SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook and University of Florida President Bernard Machen butted heads on Saturday on one of the hottest topics in college football: dropping the Bowl Championship Series and adopting a playoff for the Division I Bowl Subdivision.

“For us in the Big Ten, we are against a playoff,” Holbrook said at a joint press conference with Machen. “Our coaches are against it, our athletic directors are against it.”

Machen, however, generally held the same well-publicized opinion of Florida’s football coach Urban Meyer who supports a playoff system.

“I think I can say that unequivocally for the entire Big Ten, and the way we look at our program is that every single game is a playoff. Every single game is important,” Holbrook said. “These take place on the campus, and these are what we want to continue building, and that’s where we want the emphasis to be. We’re satisfied with the way the system is now and would prefer not to extend it into a large playoff.”

Machen said although the tweaking of the BCS to add games is a step in the right direction, he is not sure it is the only solution.

“You could eliminate the BCS and have the NCAA manage a playoff like they manage the basketball playoff,” he said.

Holbrook and Machen agreed on other issues. Both said they are concerned about the increase in coaching salaries and that it is an issue that needs to be discussed before spending gets out of control.

The issue hits close to home for Holbrook, as a win in the National Championship game would result in a mandatory renegotiation of coach Jim Tressel’s contract. Although she failed to discuss contract specifics, Holbrook let it be known who she thought would come out on top Monday night.

“We’ll probably be back at the table, we hope, in a week or so to hear what questions are going to be asked,” she said.

Holbrook and Machen praised each other’s institutions. Holbrook served at Florida as vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School. Machen served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan – OSU’s arch rival.

Although both university presidents said they do not gamble, they agreed to make a friendly wager on the game.

Holbrook said she would wear a blue Florida shirt for a day if the Gators win, while Machen consented to don a red OSU National Champions shirt and a buckeye bead necklace in the case of a Buckeye victory.

As Holbrook’s June retirement nears, she said a win at the second National Championship game during her tenure “would be a nice bookend to my career at Ohio State.” The Buckeyes beat the University of Miami in 2003 to win the National Championship.

Andrew Kieta can be reached at [email protected].