COLLEGE FOOTBALL

BCS TO TAKE SERIOUS LOOK AT ‘PLUS-ONE’ FORMAT

BCS officials are going to have some serious discussions in the upcoming months about going to a plus-one format, which could create a four-team major college football playoff.

Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford, the new coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series, said yesterday he intends to lead a “thorough” evaluation of the plus-one format.

The BCS must determine in the next nine to 12 months what format it will use for the 2010 season (2011 bowls) so it can negotiate a new television deal.

Swofford takes over this year for Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive as the public face of the BCS.

Swofford and Slive, speaking to the Football Writers Association of America, said there was increased support among conference commissioners and university presidents for having serious discussions about the plus-one, which would set the national championship game matchup after the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls have been played.

JONES TO LEAVE HAWAII, WILL BEGIN REBUILDING SMU

Staying at Hawaii would have been the easy choice for June Jones. It was the challenge of rebuilding a tattered football program that led him to take the coaching job at Southern Methodist, which stumbled to a 1–11 record this season.

“Where you are now excites me because the only way is up, and I am good at going up,” Jones said yesterday.

The introduction of Jones at a booster-packed press conference ended the nation’s longest college coaching search this year. It had been 70 days since Phil Bennett was dismissed with four games left in the season.