On the same day that discussions of a split national title between Alabama and LSU starting bubbling to the surface, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive is hinting about as hard as you can hint that a plus-one is more likely than not in the near future. If, of course, Jim Delany can be convinced that it won't bring on the end of human civilization.

"I do think we are going to see changes," Slive said, "and I don't think those changes are going to be tweaks." ...

"For the past six years, two has been enough," Slive joked. "But I do think the plus-one has to come back to the table. I'm confident we will have a robust conversation."

None of this is particularly surprising stuff, but it adds to the growing buzz surrounding changes to the BCS and the plus-one possibility. You'll remember that the ACC approved of the SEC proposal the last go-around, and the Big East really doesn't have any incentive to stand in the way of a plus-one. (In fact, it's hard to see how a reconfigured Big East team would managed to place in the Top 2 barring utter chaos at the top of the rankings, even if there is still AQ status and the Big East manages to hold onto AQ status. On balance, it's probably in the Big East's interests to go along.) Stung by the Oklahoma State quasi-snub this year, the Big 12 supports it.

Reading between the lines, "robust conversation" is probably a code word here for "almost done deal." The question now is less one of whether this is going to happen -- Mike Slive is not a man known to say things like this on a lark -- than whether the plus-one supporters can come up with a way for the Big Ten to back down without looking like it's backing down. If that can be arranged, then we're probably looking at a plus-one as soon as the 2012 football season.