We'll keep this fairly brief because we realize more than ever that regardless of how ridiculous the Bowl Championship Series is, the thing is not going away. There is too much money to be made, there is too much spin control and there is surely too much arrogance on the part of its handlers. How else to explain this quote yesterday from executive director Bill Hancock.

"I know this is not completely popular, but I believe in it," Hancock told reporters Thursday at the Football Writers Association of America awards breakfast. "I believe it is in the best interest of the universities. "College football has never been better and I believe the BCS is part of that."

Later in that article, Hancock unleashed some nonsense about how a true playoff system might not work at college football's top level even though it works at other levels. Really? It wouldn't work to add two more bowls to the mix (Cotton and X), then play an eight-team tournament featuring seven games within the bowl structure (four around Christmas, two on New Year's day, one a week later), culminating in the title game? True, there would still be a need to determine which 8 teams gained entry into this special tournament, but that's far less problematic than giving two undefeated teams (Boise State and TCU) no chance at winning a national title when they head into their bowl game. Fans could accept much more easily the concept of the No. 9 and 10 teams having their bubbles burst -- they've done it for years with NCAA men's basketball, far and away the best thing college sports has going for it.

But it won't change. The NCAA would rather sell the broken system and tell fans that the BCS isn't the worst of both worlds: a method of determining a national champion that pretends to be something it really isn't. And fans will end up with one "meaningful" postseason game a year -- one that can quickly turn into a dud (with the exception of about 30 seconds in the fourth quarter) like it did last night.