Conference commissioners in charge of the BCS emerged from their offseason meetings this week with -- at least for now -- one change to college football's postseason setup.

Call it the Bill Snyder rule.

It goes like this: Any team that finishes among the top four teams in the final regular-season BCS standings will be guaranteed a bid in one of the four big-money BCS bowls.

Such was not the case in 1998, when Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the BCS, but lost the Big 12 Championship game to Texas A&M. The Wildcats were then shipped to the Alamo Bowl, passed over for a big payday in the BCS.

Thursday, Snyder was understandably pleased with the new rule.

"I'm going to inquire with the BCS to see if they're going to make that retroactive or not," Snyder joked from his Manhattan, Kan. office. "If it's going to be retroactive, I'm all for it. If not, we'll see.

"Seriously, though, that's the way it should be. And like I've told my team all along -- if you win the games, you don't have to worry about it."

	Oregon State's Dennis Erickson and the Beavers have title hopes.

The rule change was just a minor adjustment compared to the formula tinkering that many thought was going to take place.

Though the committee discussed the possibility of removing the margin of victory component from the complicated BCS formula, plans to decide on that proposal were put off until the summer.

This past season, many coaches voiced concern about schools running up the score on opponents in order to boost their BCS ranking. Removing margin of victory from the formula, or at the very least capping it, would eliminate the need for 50- or 60-point victories.

"When you talk about sportsmanship, this is something that will certainly help," said Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson, whose Beavers played in the Fiesta Bowl earlier this year. "There's no place in our game for running up the score. Unfortunately, when that's part of the formula, and you want to win, and some coaches feel forced to do it."

BCS coordinator John Swofford reportedly sent an e-mail last month, asking each of the eight men who run the computer rankings to eliminate margin of victory from their formulas.

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said he believes the new formula would allow coaches to get their younger players more experience in blowouts.

"It's difficult to get your young guys in with the system the way it is now," Fulmer said. "And you risk getting your good players hurt by leaving them in."

Another change the commissioners will consider later this summer is an increased importance on head-to-head competition and giving greater weight to the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Polls.

One proposal lending greater weight to head-to-head competition would take place when two teams are vying for the second berth in the championship game, similar to Miami and Florida State last year. The rule would give an advantage to the team that won a regular-season meeting, if the two teams had one.

Last year, that would have sent Miami, not Florida State, to the Orange Bowl.

"I can see both sides of it," Snyder said. "In principal, it sounds appropriate; but what if one team had gone downhill since then and the other team uphill?"

Fulmer said he is leery of the proposed rule change.

"It isn't like the basketball tournament," he said. "What if you had injury factors or weather factors that contributed to the loss? It'd be an awful scenario if you were the better team but didn't get to go."

Also at this week's meetings, the BCS announced its continued partnership with the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl as the four games that will rotate hosting the national championship game. The Rose Bowl will host the national championship game in 2002 and 2006. The Fiesta Bowl takes its turn in 2003, followed by the Sugar Bowl (2004) and Orange Bowl (2005).

This year's national championship game at the Orange Bowl drew an BCS-record television rating of 17.8, higher than the NCAA men's basketball championship game, the 2000 World Series or the 2000 NBA Playoffs.

Wayne Drehs, a staff writer for ESPN.com, can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com