[NU Sports] "Plus-1" Inevitable?

[Joe Thiegs]

In an attempt to avoid talking about the awful college-football-related news
out of the Twin Cities the last day or so, I thought I'd offer this
interesting article from today's New York Post:
 
A Football Final Four:  NCAA Could Have 'Semifinals' By 2011
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07172007/sports/a_football_final_four_sports_len
n_robbins.htm
 
I've long thought this to be the best compromise if preservation of
long-standing bowl tradition is deemed important.  I suppose you could go to
a field of eight with the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls serving as
the quarterfinals.  That would hurt the conference tie-ins more than the
plus-one format, though, if the match-ups were done on a seeded basis.  In
that case, say farewell to the Big Ten/Pac 10 Rose Bowl tradition for good
(OTOH, that tradition can get messed up in at least three scenarios as it
is:  (1) Big Ten team in the national championship game and no other Big Ten
qualifies for a BCS berth (or isn't chosen for the Rose Bowl); (2) Pac 10
team in the national championship game and no other Pac 10 team qualifies
for a BCS berth (or isn't chosen for the Rose Bowl); (3) Rose Bowl is the
national championship game and one or more of the 1 and 2 teams are not from
the Big Ten or Pac 10.)  Still, I think making the existing BCS bowls the
quarterfinals would be tough on fans.  Even in the plus-one, what would you
do as a fan if you could only afford to travel to one post-season game-go to
the bowl game and miss out on the national championship if your team wins
the bowl game, or skip the bowl game in hopes that your team makes the
national championship game?
 
-Joe