Texas Tech's coach Mike Leach has been fired before The Red Raiders played the Alamo Bowl game for punishing a player for the sin of having a concussion. The only reason the coach was suspended is that the kid's parent is a big shot at ESPN and could get noticed. How many thousands of less parentally endowed players have been pushed beyond reason to further the ambitions of their coach. Everyone gets hurt in football, and that's in the nature of the game, but endangering the life and welfare of the students is not part of the game.
The least popular, most maligned playoff system in sports today is the Bowl Championship Series. There is even a move afoot in congress to set up a play-off bracket system similar to the NCAA's basketball play-offs. Besides being a colossal waste of time this proposal ignores the unique nature of football. There are crippled middle age men who can trace their infirmity back to their college football careers. Not NFL retired pros, but linesmen and backs selling insurance or working oil rigs who, a bit of bad luck and a nasty hit, have lived a life in pain. The spirit of the young man doesn't recognize limitations, and their coaches are under pressure to produce wins at the expense of the players who will soon graduate and move on.
A playoff would add at least four games to the seasons of major schools' schedule. That is a pro's life without the big NFL check or investment in the health of the players. You can play baseball and soccer as long as the weather permits because the opposite team isn't trying to kill you or ay least intercept you at a full run. A baseball pitcher will only play one in four or five games if in the full rotation and not expected to play through shoulder pain and broken fingers. Quarterbacks are and more. Snow, rain, heat and ice cancel or delay soccer, and basketball is played indoors. No disrespect intended, but football is different. The BCS is probably as good as we can do. Not every team gets a fair shot at national champ. Live with it. If it saves one offensive linesman a lifetime knee problem and one back an ankle that constantly need surgery, then I say Go BCS!
Football is a uniquely American sport. War without guns, and every fan is a frustrated general. We don't need the casualty count to reinforce this illusion. At least the pros treat their players like prime livestock. College coaches can easily fall into the darkness that demands wins above all else.