NEW ORLEANS -- Despite continued resistance from two conferences and a major bowl, incoming Bowl Championship Series coordinator John Swofford says college football leaders will continue to explore a modified playoff.
"I think the subject deserves that," Swofford, commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, said Monday at a Football Writers Assn. of America meeting.
College football officials have ruled out an expanded "NFL-style" playoff.
Four conferences -- ACC, Big East, Southeastern and Big 12 -- are interested in pursuing a Plus One model that would add an additional game to the current five-game BCS arrangement.
The Pacific 10 and Big Ten Conferences, and the Rose Bowl, are opposed to Plus One.
The BCS is in the second year of a four-year contract with Fox. ABC has a separate contract with the Rose Bowl that runs through the 2013 season.
Swofford, who succeeds SEC Commissioner Mike Slive in a two-year rotation as BCS coordinator, said Plus One will be on the agenda at commissioners' meetings this spring in Miami even though he knows some BCS partners adamantly oppose it.
"I don't think that necessarily closes the discussion," Swofford said.
Plus One would potentially seed the top four teams in the final BCS standings. No. 1 would play No. 4 and No. 2 would play No. 3 in two of the major BCS bowls, and the winners would then play for the BCS title.
Swofford admitted Plus One would not solve the controversies that have often plagued the BCS since its inception in 1998.
If Plus One was used this year, Georgia and USC, two of the hottest teams in the country, would not have made the cut. Georgia finished No. 5 in the BCS standings; USC was No. 7.
Swofford said the BCS this year would begin television contract negotiations with Fox, which has an exclusive negotiating window. The Pac-10, Big Ten and Rose Bowl have argued that a playoff of any kind could not be possible until after the ABC contract expires in 2014.
Chuck Gerber, executive vice president for college sports for ABC and ESPN, said his company would be interested in bidding for the Fox portion of the BCS package in 2010.
"If they open the process, we are willing to discuss it," Gerber said.
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The offensive and defensive players of the game were Louisiana State's Matt Flynn, the quarterback, and teammate Ricky Jean-Francois, a defensive tackle.
