The Big East will compete with four conferences that have not had BCS automatic-qualifying status for a guaranteed spot in the lucrative marquee bowl games when college football’s new postseason system starts in 2014

That group of five conferences just won’t have a bowl of their own.

The conference commissioners decided Monday during a meeting with university presidents in Denver that the new four-team playoff will rotate through six games as originally planned.

In September, a proposal was put forth to add a seventh game to the rotation that would match the best team from the Big East, Mountain West, Conference USA, Sun Belt and Mid-American Conference against a team from the Pac-12 or Big 12 when it did not host a semifinal.

But television networks weren’t all that interested in paying in excess of $20 million a year more for a game that could feature low-profile teams.

In the new postseason system, the national semifinals will rotate through six bowl games, setting up two playoff games and four major bowl games every season. The title game will be bid out each year through a separate process similar to the Super Bowl.

 

WASHINGTON STATE: Coach Mike Leach denied his players are subjected to any type of abuse, as alleged by star receiver Marquess Wilson.

Wilson made the allegations in a letter he released Saturday in which he said he quit the team as a protest to “physical, emotional and verbal abuse” by the coaching staff.

Leach said during his regular Monday meeting with reporters: “There is no truth about it at all.” He described Wilson as a disgruntled player.

Wilson is the school’s career leader with 3,207 receiving yards, but had been a regular target of criticism from Leach and his assistants since spring drills. He was recently demoted to backup, although he continued to lead the team in receptions and yards.

Washington State President Elson Floyd on Sunday asked the school’s athletic department and the Pac-12 Conference to conduct separate investigations into Wilson’s allegations.

Leach was fired from Texas Tech after the 2009 season for an incident in which he was alleged to have ordered a player with a concussion to sit in a storage shed during practice. Leach disputed the allegation and it was not proven. Leach has sued Texas Tech, contending he was fired so the school could avoid a large payment due him at the end of the year.

Washington State hired Leach late last year to revive a moribund program, but the Cougars are 2-8 with two games left.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

(1) INDIANA 87, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 61: Cody Zeller scored 22 points and Remy Abell added a career-high 14 to lead the Hoosiers (2-0) past the Bison (1-1) at Bloomington, Ind.

 

(17) MEMPHIS 81, NORTH FLORIDA 66: Tarik Black had 18 points and seven rebounds to lead Memphis in its season opener against the visiting Ospreys (1-1).

 

(20) NOTRE DAME 84, MONMOUTH 57: Garrick Sherman had 22 points and seven rebounds, and Jack Cooley added 16 points for the Irish (2-0) in a win over Monmouth (1-1) at South Bend, Ind.

 

SOUTHERN MAINE C.C. 104, HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE 49: Jon Amabile scored 15 points, Mike Harmon added 13, and Emmanuel Donalson and Jacob Loveridge each finished with 12 for the Seawolves (7-1, 3-0 YSCC) in a win at South Portland. 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

 

 

 

SOUTHERN MAINE C.C. 63, HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE 19: The Seawolves (5-0, 2-0 YSCC) were led by Esther Palmieri’s 17 points and nine assists, and Maria Veino’s 15 points and seven rebounds in a victory at South Portland.