Come on, fans. Stop asking for a playoff in college football. They just don't have that kind of time. I mean, March Madness lasts for three weeks. In football, they'd have to start a postseason before Christmas, say Dec. 19, and end late, around Jan. 8. Wait, they already do?

But, don't forget, basketball has that RPI formula to help them seed teams. What's that? Each of the BCS computer ratings is much more accurate than the RPI?

Huh. Well, then, why do we have the bowls? Besides the $118.45 million in total payouts, I mean?

Maybe the same reason Alabama wears numbers on their helmets. The same reason Clemson players believe rubbing a rock on top of a hill will bring them good luck. The same reason everything in college football is the way it is. Tradition.

What could be more traditional than a 7-5 Big East team playing a glorified exhibition game in Toronto, Canada, against an 8-4 MAC team six days into the New Year for no good reason at all?

Okay, so maybe it is about the money.

At least the bowl system does give us a number of interesting matchups. For example, we have the:

' Wait-til-next-year (Holiday) Bowl, Dec. 28'Both Texas A&M and California went 9-3 this season with young rosters, making this the best match of the holidays for a 2007 sneak preview.

' Pro Scouts (Liberty) Bowl, Dec. 29'Two superstars will be in this game. South Carolina's true sophomore wideout Sidney Rice will have to wait another year, but he could well be the top receiver in the 2008 draft class, and Houston's Kevin Kolb may be the best quarterback you've never heard of. Kolb has a 27/3 touchdown to interception ratio this year, and has compiled over 12,000 career passing yards.

' Disappointing (Alamo) Bowl, Dec. 30'In late September, Iowa was in the top 15 and was being mentioned as the likeliest threat to Ohio State and Michigan. In late October, Texas was in the top 5 and a lock for the Big 12 title. Neither team really wanted to go to the Alamo Bowl, and they certainly won't want to lose it.

' Almost-BCS (Capital One) Bowl, Jan. 1'Arkansas may be the most fun team to watch in college football, since they have made the quarterback position optional. They have already started three players at the position, and RB Darren McFadden may be better than any of them. He takes double digit snaps a game, rarely throwing but allowing his backup Felix Jones to get more playing time. It has worked. McFadden and Jones are both 1,000-yard rushers this year, and the Razorbacks have no 1,000-yard passer. Where Arkansas is unique, Wisconsin is unknown. The Badgers played only one ranked opponent on the year, Michigan in September. For all anyone knows, Wisconsin could be the third best team in the nation or the thirtieth. One more quick thought: Wisconsin has had OSU's number in recent years. Imagine they'd played this year, and Wisconsin won. We'd have five major one-loss teams, three from the same conference, plus one minor undefeated in Boise State. Would Boise go to the title game? Or would it still be Florida/Big Ten? And which Big Ten team? How do they even break the three-way tie? No matter what, a Big Ten team with a legitimate national title shot would have been left out of the BCS entirely. Congress might have just passed a law demanding a playoff on the spot.

' Not Smelling Too Sweet (Rose) Bowl, Jan. 1'Not quite where either USC or Michigan was looking to end up.

' Mid-Major (Fiesta) Bowl, Jan. 1 'The biggest BCS game ever for the minor conferences. Utah in 2004 was much better than this year's Boise State, but the Utes drew a weak Pittsburgh team and so finished the year unbeaten but still unproven. For the Broncos, there will be no such question. Oklahoma is one missed call away from being in the one-loss race for No. 2, and Adrian Peterson might be back for this game. If Boise wins or even stays close, they will have proved the gap isn't as wide as many believe.

' ACC-has-to-send-someone (Orange) Bowl, Jan. 2'Louisville was one bad half away from a perfect season, Wake Forest was one good half away from a loss to Duke.

' BCS Game With Notre Dame In It (Sugar) Bowl, Jan. 3'The interesting thing is, the only teams ranked higher in the BCS standings that aren't in are Wisconsin and Auburn, who are their conferences' third-place team and thus ineligible. So as much as they don't seem like it after the USC thrashing, Notre Dame actually deserves this bid.

And there's one other big game, but I can't seem to remember what it is. I guess we haven't really heard too much about it.