Stop the bowl madness!

A playoff system? No. But a real championship game? Yes

Now that the praises have been sung and we’ve witnessed the best the BCS has to offer, it’s time to rain on the bowl parade. Yes, the Miami-Ohio State tussle in the Fiesta Bowl was a classic but, with apologies to the good folks at Georgia, Southern Cal and Oklahoma, the rest of this holiday grid overload was mind-numbing garbage.

Somebody needs to reign in the madness. Bring some focus to the postseason. Put a stop to these civic do-gooders in their colorful blazers and the slew of meaningless games.

Word is that the Presidential Oversight Committee, composed of a president from each of the six major conferences that form the Bowl Championship Series, will have the ultimate say on the college football postseason after the $525 million BCS television deal with ABC expires after the 2005 season. No matter the TV loot, don’t bank on college presidents signing on for a playoff. Nor should they.

Why extend the football season into another semester? Why put student-gladiators at even greater risk to injury (see: Miami running back Willis McGahee)?

A playoff system? No, never. But a real championship game? Yes.

Yeah, a bonus game after the bowls might be the answer to the postseason blues. Just take the top four teams -- this year, for sake of argument, you could settle on Ohio State, Miami, Georgia and USC -- pair them off in, say, the Orange and Sugar Bowls and then two weeks later ship the winners off to a championship game.

As a prominent athletic director warned us, call it anything but a playoff. “If you say playoff to people, it immediately turns them off," he says. “Just call it a national championship game. You say playoff and people say, ‘No, no.'"

Miami coach Larry Coker buys what would essentially be a Final Four, and understandably so since the 'Canes would have made the cut each of the last three years. But he isn’t for an expanded postseason rivaling what’s played at the Division 1-AA level.

To his credit, Coker is one of the few coaches we’ve heard utter a peep of concern about injuries that might accompany a prolonged format of high-intensity games. Of course, if Miami had to play another game this postseason McGahee would be out and quarterback Ken Dorsey might also be sidelined.

“One of the things I’ve thought of, especially with Willis being injured, is how many games do you want to subject [potential] high draft picks to?" Coker says. “Maybe it is not fair because I know I-AA does it. But the Willis McGahees and Carson Palmers, how many more games would you want them to play? How many games can you stay healthy?

“People get hurt in practice, I understand. But these games are wars. I really think it is a little different level of contact than you see in other games."

So tweak the system and use three of the existing bowls, rather than one, to determine a national champion. And extend the season a week, maybe two, for a couple teams.

Right now, the sporting public has soured on the bowl system. The Fiesta Bowl was flush for Miami-Ohio State, but every other bowl -- including the marquee games -- has been made meaningless by the BCS.

There are too many bowls, anyway. Why the NCAA sanctions 28 postseason games makes no sense. What’s with Orlando and New Orleans each hosting two bowls?

San Francisco is a bowl host, so why is San Jose in the act up the road? Between them, they filled 36,000 or so seats. Or about what Texas turns out for a spring game.

If you don’t think these postseason junkets are in trouble, consider that this year’s average attendance of 50,575 for the bowls is the lowest since 1979. The Sugar didn’t come close to a sellout, the Rose had its poorest attendance in 59 years and our Silicon Valley friends in San Jose attracted 10,142 -- the smallest bowl crowd anywhere since 1996.

The economy is in trouble and folks aren’t traveling as much after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but ultimately the bowls may need college presidents to put their house in order. A championship game might add some meat to the postseason. And cutting the number of bowl games in half wouldn’t be a bad move, either.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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