And one year after it worked perfectly, with two unbeaten teams squaring off in a classic championship game, the BCS is changing again. And its top official wonders if fans will understand why.

"Just the fundamental format, I think, needs explanation," Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive said as the BCS' annual meetings opened here Monday.

The BCS is expanding to five games next year, with a new stand-alone national title game being added to the existing four bowls — the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.

Like the old format, the top two teams in the final BCS standings will play for the national title. Unlike the old format, they won't play in an existing bowl game. The title game will rotate among the four BCS sites beginning with the Fiesta in Glendale, Ariz., next January.

"I think one of the things that we need to be doing over the next several months is explaining the double-hosting model, which is in effect the national championship game rotating through the four bowls," Slive said. "I think there might be some confusion as to how the teams get to the (title) game."

It will help when the new game has a name and a title sponsor. That could be announced as early as Tuesday.

"We will (have a name) before we leave here," said Slive, who is starting his first of two years as BCS coordinator.

For the first time in three years the BCS meetings are generating little buzz.

Two years ago, the BCS responded to growing criticism by simplifying its standings formula, emphasizing the polls over the computers. Last season the formula stayed the same, but the Harris Interactive poll, which included former college football players, coaches and administrators, plus some media members, replaced the AP Top 25.

There's little call for change this year, partly because the 2005 season played out perfectly from the BCS' perspective. Only two teams finished the regular season undefeated — Southern California and Texas — and they played for the BCS title in the Rose Bowl, with the Longhorns upsetting the defending champion Trojans.

The BCS' biggest change was adopted two years ago, when the fifth game was added in response to pressure to improve access for non-BCS conferences.

With more slots available, commissioners Monday discussed adding more at-large teams to the BCS-eligible pool. Under the present system, at-large teams must win nine games and be ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS standings. Commissioners are considering allowing lower-ranked at-large teams into the pool.

"The reason it came up, we raised it because you've added 25% more slots by going from eight to 10," Slive said. "Should we examine going to more than 12 (in the standings) as the cutoff for eligibility for at-large? We just started some dialogue today. We're going to continue to talk about that.

"I'm hoping that we'll come to some decision here," Slive said. "We may not. It's an important topic and we may want to talk about it more."

Any change would have to be approved by the BCS' presidential oversight committee.

Phoenix — The BCS calls it "double-hosting." The Fiesta Bowl, whose organization will be the first to implement it, simply calls it "a challenge."

College football fans, who are just now hearing about it, are going to call it a lot of things, the kindest of which may be "confusing."

The BCS has faced a number of challenges since its inception in 1998 but one of the biggest will take place in the next few months. That's when officials must sell the public on the new model, which increases the number of BCS games from four to five, and puts two of those games — including the BCS national championship game — at one site.

"We know we've got some work to do in order to make the public understand and embrace the new model," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, the BCS coordinator. "I think once people get a handle on what we're doing it will start to make sense."

The new BCS format is a move mandated by the university presidents in order to expand opportunities to the smaller, non-BCS conferences.

The four original BCS bowls — Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta — will remain the same. Added to that group will be a stand-alone BCS national championship game. Rather than add a fifth bowl city to the rotation, each year one of the bowls will host two games — its regular bowl and then the BCS championship game.

The Fiesta Bowl gets the first shot at executing college football's grand new experiment. On Jan. 1 it will host the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in the brand new $455 million Cardinal Stadium in nearby Glendale. On Jan. 8 the same organization will host the BCS championship game.

Can one city and one organization host two games of this magnitude in seven days and do it well? That is what everybody in the bowl business is waiting to find out.

"After this year's Fiesta Bowl (Ohio State vs. Notre Dame) I started thinking about what it would be like to greet two new teams and get ready to do it all over again," said Shawn Schoeffler, the media relations director of the Fiesta Bowl. "It was kind of scary to think about."

A lot of people are scared about this format. That's why this season all the BCS bowls will be watching the Fiesta and taking a lot of notes. The Allstate Sugar Bowl, which will host two games after the 2007 season, will bring its entire staff to Glendale after their game on Jan. 3.

This is a tough time for the Sugar Bowl to be making a lot of changes. It had to move its entire operation to Atlanta after Hurricane Katrina and had to play the Jan. 2, 2006 game at the George Dome. This season's game will be back in the New Orleans Superdome, which is projected to be functional again in September. But there is a lot of work to do in order for the city to host two games in the span of a week.

"Actually what we went through last year is going to help us," said Paul Hoolahan, the executive director of the Sugar Bowl. "When we went to Atlanta we learned how to get a lot done in a relatively short amount of time. We have come so far from where we were. We'll be able to do this."

The logistical problems in something like this are enormous. For example, the Fiesta committee will ask the teams in the BCS championship game to come here on Jan. 2, the day the Fiesta Bowl teams leave town. But what if those teams want to come in early? Hotel rooms have to be reserved just in case.

"Sure it's a challenge but if you love college football this is something you want to be involved in," said John Junker, the executive director of the Fiesta Bowl. "Our people are really excited about it."

WHAT IF?

If the new BCS formula were in place last season, here is what the bowl lineup would have been.

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. Oregon

Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame vs. TCU

Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Ohio State

Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. West Virginia

BCS championship: Texas vs. USC

BCS Coordinator Mike Slive's Statements from BCS meetings in Phoenix.

Explaining the "double-hosting" model "One of the things we need to be doing over the next several months is to explain the double hosting model, which is in effect the National Championship Game rotating among the four BCS bowls every year. There will be a Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl and once in a four year period, one of the sites will serve as host for the National Championship Game a week after its traditional bowl."

"The National Championship Game is 1 vs. 2 as determined by the polls after Championship Saturday (Dec. 2). This game would be played one week later than the regular New Year's Day bowl games."

The new format

"These are important issues that the format will have to sort out as we work through the next four years. As to how I feel about it, if it works well, that is fine, but we don't know how well it will work. I am open-minded on the format. It either works on its merits or it doesn't. I view my role as coordinator having two parts - as the coordinator administering the BCS during the next two years and, in the longer term, as to thinking if this format better serves college football."

More on the new format

"I think it goes back to the creation of the fifth bowl. It came as a result of an understanding and agreement with the five conferences that were not in the original BCS slots. We went back and forth between this model and adding a fifth bowl. This is all an example of what the BCS has been asked to carry through the years other than be a 1 vs. 2 game. This format reflects that."

Inclusion of all Division I-A conferences

"This is not just an automatic qualifying issue but inclusion of all Division I-A conferences in the BCS structure. The fact that there are 11 commissioners sitting here this week is good for college football."

Expanding the at-large pool

"There was good discussion on both sides of the issue. If we decide to expand from 12 at-large berths that does not do anything as to how the former coalition gets an automatic berth. The automatic berth has been set for the highest ranked team that is in the top 12 or ranked higher than the lowest ranked traditional BCS conference champion, if the former coalition team is 16th or higher."