IOWA CITY — For a sport that modifies its postseason at a glacial pace, college football’s changes will feel like an avalanche next year. The much-despised Bowl Championship Series, which gave the sport a true No. 1 versus No. 2 match-up and a heck of a lot controversy, will exit after January. In its place comes [...]

College football’s bowl structure will not go over the fiscal and legitimate cliff come December after all. As of Sunday, 71 teams are eligible to compete for college football’s 70 bowl slots. Two more — UConn and Pittsburgh — could clinch bowl berths this weekend. If there weren’t enough bowl teams eligible, five 5-7 teams [...]

NEW YORK (AP) — The college football playoff system will be televised on ESPN for 12 years once it starts after the 2014 season, the network said Wednesday. The title game will be played on a Monday, at least a week after the semifinals. The deal is worth about $470 million a year, a person [...]

Many prognosticators are projecting Notre Dame as a great fit in the Rose Bowl. We all know about Notre Dame’s virtues this year — national brand, talented team, hadn’t played in college football’s Mecca since the Four Horsemen era. But unless the Pac-12′s second-best team doesn’t finish in the BCS’ final 14, it won’t happen. [...]

As the college football season enters November, there are four teams worthy of a shot at the national title. Alabama, the defending national champion, deservedly will earn a spot if the Tide continue to roll through the Southeastern Conference. Kansas State is the leader on points, but that could change quickly. Both Notre Dame and [...]

Both Iowa and Iowa State took their lumps on Saturday, but both schools still remain alive for the postseason this year. Each team needs two more wins to return to bowl action, and New Year’s Day is a possible landing spot for the Hawkeyes. The Gator Bowl has the fourth selection among Big Ten eligible [...]

What we know thus far about the Big Ten and its feeder bowls is divided into three categories: 1. Teams that are ineligible to play in a bowl game (Ohio State, Penn State) 2. Teams that are unlikely to qualify for a bowl game (Indiana, Illinois) 3. Everybody else You could argue that six different [...]

ESPN’s Rece Davis almost weekly refers to the ACC football race as the “Wheel of Destiny” because it’s so unpredictable. The moniker could befit the Big Ten this year. There are eight teams that could land in the Rose Bowl or fall completely out of the bowl picture. Ohio State and Penn State are ineligible [...]

IOWA CITY — Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz wants no part in selecting the four best teams when the new playoff system begins in 2014. His boss, Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta, would consider serving on the newly created selection committee. Barta hardly is advocating for a role, but said, “if I were invited, I’m sure [...]

IOWA CITY — Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta was one of the few to openly admit he preferred the much-scorned Bowl Championship Series to a playoff system. But Barta’s opinion evolved recently when he saw a new format could achieve what the BCS couldn’t, and it also could maintain what he deemed vital to college football. [...]