No miracles here: BCS playoff opposition too strong for any change soon

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Ed Goren likes his Marlboro Lights, at least as much as the Emmy he proudly displayed for the BCS commissioners Tuesday.

John Swofford and his BCS colleagues have plenty to discuss. (Getty Images)

The cigarette in question was fired up by the Fox Sports president as he waited for a ride to the airport after his appearance at the BCS meetings. The statue in question was won by Goren's network for the Outstanding Live Sports Special –- the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. You remember, the one where Boise State beat Oklahoma and Ian Johnson proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on national television.

"We set that up," Goren said. "We thought it was an audition for a reality show."

My Big Fat Obnoxious Playoff? Not so fast. The Emmy was upstairs in a conference room if you wanted to touch it and pray for a miracle -- like repairing a broken postseason.

"It's not an issue with me," Goren said as he considered the biggest issue floating around the BCS meetings this week -- a plus-one playoff. "Certainly the public would like to see a change. If there's a change, we're on board. If it stays the same, we're thrilled. We just want to be associated with this product."

That's rich. Fox won its Emmy category by beating out the Super Bowl and World Series, but college football's postseason can't even heal itself. The BCS reached Wednesday what BCS chairman John Swofford agreed was a watershed moment in the BCS' 10-year history. So why did everyone expect so little -- which is exactly what was delivered when it was decided to keep the current system through 2013.

For the first time, commissioners formally discussed a different postseason model. A four-team playoff that has taken on the moniker "plus-one" was on the table. The 2014 season was the earliest, realistically, it could have been implemented considering the complicated series of television contracts that still exist. Not to mention the long-stated opposition of one-third of the six major conferences -- the Pac-10 and Big Ten.

When asked how plus-one proponents would rappel up that little Everest, Swofford said, "I don't know that we do."

The question, then, was whether Wednesday's discussion would kill a plus-one for the foreseeable future. The answer is, probably. Things are too good now to take a chance that they might get better with a plus-one in the future.

Two years into Fox's BCS deal with the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls, Goren is happy. He left little doubt that his network is going to take advantage of its exclusive negotiating window in September to re-up with BCS.

That little move would stiff-arm ABC/ESPN from reacquiring the property it let go of after the 2005 season.

"Oops," Goren said cheerfully.

It's no secret that ABC/ESPN wants back in to the entire BCS after being left with just the Rose Bowl through 2014 game.