No playoff likely any time soon

The college football season is over. USC is No. 1. The recriminations regarding the Bowl Championship Series system rattle on for yet another year. There will be changes in that system, yet again.

The cries from many continue for a playoff format for college football, much as exists for basketball. It is not going to happen, not in the near future, anyway.

The colleges continue their attempt to bring the big-time football programs back under the aegis of the schools. They are runaway programs, generating millions of dollars, enormous TV contracts, and NCAA violations by the score.

Like a toothpaste tube open at each end, every time the universities press on one issue, another problem oozes out at one end or the other.

As usual, it is all about money. The next monster issue is that of coaches’ ridiculously high salaries, often paid for by booster organizations that exist outside university control.

For those who care, the two-part story by Selena Roberts in the New York Times’ sports section that ran this past Sunday and Monday on this issue is a must read. Would a playoff system only heighten the problem of coaches’ salaries and booster corruption?

College football’s postseason comes with the history of the New Year’s Day bowl games. Once the domain of the Orange, Sugar, Cotton, and Rose, the bowl picture has expanded to 27 games with one-half of the Division I schools going to some bowl.

The vested interests are many.

Even if the bowls are operated by organizations that are listed as nonprofit, there are thousands of people working for these organizations year-round with millions of dollars in salaries paid.

Charities receive millions from the bowl committees based on the money made from the games. Nobody involved wants to give up what they have.

Thus, the NCAA moved to expand the bowls rather than devise a playoff format. The resultant BCS tries to bring the best teams into the New Year’s Day bowls with the rotation of the teams ranked 1 and 2 meeting in one of those bowls each year.

There is always an argument from some school that it was cheated. Auburn thought so this year.

These arguments will never end. A playoff system might mitigate this “problem,” but then most of the bowls become meaningless and interest would wane except for those games that feature the top four or so teams.

Is it really that bad to argue about who is No. 1? That may be the greatest PR point that college football has.

We are now into the other college football season: the slicing and dicing of the BCS.

The ranking process for teams will be altered; the resultant array of bowl games and the “we were cheated” howls will remain.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.