BCS to add 5th bowl to the mix

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The Bowl Championship Series agreed to add a fifth game Sunday, increasing access for schools like BYU and Utah that are not part of college football's most lucrative postseason system.

The champions of the six BCS conferences — the Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10 — will maintain an automatic berth in one of the five games. The remaining four spots will be at-large berths to be decided by a complex formula using national rankings.

No team from outside the six BCS conferences has ever been invited to a BCS game. Despite starting the 2001 season 11-0, BYU wasn't even being considered for a BCS game. Having a fifth BCS game with four at-large berths will give BYU, Utah and the other non-BCS schools a better chance of getting invited to one the most lucrative bowls.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill feels the momentum from last year's MWC title and Liberty Bowl victory under first-year coach Urban Meyer may help the Utes be a team that could crash the BCS's party.

"We're the type of school that can cause the BCS problems," said Hill, prior to the announcement of a fifth BCS bowl. "Urban and I have the same vision that we can be a real thorn in the BCS's side — because of the type of program we are building and the type of school we are. . . . What we need to find out in the next year is where our league will be when it comes to postseason football, and what's ahead for the next five years."

Just exactly what having a fifth BCS bowl will mean to the Mountain West Conference has yet to be determined.

The fifth bowl is still subject to final approval based on market viability, but all indications point to it being in place when the new BCS contract takes effect before the 2006 season.

Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer, a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, said existing bowls probably will have the first shot at becoming the fifth BCS bowl.

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Contributing: Loren Jorgensen