For something so unpopular, BCS sure draws fans

We're constantly reminded of the outpouring of protest over the BCS system and the unrequited desire among college football fans for a playoff.

Now, critics of the status quo are using Monday's snooze-a-thon between Alabama and LSU as further proof that unless changes are made very soon, the ruination of big-time college football is just around the corner.

I exaggerate.

But so do critics of the BCS, starting with their hypothesis that the current system is a detriment to the game. And that the fans are fed up with it.

If so, they have a funny way of showing it. From coast to coast during the regular season, boosters and alumni travel miles and miles to see their teams play.

From September until November in the BCS conferences, stadiums are mostly full, spirits are high, and tailgating rises to the level of a religious rite.

If there's anything that's too big to fail, it's college football.

Some people - some - are unhappy with the postseason because it doesn't resemble those of other sports. Enemies of the bowl system would like to think that Monday's tedious title game could have been avoided with a playoff.

First of all, must all college sports operate the same way?

Secondly, last year's NCAA basketball tournament resulted in a dreadful final between UConn and Butler, so nothing's guaranteed simply by drawing up brackets. And how many Super Bowls have been dreary blowouts?

Soon enough we will have a college football playoff, beginning with a four-team tournament. It's inevitable. And perhaps this latest title game has accelerated the process.

But among the most devoted fans, a playoff won't change the primary appeal of big-time football, which has always been less about determining a champion and more about the social experience.

Tailgate parties are as important to fans who buy tickets - as opposed to those who never leave their couches - as the games themselves. And bowls, while summarily dismissed by media and bloggers, provide the chummiest and most devoted boosters with more opportunity to enjoy the communal experience.

This isn't an original observation. Anyone who has visited campuses on game days knows that the parties are more important than the polls.

The playoff lobby likes to bash the bowls, but while 35 are too many, the big events are well-received and portray college football in a good light. In most cases, alumni - the people who help pay the bills - seem to like them, even if couch potatoes don't always.

Sitting on my own couch, the best bowls I saw this year were the Rose and Fiesta, played back-to-back on the same night. In Pasadena, Oregon and Wisconsin put on a great show of high-scoring football, before Oklahoma State and Stanford followed with another four quarters of fireworks from the Arizona desert.

That supposedly nothing was on the line in either game didn't detract from my viewing enjoyment. Can I assume that the fans who spent a small fortune and traveled long distances to the games felt the same?

Alabama's 21-0 victory over LSU limped in with the third-lowest TV rating for a BCS title game. That has less to do with the postseason apparatus than the fact that the game was a rematch between teams from the same region of the country. It didn't help that there wasn't a touchdown until the final minutes.

The game was a bore, but taking into account the scandals and controversies that have plagued the sport of late, the season has come to a merciful end.

Maybe by next season there will a postseason tailored more to the liking of couch potatoes, media taste makers and TV.

But for now, is it asking too much for the pro-playoff crowd to stop the carping?

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com