Texas state senator doesn't want state's schools in BCS

AUSTIN -- A Texas senator wants to ban the state's college football teams from playing in any postseason championship games that are not part of a playoff system.

The bill by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, is similar to a bill filed in the House last month by Rep. Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball.

Both bills would expire Dec. 2, just before Bowl Championship Series bids go out, if a similar law is not enacted in at least four other states.

Both are mostly symbolic measures born out of the frustration with the BCS system, in which a poll of college football coaches and computer rankings help determine which teams will play in the major bowl games.

The Associated Press has instructed the BCS to stop using the AP Top 25 rankings by sportswriters and broadcasters as part of the selection formula.

Cedric Benson led UT to the Rose Bowl, the first BCS berth for a Texas school since 1998. (Getty Images)

The University of Texas received its first BCS bid this past season when it was invited to the Rose Bowl. The Longhorns beat Michigan 38-37.

Wentworth's bill would prohibit Texas' NCAA teams from playing in "an intercollegiate post-regular-session competition that is part of a series that includes a national championship game unless that competition is part of a national playoff system."

That system would have to consist of "at least 16 teams competing in successive elimination games resulting in a final game for the national championship of that entire division or level of intercollegiate competition."

If at least four other states enact a similar law before Dec. 1, the law would stay in effect for Texas schools, according to the bill.