NCAA legislation allowing for the deregulation of college football conference championship games is "expected to be passed" by '16, according to Dennis Dodd of CBSSPORTS.com. The move would "directly impact the Big 12 and ACC, which developed the legislation." The Big 12, which is the only Power Five league "without a championship game, is merely seeking the option of staging such a contest with 10 teams." The ACC's "ultimate intentions ... are not clear." Current NCAA rules state that a conference "must have at least 12 teams in order to play a conference title game," with those teams also playing a "round-robin within each division." The new NCAA Football Oversight Committee would "vet the legislation and pass on any recommendations to the NCAA Council for final approval." Big 12 Commissioner and Football Oversight Committee Chair Bob Bowlsby said, "This isn't really changing the rule, it's deregulating. It's moving a little bit slow, but I don't think it's ... stalled in any way.” Dodd noted critics have "long pined for a so-called 'commissioner' of football and basketball." Bowlsby and UCLA AD Dan Guerrero -- Chair of Basketball Oversight -- are "as close to those designations are there is these days." Both committees "will include 12 members -- four from the new NCAA Council, seven non-Council members and one athlete." Bowlsby said that the new basketball and football committees are "expected to lessen coaches' influence in the process" (CBSSPORTS.com, 4/7). In Tulsa, John Hoover notes the Big 12 "previously applied for a waiver for the 12-team, two-division rule to put on a title game." Bowlsby and Big 12 leadership "sort of foresaw the mess that happened last fall" when the CFP selection committee chose Ohio State over TCU or Baylor (TULSA WORLD, 4/8).
