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Machen supports having the NCAA or another national entity step in and construct a playoff system.

He and Florida State president T.K. Wetherall met when their schools played in November to talk about how Division I-A could implement a playoff system.

A playoff could put the entire bowl system in danger — a system that will pay Division I-A football teams $210 million dollars this season, according to Scott Ramsey, chairman of the Football Bowl Association.

But money doesn’t appear to be the driving factor behind the opposition to a playoff or a plus-one model.

Fox is in the first year of a four-year deal that will pay the BCS $320 million for the broadcast rights to the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls from 2007-10 and the national title game from 2007-09.

The Rose Bowl has its own TV deal with ABC, a contract that runs through 2014. Terms of that deal were not released, but the previous four-year deal was worth $80 million to the Rose Bowl.

All agree that a plus-one would increase the value of the BCS’s television rights, though none would say exactly how much, and a playoff would bring in far more revenue than the bowl system.

More coaches have become vocal opponents of the BCS in recent years.

Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville was one of the first when his Tigers went undefeated in 2004 and were left out of the title game in favor of USC and Oklahoma. He’s for a plus-one, not a long playoff that can be physically demanding on players and turn into a war of attrition.

“I think we can have some influence by educating our presidents,” he said. “I think we can better educate the presidents on the fact that academics is not a problem. They keep saying, ’Time out of the classroom.’ We spend less time out of the classroom than any sport.

“A true national championship playoff would really enhance what we’re doing and even bring in more money. And of course that’s what the presidents are concerned about.”

Florida’s Urban Meyer and Michigan’s Lloyd Carr both have publicly thrown their support behind a playoff system, as has USC coach Pete Carroll. Penn State’s Joe Paterno has for years said Division I-A needs a playoff.

“I have tremendous respect for Coach Carr and tremendous respect for Coach Paterno, Delaney said. “But at the end of the day I work with them, but I work for university presidents.”

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