BCS changes tune on possibility of three Big 12 teams

Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 08:19 PM

This year’s Bowl Championship Series possibilities are so complex that the folks who run the system have had to come up with a new ruling for one scenario involving the Big 12.

The BCS rules say that the top two teams in the BCS standings must meet for the national championship and they also prohibit any one conference from having more than two teams in BCS bowls.

So what would happen if Missouri wins the Big 12 championship game and yet two other Big 12 teams (Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech) end up with No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS standings?

Bevo Beat asked BCS administrator Bill Hancock that question last month. We called it the Trubow scenario after Statesman beat writer Alan Trubow first came up with it.

Hancock answered our question then by saying that, in that three-team scenario, the Big 12 champion would not get a BCS bid. He said that under no circumstance could any one conference get three BCS bids and that getting a 1 vs. 2 matchup took precedence over all other rules.

But now the BCS has changed its tune.

When asked about the same scenario this week by the Los Angeles Times, Hancock said, “There would be three (Big 12) teams in that case.”

It seems these unusual times have forced the BCS to rethink its own rules.

I just wanted to post this from the Statesman's Bevo Beat.  Turns out that there is a stipulation that allows 3 teams from one conference to make the BCS.  Well, there's a stipulation when you make it up as you go, as the BCS is doing now.  Sure, it's far-fetched.  But if the BCS has taught us one thing, it's that the chaos and insanity of college football often leads to new scenarios on a weekly basis.