Small conference schools and college football behemoths finally met on neutral ground yesterday.

But that ground wasn't the gridiron. It was a meeting between university presidents -- one from each Bowl Championship Series conference -- and one from each conference in the newly formed non-BCS coalition.

Offering no specifics about their discussions -- which took place starting at 11 a.m. at the Chicago O'Hare Hilton -- BCS and non-BCS presidents said yesterday's meeting mostly discussed the "principles and values" for intercollegiate athletics that should be part of the BCS structure.

The obtuse and meandering statements by those who spoke to the media on a 5 p.m. conference call suggested a discussion that was not very detailed.

"We are trying to see if there are ways for us to improve on the current system," said Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University and tacit leader of the non-BCS coalition. "There is openness to a possible change [in the post-season structure]."

This is not much different from what Cowen has been saying for quite some time. Cowen is viewed as the impetus of yesterday's dialogue between university presidents. It was Cowen who released a statement in June calling for his fellow university presidents to take action against the BCS's "adverse effects on Division I-A athletics."

Yesterday's meeting was scheduled shortly after Cowen's statement was released.

The conference call started with an opening statement from University of Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer on behalf of all the presidents who attended the meeting.

He first listed tangible results of the meeting. Frohnmayer said the presidents came up with 10 principles for addressing the issue of access to the BCS. Frohnmayer said none were approved but were in "draft form."

While the presidents may have, as Cowen said, shared openness with each other, they are not ready to open their proceedings to public scrutiny.

"It's not timely to talk about specifics," said University of Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman. "We created a background to have a free-flowing discussion."

The presidents described the meeting as a general discussion. With the topic of "principles and values" mostly resolved, the presidents said they plan to get more specific at their next meeting, which is not until November.

"The decision makers [in intercollegiate athletics] are the presidents," said NCAA president Myles Brand. "They have to have a way to reach one another and move forward."

Penn State president Graham Spanier attended the meeting as a representative of the Big Ten and the BCS presidential oversight committee, but he was not available for comment last night.