Each of these proposals has its merit, but in total seriousness one is the best answer to our problem. Have you seen the graphics on NCAA 2002?

Okay, really now, everyone knows why there will never be a playoff in college football. People in power are making money off the bowl system, and people in power write the rules.

So, instead of a one-month playoff, beginning the second week of December and ending around New Year’s, we get the Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl. Instead of seven intense, all-or-nothing football games, we get 24 exhibitions and one mythical national championship. And it’s all because of money.

I still love college football. It’s still the best game in the world because of everything it offers that no other sport does. Because of Saturdays spent on the couch with two buddies and a remote control. Because its fans are loyal and loud. Because bands play fight songs and fans rush the field.

Because guys like Alex Brown and Peyton Manning forego millions of dollars to play on Saturdays just one more season. Because 18-year-olds have to grow up quickly on a patch of grass in front of 100,000 screaming fanatics. Because Auburn and Alabama and Michigan and Ohio State hate each other. Because the FSU “War Chant” is so annoying and because when I was in Gainesville two weeks ago, I tailgated for six hours and was so excited that I had problems breathing.

College football is great. But until there is a playoff, the argument about which team is greatest will never cease.

The BCS is destroying the most attractive quality of the college game—innocence. The game that isn’t supposed to be about money is, and that is sad.

Sad for the Buffs and the Ducks this season and probably one season it will be sad for my Gators. There will be changes made to the system during the off-season. The formulae will be readjusted, but it won’t cure anything. The BCS is here for at least four more seasons.

“[College football is] moving toward a better system,” said Colorado Athletic Director Dick Tharp. “We just can’t change it this year, and five-hundredths of a point makes no sense to a 22-year-old senior.”

Or anyone else.