By Denny O'Brien
©2008 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.

It’s easy to criticize the college football bowl system given the quantity of games and its failure to produce a legitimate national champion.

Even the biggest bowl apologist – like me – can’t argue with that.

In a perfect world overseen by noble leadership there is no denying that a football playoff would trump postseason bowls. It would establish a true champion on the field and provide equal access to every school competing at the Division I-A level.

But, unfortunately, major college football is an exclusionary sport driven by money-hoarding administrators with little interest in sharing their wealth with schools from leagues without automatic access to the Bowl Championship Series. Given their chokehold on the postseason, it’s hard to envision a playoff system being conducted anymore fairly than the current BCS bowls.

It would take complete NCAA intervention before a playoff would exist on a level playing field. And you’re more likely to see Congress seize control than you are the NCAA.

Of course, if President-elect Barack Obama has his way, there will be an eight-team playoff in place before the end of his first term. A self-proclaimed champion of spread-the-wealth policies, it seems a bit ironic that Obama would support legislation that would force an eight-team playoff on college football’s top division.

Because spreading the wealth is the last thing that would do. If anything it would generate more for the privileged few in college football, and less for the pigskin peasants.

And it would hardly do East Carolina any favors in its current conference scenario.

As a member of Conference USA, the best ECU can realistically hope for is a league championship and berth in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. When you consider a long-range scheduling strategy that is filled with BCS foes, it’s hard to envision the Pirates running the table and earning a spot in one of the big-money bowls.

Or in a Barack Championship Series playoff.

What also can’t be overlooked are the residual effects that a playoff could have on the bowls – and East Carolina – especially the less prestigious games that have little historical backing. It’s easy to envision their extinction in a playoff environment.

A playoff would command the overwhelming attention of the big-money corporations, the same ones that sponsor many of the rank-and-file bowls that line the holiday menu. Securing future sponsorship for secondary bowls in Fort Worth, Houston, New Orleans, and Tampa would present an even bigger challenge should a playoff enter the equation.

Just ask NASCAR. Economic struggles have forced some smaller teams to either dissolve or get swallowed by the racing elite.

The same could easily occur with the bowls should an eight-team playoff emerge.

Some might say that a world without the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl would be a much better place. After all, what good is a system that rewards mediocrity?

A pretty nice one if you ask Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora. A visit to the Big Easy gave his team 15 extra practices, a winning season, momentum to carry along the recruiting trail, and some pretty decent swag for the players.

It also likely gave Fedora’s bank account some extra cushion.

Maybe that still occurs with an eight-team playoff. Who knows? But anyone would be remiss without considering the realistic possibility that it wouldn’t.

There is no denying that a college football playoff – should one ever evolve – would accomplish the mission of those who establish it. It would crown a true champion, generate excitement, and bring more money into the coffers.

That makes a lot of sense when your name is Southern California. But what if you are East Carolina?

As long as ECU is a member of C-USA, and college football’s postseason is governed by the BCS, a playoff could prove even more unfair than the current setup.