In 1998 the BCS was created to guarantee that the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 at the end of the season would meet in a designated "National Championship" game. While fans have often disagreed who the No. 1 and No. 2 teams should be, it is worth nothing that before the first version of the BCS (the Bowl Coalition) in 1992, No. 1 met No. 2 in a bowl game only eight times in the previous 46 years.

Four bowls make up the BCS: Sugar, Orange, Rose, Fiesta. Each year one of the cities hosts two games: Their traditional bowl game plus the BCS championship game. Last season it was in New Orleans. After the 2008 season it will be in Miami.

By contract, all six of the champions of the original BCS conferences (ACC, SEC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10) are guaranteed a spot in one of the BCS games.

A team from one of the five Coalition conferences (C-USA, MAC, WAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt) will earn an automatic bid if it finishes in the Top 12 of the BCS Standings or if finishes in the top 16 and is ranked ahead of one of six champions of the original BCS conferences.

Notre Dame gets an automatic berth to a BCS game if it finishes in the top eight of the final standings.

Once the top two teams are placed in the BCS championship game, the remaining conference champions with bowl affiliations are placed in their host bowls: Sugar (SEC), Orange (ACC), Fiesta (Big 12), Rose (Big Ten, Pac-10). The remaining BCS slots are then filled with a predetermined selection order.

No more than two teams from one conference can be selected for a BCS game.

THE ISSUES

1. At the end of the 2007 season the BCS produced yet another controversial championship game (Ohio State vs. LSU) and a series of disappointing match-ups. As a result, four of the five BCS games had a decline in television ratings from the year before. The Sugar Bowl (Georgia vs. Hawaii) was down 25 percent. The Rose Bowl (USC-Illinois) was down 20 percent. The BCS championship game (LSU-Ohio State) was down 17 percent.

2. The morning after the BCS championship game in New Orleans, UGA President Michael Adams called on college football to scrap the current system and institute an eight-team playoff to determine the national championship. Adams is chairman of the NCAA Executive committee, the most powerful committee in college sports. Adams' recommendation has yet to receive any support from within the NCAA governance structure, but his pronouncement was considered a shot across the bow of the conference commissioners to make some kind of change to the system at the next possible opportunity.

3. That opportunity is now. The current contract for FOX to televise four of the five BCS Bowls (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, BCS championship) expires after the postseason games of January 2010. FOX has an exclusive negotiating window with the BCS that begins in September. Before those negotiations can begin, the BCS has to determine if it will change the format or keep it the same.

4. Two of the six BCS commissioners (Mike Slive, SEC; John Swofford, ACC) have indicated that they want to discuss a four-team playoff, better known as "Plus-One," that could be implemented after the 2010 regular season. Two other commissioners, Mike Tranghese (Big East) and Dan Beebe (Big 12) say they are willing to listen but are not ready to commit.

5. The Rose Bowl and its partners, the Big Ten and Pac-10, have a TV deal with ABC that runs through the game of January, 2014, which is four years longer than the current BCS deal with Fox. The commissioners of the Big Ten (Jim Delany) and Pac-10 (Tom Hansen) have said they have no interest in any changes until after their current contract ends. The position is considered the largest impediment to change in the next four-year cycle of the BCS.

THE OPTIONS

1. Make no changes. Renew the BCS contract with FOX or some other TV entity for four more seasons but keep the current format. That means the status quo will be in place for six more seasons. Those in favor of a four-team playoff would spend that time building a consensus for change and preparing for the next round of negotiations in four years.

2. Implement a "Plus-One" model that seeds the teams 1-4. The semifinals would be played in two BCS bowls on Jan. 1 or Jan. 2. The two winners would advance to the BCS championship game. The proponents won't call it a four-team playoff, but that is what it will be.

3. Implement a true "Plus-One" model where the teams would not be seeded and two teams would be selected for the BCS championship game after all the bowl games had been played. Conference champions would play in their traditional bowls (SEC to Sugar, ACC to Orange, Big 12 to Fiesta, Big Ten/Pac-10 to Rose). The problem: If 1 vs. 2 meet in one of the bowls, what would be the purpose of this format? Critics of this model also say that it is simply adding one week to the season and is not real change.

4. Convince the Rose Bowl and its partners that a four-team playoff or true "Plus One" would be in the best interest of college football. In exchange for sending its champions to the playoff (if they qualify), the Rose would want concessions to protect its traditional matchup in the years it does not host the national championship game.

5. If the Rose Bowl and its partners refuse to participate in a new BCS format, the other four BCS conferences, the five Coalition Conferences, and Notre Dame could create a national championship playoff without them. This is considered to be the nuclear option for the BCS and is very unlikely.

The idea of a "Plus-One" format came up four years ago during negotiations for the last BCS contract.

Loren Matthews, ABC's vice president for programming, presented the idea for a traditional "Plus-One" where the two teams who play for the BCS championship would be selected after the bowls are played. The BCS rejected the offer, and ABC eventually withdrew from the negotiations.

That's when Fox decided to get into the college football business. Fox, however, was not willing to commit for eight years. Two years into the current four-year agreement, Fox now wishes it had committed for eight years.

"If we could work out an agreement tomorrow we would be thrilled," said Fox Sports President Ed Goren.

Goren said Fox is prepared to negotiate for an extension of the contract regardless of the BCS format. He insists that television's input into the final decision will be minimal.

"When all is said and done, we don't have that much of an impact," Goren said. "There are certainly a lot of agendas in this kind of equation: school presidents, commissioners, athletic directors and coaches. They all trump us."

The fact that Fox has four BCS games and ABC has one, the Rose Bowl, is a hurdle than can be overcome if all the conferences agree on a new format.

Chuck Gerber recently left his post as executive vice president for college sports programming at ABC/ESPN. He now works as a consultant for the SEC on television matters. Before Gerber stepped down, he told the AJC: "If the Rose Bowl came to us and wanted to be a part of a new BCS format, we would find a way to make that happen. That's the role of being a good partner."