Mike Slive walks line between BCS and SEC
Ralph Russo / Associated Press
Posted: December 8, 2006
As Southeastern Conference commissioner, Mike Slive's job is to be an advocate for his members at bowl time. He believes being Bowl Championship Series coordinator does not change that.
The SEC is in prime position to get two teams in the BCS when the pairings are released Sunday. The winner of the SEC championship game between Arkansas and Florida on Saturday receives an automatic bid. LSU was fifth in the last BCS standings, right behind Florida, and will be in the mix for an at-large berth in one of the five big-money bowls.
Slive said all commissioners have a responsibility to promote their teams to bowl officials.
"As commissioners, we talk with bowls about our teams, and we talk about how good we
"As commissioners, we talk with bowls about our teams, and we talk about how good we think they are and we know they are," Slive said Wednesday during a teleconference. "We talk about the fan base. I talk about the fact in the SEC that we had ... over 6.8 million people to our games this past year, and we just wanted to make sure that everyone knows all there is to know about the Southeastern Conference."
The SEC champ will play in the Sugar Bowl, unless Florida can catch some breaks and reach the national title game. LSU could be looking at a Rose Bowl bid.
"I think you advocate as a commissioner, and as a BCS coordinator, my roles is to make sure that the system works properly, fairly and equitably," Slive said.
Slive reiterated he's open to discuss changes in the current BCS systems, including the plus-one model which would set the championship game after the big four bowl games are played.
In the current system, the top two teams after the regular season meet in the BCS championship game.
For the first time this season five BCS games will be played instead of four. The championship game will be played on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz., about a week after the Fiesta, Sugar, Rose and Orange bowls are played.
Slive also said that the BCS should not influence a conference's decision whether to play a league championship game. Of the original six BCS conferences, the SEC, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference play title games, adding an extra difficult game to their schedules. The Pac-10, Big Ten and Big East do not.
"One of the premises of the BCS is that every conference has the right to figure out how it wants to determine its champion," he said. "We (in the SEC) enjoy a championship game and we can't dictate to any other league that they have to have a championship game. So we have to put together our priorities and obviously we would love to win the national championship, but we certainly value and hold highly our (championship) game."