Accountability an issue BCS should review
PHOENIX -- The ongoing Reggie Bush situation might have sounded a vague warning for BCS commissioners.
Because the NCAA essentially does not control postseason football, potential wrongdoing by a sitting national champion seems to be the responsibility of the BCS.
Would the BCS strip a national champion of its title in the case of major violations? The issue came up Monday following the first day of the annual BCS meetings.
Reports have stated Bush's family might have received extra benefits while the USC star was still enrolled last year. The Pac-10 Conference is investigating.
USC did not win the national championship last year, but the situation does seemingly add a talking point to the BCS commissioners' agenda.
BCS coordinator Mike Slive carefully considered the possibility of punitive sanctions Monday.
"This is brand new for me so I didn't think about it at all," Slive said during an informal meeting with reporters. "It's interesting that it has not come up before. If such an issue were to arise ... it's one that we will have to begin to think about and talk about."
The BCS is essentially a series of contracts between the I-A conferences and television networks. The commissioners who run it might have to make a tough decision some day if, for example, a star player led a team to a title while he was ineligible.
Call it another unforeseen circumstance of the BCS. Division I-A football is the only sport for which the NCAA doesn't conduct a championship. The governing body oversees rules of the game and certifies bowls but has little power over the I-A postseason.
That is because the bowl structure grew up around the game. With it came a unique culture of "deciding" a national champion. Since 1936, AP declared a wire-service poll champion. A coaches poll has done the same since the 1950s.
Prior to 1936 and running through today, various organizations, polls and computer indexes declare national champions.
The BCS began arranging its annual version of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game beginning after the 1998 season -- with varying amounts of controversy.
One sticking point: If a BCS championship was taken away, the commissioners would essentially be penalizing themselves.
Currently, the Pac-10 is the only conference with an enforcement arm that investigates its member schools. Other conferences defer solely to the NCAA.
"I'm not going to deal in hypotheticals that don't exist for us," Slive said. "The NCAA has a structure for dealing with these issues. The BCS doesn't have a structure that is governmental in nature."
