The television-ratings success of the 1999 championship game and a possible change in the administration of the weekly in-season polls were major agenda items during a recent meeting of the NCAA Division II Football Committee.

During its annual meeting February 13-16 in Gold Canyon, Arizona, the committee learned that the four-overtime championship contest between Northwest Missouri State University and Carson-Newman College was the highest-rated telecast of the NCAA fall championships schedule.

The game drew a 2.0 rating on ESPN, meaning that more than 1.5 million households viewed at least a portion of Northwest Missouri State's 58-52 victory.

The committee expressed its thanks to the Shoals National Championship Committee, the sponsoring agency, and the University of North Alabama, the host institution, for their work, and noted that their efforts were rewarded with widespread exposure.

In another action, the committee expressed interest in preliminary discussions held with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) concerning the AFCA taking over administration of the weekly Division II national top-20 poll.

The committee agreed that such a change would result in better publicity of the rankings, as evidenced in the Division III top-20 poll, which was handled by the AFCA for the first time in 1999.

The committee, however, will continue to release weekly regional top-10 polls.

Those polls are based on the championships selection criteria, which the committee reviewed to make sure they are consistent with other sports, the Division II philosophy and Bylaw 31.3.3.

In other business, the committee began exploring changes to the playoff format based on possible bracket enhancement.

The Division II Championships Committee is recommending to the Division II Management Council that championships brackets in team sports be determined by a ratio system rather than on the percentage of Division II membership that sponsors a sport (see the January 31 issue of The NCAA News).

If the recommendation is approved, the Division II Football Committee may be invited to submit a proposal for a bracket with more than the current 16 teams.

The earliest such an enhancement could take place would be the 2001 championship.

Other highlights

Division II Football Committee
February 13-16/Gold Canyon, Arizona

* Voted to continue using neutral officiating crews for all games in the championship, including when teams from the same conference meet.

* Discussed the agreement between the NCAA and Wilson Sporting Goods Co., naming Wilson as supplier of the official ball of the championship through 2003. Requested to continue the arrangement of having the same number of balls shipped to each playoff institution.

* Clarified that the host institutions for the semifinals will be based on seeding at the time of the selection of teams for the championship.

* Voted to maintain the rotation of regions within the playoff bracket on a three-year cycle.