Bowl Championship Series commissioners rejected a "plus one" playoff model on Wednesday and decided to continue with the current college football postseason format through the 2013 season.
The decision was not a surprise. The plus-one model, which would have pitted the top four teams in the BCS standings in a mini-playoff, was long opposed by the Pacific 10 and Big Ten conferences. It was introduced by Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive, but a change would have required a consensus among the 11 commissioners and Notre Dame Athletic Director Kevin White.
The BCS has two years left on a four-year television deal with Fox, which has an exclusive negotiating window after Sept. 1. The BCS needed to decide on any future format before those negotiations begin. The Rose Bowl has a separate contract with ABC that runs through the 2013 season.
-- Chris Dufresne
The NCAA won't reconsider its decision to deny former Cincinnati quarterback Ben Mauk another year of eligibility after he appealed on grounds that he was hurt as a freshman at Wake Forest when he sat out as a redshirt.
The NCAA has approved applications for two new bowl games in Washington D.C. and St. Petersburg, Fla., to join the existing 32 bowls. A proposed Rocky Mountain Bowl in Salt Lake City was turned down.
Former UCLA offensive linemen Shannon Tevaga and guard-tackle Noah Sutherland will participate in the Oakland Raiders' minicamp.
A judge threw out the $5-million verdict an Alabama football fan won in his lawsuit in Birmingham, Ala., accusing the NCAA of slander for referring to him and others as "rogue boosters," "parasites" and "pariahs."
Circuit Judge William Gordon, saying jurors were swayed by prejudice, granted the NCAA's request for a new trial in a lawsuit filed by timber dealer Ray Keller.
Suspended Nebraska offensive lineman Andy Christensen, 21, is scheduled for a July trial on charges he sexually assaulted a woman at a Lincoln bar in early March.
VOLLEYBALL
Pepperdine plays Long Beach State
Top-seeded Penn State (28-1) will play fourth-seeded Ohio State (20-7) at UC Irvine's Bren Center tonight at 6, and second-seeded Pepperdine (16-10) will play third-seeded Long Beach State (23-6) at 8 in the NCAA final four of men's volleyball. The winners will play in the national championship match Saturday afternoon.
