The Associated Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan quarterback Matt Gutierrez has undergone season-ending surgery on his right shoulder.

Gutierrez, a redshirt sophomore, had surgery to repair torn cartilage and is recovering at home in Ann Arbor.

It will be at least six months until he is fully recovered.

"He's doing good," Gutierrez's father, Paul Gutierrez, told the Detroit Free Press for a story Thursday. "He's recovering as normal - just resting a lot."

Two days after being publicly named the starting quarterback this summer, Gutierrez was out with a shoulder injury that rest and rehabilitation have not helped. He was replaced by true freshman Chad Henne.

Paul Gutierrez said it would be three months before his son is allowed to throw. But he said he was confident he again would take his place as starting quarterback.

"That's his goal - to get back and compete and try and win the job," Paul Gutierrez said. "He's competitive. He's going to do everything he can to get back to where he was."

BCS ON TV: The Bowl Championship Series could have a new television home for the 2006 season.

ABC has had the broadcast rights to the BCS since 1998, when the system for crowning a college football champion was formed by the Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Pac-10.

The current contract runs out after the 2005 season.

ABC and the BCS have been negotiating a new contract since September, but have been unable to a get deal done. When the exclusive negotiation period ends next week, BCS officials will open the bidding to other networks.

"We're looking at quite a number of alternatives next week, and there's a good level of interest," Kevin O'Malley, television and marketing consultant to the BCS, said.

Talks between the BCS and ABC are still alive, though.

"They still want to be very much in the mix," O'Malley said.

BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said, "All of our options remain open to us, including reaching an agreement with ABC."

O'Malley and Weiberg declined to identify the other networks interested in acquiring the rights.

CBS, which already has a deal with the Southeastern Conference, and FOX, which carries Big 12 and Pac-10 games on its Fox Sports Net subsidiaries, would be logical choices.

CBS spokeswoman Leslie Anne Wade declined comment on the network's possible interest in the BCS.

Fox Sports chairman David Hill said the network planned to meet with the BCS.

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