ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996                TAG: 9601110033
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: DALLAS
SOURCE: Associated Press 

NO I-A PLAYOFF SYSTEM LIKELY FOR FOOTBALL

Fans hoping to see an NCAA Division I-A football playoff grow out of this week's vote on restructuring will be disappointed, NCAA president Gene Corrigan said Saturday.

``I don't know that restructuring will change peoples' attitude,'' Corrigan said. ``It will still come down to Division I-A people deciding to give up something that is historically good - the bowl system.''

At a news conference, Corrigan did concede restructuring will remove one of the biggest obstacles to the NCAA's staging a football championship playoff.

Before adjourning their 90th annual convention this week, more than 1,500 schools will decide on a far-reaching plan to realign the NCAA's entire governing structure, giving each division greater authority over its own affairs.

For Division I-A, the top football-playing schools, it will mean total control over their finances. One reason the top conferences decided not to pursue an NCAA playoff two years ago was concern over who would control the expected financial windfall. Under the present setup, revenue distribution is handled by a committee made up of representatives of small athletic programs as well as large.

``I don't know that those matters couldn't have been worked out under the system we have now,'' said Corrigan, commissioner of the ACC. ``But, yes, that's one thing that restructuring will take care of.''

The bowl alliance managed to set up a championship game this season with No.1 Nebraska meeting No.2 Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. But with the Pacific-10 and Big Ten conferences not participating, there is no guarantee it will always put together a clear-cut 1-2 matchup.

As commissioner of the ACC, Corrigan served on the committee which in 1994 did an extensive study of the feasibility of an NCAA playoff.

``I went on that committee absolutely against the playoff,'' he said. ``But as we studied it, I thought there were some things that could make us have a playoff at some point in time. I think it will come up again. The alliance is a three-year deal. I think that come the end of it, everybody's going to say maybe we need to look [at a playoff] again. I think it will come up.''

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