Nick Saban wants BCS to go to ‘plus-one’

Saban isn’t changing his tune by advocating a change in the way college football’s national champion is decided.

No. 2 Alabama is among a handful of unbeaten teams still standing in the BCS conferences, and the possibility of an undefeated team being left out of the BCS title game could create another controversy for the current system.

Saban, however, said he has long favored a plus-one method — proposed by Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive in May — where the top four teams meet in two bowl games and the winners play a week later for the title.

“I’ve always been an advocate of the plus-one system since 1997 when Michigan and Nebraska got in a situation where they couldn’t decide the national championship,” Saban said. “I just feel that only having two teams sort of takes a lot of teams out of it.”

But, he added, “there wasn’t a lot of support” for the SEC’s proposal rejected by Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners in May. That means the BCS format won’t get a makeover until at least the 2014 season.

Even after No. 1 Texas and No. 6 Texas Tech play this weekend in the Big 12 Conference, that could still leave three BCS conference unbeatens, including No. 3 Penn State (Big Ten).

“I’m still not happy with that,” Saban said. “In most situations when you’ve had issues they would have been resolved because it usually involves three teams, maybe four. Not to say that you still wouldn’t have issues. If you pick four, there’s always going be a debate on the fifth team.”

Saban has experience with such debates, having led LSU to the BCS national title in 2003, while Southern California finished atop the Associated Press rankings.