Obviously, I'm a full-fledged playoff advocate for Division I-A football (I prefer the 16-team method; 11 conference champs and 5 at-larges), so with that said, SI's Andy Staples presented a rather interesting case for one, particularly regarding public universities. What's remarkable about it is this:

ACC commissioner John Swofford, the current BCS coordinator, readily admitted Thursday that there is more money in a playoff than in the current system. Then he spent almost 10 minutes enumerating the various excuses for why there isn't one.

"The community isn't there. In a nutshell, I think the reason is there are parameters that particularly the presidents want to see maintained," Swofford said. "You're looking at things like the number of games played. You're looking at things like the sport basically remaining a one-semester sport. You're talking about concerns over having playoff games during most schools' exam periods. All of those things come into play, as well as -- and I know you're getting tired of hearing this -- the quality and uniqueness of the regular season."

Amazing admission, but maybe not, if you consider that the idea isn't the total money that could be earned -- it's how much can be kept amongst the conferences and their teams. The reason the BCS still exists is because the conference commissioners do not want to give up control of a playoff to the NCAA, which would re-distribute the profits among it, the conferences, and to other programs in what would be a smaller piece for the conferences and teams than they currently get.

So, with that in mind, consider the country's economic crisis, which is affecting public universities in a very real manner (speaking as a California resident and media guy, I've run a bunch of stories about the UC and CSU systems in the past year dealing with some major budget cuts). Generally, I don't think anyone really enjoys the grandstanding that goes on when the federal government holds publicized hearings on such matters on TV, but considering the money that would go to universities, both public and private, if Staples' math and Swofford's assertions of more money in a playoff are to be believed, why isn't every state and federal legislator pushing the heads of their public university presidents to pressure the NCAA?

If you're Alabama or one of the legion of Tide fans, you don't have any room to look for excuses in getting handled by Utah last night. Using Andre Smith's improper conduct with an agent doesn't fly, nor does the offensive line weakness that resulted with players shifting positions due to injury throughout the game. There's nothing to say about this game save the fact that Utah is just a better team, pounding through a schedule in which it played and beat five ranked opponents during the season.

Alabama not only got outplayed, the team looked like it wasn't happy to be in New Orleans instead of Miami, never mind the fact that the Tide was in a BCS bowl way ahead of schedule under Nick Saban. Ute QB Brian Johnson had his way in the passing game to the tune of 336 yards and 3 TDs, spreading the passes around to several different receivers. Utah's front seven harassed John Parker Wilson all day -- the only lapse they had was when Javier Arenas returned a punt for a touchdown, and the refs let a block in the back go on that return. I'd never seen Saban that pissed; he not only got outcoached, but his team didn't do the little things at all when it came to tackling, blocking, and such.

And now we have one undefeated team left in all of Division I-A football, yet they stand absolutely no chance at any part of the national championship, just like Boise State two years ago. A "plus-1" or Top 4 format wouldn't even help this at all: teams like Utah would be left out because they play in the MWC. Now, we have to consider last year's Sugar Bowl between Hawaii and Georgia an aberration: out of the four BCS bowls featuring non-BCS conference schools, the outsiders are 3-1 (Utah winning twice.) The more this happens, the more obvious the need for an 8-team playoff, at a minimum, becomes, so much so that any fair-minded and smart commentator can't avoid pushing for it, no matter whether their network airs the games or not. Considering how some ESPN analysts and on-air people keep talking about a playoff, I can't imagine them stopping once the Four-Letter gets the BCS contract in a couple of years.

Thank you, Utah, for pouring even more gasoline on the fire.

A quick programming note for the weekend: I am insane enough to live-blog all four playoff games this weekend, today's with company over (and they understand completely). So, make sure to join me here later this afternoon. Now, to everyone's first real exposure to Turner Gill and his miracle Buffalo Bulls squad, going up against the NCAA's leading rusher in Donald Brown and UConn.

Game: International Bowl
Teams: Buffalo Bulls (8-5) vs. Connecticut Huskies (7-5)
Location: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Time: Noon EST
Announcers and Network: John Saunders, Jesse Palmer, and Doug Flutie, ESPN2
Favorite: UConn (-6)
S2N's Pick: Going with the Huskies; they'll go with a big dose of Donald Brown and try not to turn the ball over.

Here, we have The Bowl That No One Wants To Watch, with teams only in the game because the Big XII and SEC didn't have enough bowl eligible teams to send a 6-6 joke each to Shreveport. Oof.

Game: PetroSun Independence Bowl
Teams: Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois Huskies (6-6)
Location: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA
Start Time: 8:15 PM EST
Network and Announcers: Pam Ward and Ray Bentley, ESPN. (Well, maybe we'll get some hidden gems of errata.)
Favorite: NIU (-1)
S2N's Pick: La Tech, for the hell of it.

It's the last game for that magical quarterback known as Pat White.

Game: Meineke Car Care Bowl
Teams: West Virginia Mountaineers (8-4) vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (8-4)
Location: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
Start Time: 1 PM EST
Network and Announcers: Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman, ESPN
Favorite: WVU (-1.5)
S2N's Pick: UNC, because Bill Stewart will find a way to have a brain fart at the worst possible time for the 'Eers.

Game: Poinsettia Bowl
Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
Teams: Boise State Broncos (12-0) vs. TCU Horned Frogs (10-2)
Announcers and Network: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May and Todd Harris, ESPN
Start: 8 PM
Odds: TCU (-3)
AA's Pick: Probably the most anticipated, Non-BCS Bowl of the season. The game will match a top-13 offense (Boise State) against the nation's second-best defense (TCU), and should be a heck of a throwdown in San Diego this evening.

36-30 Boise State

Game: R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Teams: Southern Mississippi Eagles (6-6) vs. Troy Trojans (8-4)
Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Start: 8:15 PM EST
Network and Announcers: ESPN - Eric Collins and Shaun King
Favorite: Troy (-1.5)
S2N's Pick: Southern Miss, just for fun. I've not seen either of these teams play this season, and I won't start now. This is not a good enough match-up to draw anyone except the biggest college football die-hard or fans of either team.

Game: St. Petersburg Bowl
Teams: Memphis Tigers (6-6) vs. South Florida Bulls (7-5)
Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL. If you hated this stadium during the MLB playoffs, you're gonna like it less today.
Announcers and Network: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, and Rob Stone, ESPN2
Start Time: 4:30 PM EST. Switch to brown liquor by this point.
Odds: USF (-11.5)
S2N's Pick: Take Memphis to cover, pick the Bulls to win on the theory that Matt Grothe is always good for a couple of WTF-type interceptions. Still, this is a virtual home game, as the USF campus is in very nearby Tampa.

Game: EagleBank Bowl
Location: RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
Teams: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-5) vs. the U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen (8-4). If Ram Vela Supermans dat ho Riley Skinner, sure.
Announcers and Network: Terry Gannon, David Norrie, and Quint Kessenich, ESPN
Start: 11 AM (yaaaaaaawnnsleeepy). Coffee, please.
Odds: Wake (-3)
S2N's Pick: Wake's defense over Navy's flexbone attack. I'm guessing that in order to do the post-season Pammies, we're to leave all manner of funny stuff in the comments, and usually, Terry and David are good for a couple of humdingers per game.

You'll be seeing open threads for bowls throughout the day.

I got extremely excited when ESPN sent a press release with the subject line, "2008 College Football Schedule For ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com, ESPN Classic, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN Radio," but to my dismay, the thing has about a billion holes. If anyone wants it feel free to email me, and I'll gladly pass it along, but it's ridiculously incomplete and not worth posting. With that said, something we can take a look at is ESPN/ABC's Bowl Schedule for 2008-2009.

Here's the list....
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Sat., Dec. 20
Congressional Bowl (ESPN, 11am)
New Mexico Bowl (ESPN, 2:30pm)
St. Petersburg Bowl (ESPN2, 4:30pm)
Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Sun., Dec. 21
R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Tue., Dec. 23
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Wed., Dec. 24
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Fri., Dec. 26
Motor City Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Sat., Dec. 27
Meineke Car Care Bowl (ESPN, 1pm)
Champs Sports Bowl (ESPN, 4:30pm)
Emerald Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Sun., Dec. 28
PetroSun Independence Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Mon., Dec. 29
Papajohns.com Bowl (ESPN, 3pm)
Valero Alamo Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)

Tue., Dec. 30
Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl (ESPN, 4:30pm)
Pacific Life Holiday Bowl( ESPN, 8pm)

Wed., Dec. 31
Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl (ESPN, Noon)
Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl (ESPN, 3:30pm)
Chick-fil-A Bowl (ESPN, 7:30pm)

Thu., Jan. 1
Outback Bowl (ESPN, 11am)
Capital One Bowl (ABC, 1pm)
Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi (ABC, 4:30pm)

Fri., Jan. 2
AutoZone Liberty Bowl (ESPN, 5pm)

Sat., Jan. 3
International Bowl (ESPN2, Noon)

Tue., Jan. 6
GMAC Bowl (ESPN, 8pm)
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Prepare your calendars now! It's tough to top CBS' March Madness, but this is about as close as it gets. If you add in ESPN Radio, they give you coverage of 29 different Bowl during the postseason. Can't beat that.

P.S.- USC Song Girl photo courtesy of Busted Coverage. Nice bedspread.