It seems to be BCS successor week, and the latest bit of news comes from CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy. He is reporting that there will be five potential formats offered to presidents to consider.
Two formats involve a four-team playoff with the four best teams, one with the semifinals in bowls and one with them at neutral sites that aren't bowls. Two formats involve a four-team playoff with reserved spots for conference champions if they finish in the top six or eight spots, one with the semifinals in bowls and one with them at neutral sites that aren't bowls. The final format is a plus one.
It doesn't sound like these are completely done, particularly due to the "top six or eight" part of the conference champions proposal. The commissioners still have some meetings to go before they present these to the presidents on June 26.
The good news on the playoff front is that among the five power conferences, there is more support for the four-best-teams model rather than the conference champions model. The bad news is that the Pac-12 and Big Ten are being their normal obstructionist selves, pushing for a plus one instead of a playoff. Not that they necessarily think they'll get a plus one out of this process.
What I want to know is if certain conferences will get special status in the conference champions model. What if the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Mountain West, and Pac-12 champions finish in the top five in that order? Does the Pac-12 champ get to leapfrog the MW champ, or are all conferences equals and the MW champ gets in? I suspect we'll only find out if that's the format that wins out in the end.