How will expansion affect the BCS? Will it cause a playoff?
The hypothesized “superconference” model assumes that the symmetrical four-conference, 64-team landscape would lend itself to a playoff. Whether you believe that day to be coming or not, it stands to reason that a consolidation of power would only further allow the current BCS powers to retain the status quo. The main source of pro-playoff pressure right now is coming from political figures advocating for outsiders like the Mountain West and Boise State. With conference consolidation, many of the elite non-BCS programs would be absorbed by the establishment, thus quieting their uproar. The more pertinent issue would be BCS governance — specifically, would the Big East lose its automatic qualifying berth, and if so, would another league (most likely the Mountain West) step in to replace it? Or would the BCS simply go with five AQ bids? There’s a formula in place to evaluate the leagues’ 2008-11 performances for a possible shuffling in 2012, and that happens to be the earliest a reconfi
