Okay - what does the whole “plus one” mean? I’m starting to get a little lost.
Of course, I used to joke when someone asked me how the BCS worked - “how should I know - they seem to be making it up as they go along.”
Here's the "plus one" as I understand it. Each of the four BCS bowls play their games as they normally do, in either a seeded or non-seeded tournament. Following the four BCS Bowl games, there is another round of voting (AP, Harris, Coaches, and BCS) and then two of the winners of their bowl games play in a national title game.
Somehow, this is supposed to produce a clear national champion, but don't ask me how. For instance, a seeded tournament this year would have worked out as follows: Ohio State v. Kansas in a bowl (Rose, Sugar, Orange, or Fiesta); LSU v. USC; Va Tech v. Mizzou; and Oklahoma v. Georgia.
Note that Big East champ West Virginia is left out of the discussion while Georgia, which didn't win the SEC East, is in the running. All those teams play their games and there is another vote. Assuming that both Ohio State and LSU win their game, they'd go on to play the "plus one" game. I'm not really sure what this would accomplish, given that Georgia and West Virginia are still shut out of the national title talk, despite having a "plus one" game.
I think it's a weak system that isn't really much different than the one that we have now. The only advantage that it offers is a chance to get one more week of voting if the number 1 or 2 team happens to lose in its bowl game. Otherwise, it's just pushing the title game back a week.