College Football: Larry Scott Wrong to Assume New Bowl Puts Plus 1 Back on Table

Welcome to the playoff dead period. 

The BCS meetings in Hollywood, Fla. last month produced the news that college football is headed towards a four-team playoff. The specific format of that playoff won't be determined until later this summer, which means that dead period in between provides a perfect opportunity for college football leaders to lobby for their preferred format.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott is doing just that, in his latest interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Reacting to the news that the Big 12 and SEC will meet in a Rose Bowl-style bowl game, which would pit the top team in each conference that's not invited to a playoff against one another, Scott says that the "Plus-1 model" is back on the table:

"

I'd say before Friday that idea of a plus-one didn't have much traction, but I think the announcement on Friday's a game-changer. We're pretty far down the path on four-team playoff options, but given the very positive reaction to what the SEC and Big 12 have done, it's possible that (a plus-one) could get some traction.

"

A true "Plus-1" is drastically different from a four-team playoff. A true "Plus-1" is one game after all of the bowls are played between the nation's top two teams. Essentially, it's a combination of the old bowl system with the current BCS.

Scott is wrong.

It's a diversion. A smokescreen.

The door to a "Plus-1" didn't open with last Friday's SEC/Big 12 bowl announcement. If that's Scott's reasoning, it's been open the whole time due to the desire of Pac-12 and Big Ten officials to protect the Rose Bowl.

What Scott is doing is attempting to protect the "integrity" of the Rose Bowl (which we've already stated is ridiculous), while providing himself with a bargaining chip to push his real goal—mandating that bids in the playoff be reserved for conference champions.

It's all politics.

Everything you hear from college football leaders this summer regarding the four-team playoff will have some sort of ulterior motive.

Larry Scott's assertion that the SEC/Big 12 bowl brings us closer to a "Plus-1" is proof of that.

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