At this point, I can't answer that. I don't think anyone can."
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