[oman]

The premise of a playoff system is that we need a system in which we can guarantee season-ending losses for all the best teams except one, so that only one team is left standing. But it seems to me that there are advantages to having half of the top teams end their seasons with a win. That can be a good thing for the student-athletes, the student body, and the alumni. Think of Stanford's Orange Bowl win a year ago. That was a very satisfying conclusion. Four other teams also ended their seasons with BCS wins. Would the collective experience of those teams and those universities have been better if they had kept playing until all but one of them finished their seasons with a loss? I don't think so.

Boy, cannot disagree with you more.  Winning is always "satisfying", but having to play VaTech rather than an Oklahoma or about two other teams that year was a disappointment.  Losing to a much more legit OSU team this year was to me much more of an event and a challenge than the exhibition that the Orange Bowl turned into.

The interest in the Fiesta Bowl nationwide this year was what -- three or four times -- the interest that the Orange Bowl generated.  You had many folks thinking that the Fiesta Bowl would be the best bowl game of the year.

You think most people would have been less satisfied after the Orange Bowl win with a shot at Auburn or Oregon -- even if it ended with a loss?

[oman]

The premise of a playoff system is that we need a system in which we can guarantee season-ending losses for all the best teams except one, so that only one team is left standing. But it seems to me that there are advantages to having half of the top teams end their seasons with a win. That can be a good thing for the student-athletes, the student body, and the alumni. Think of Stanford's Orange Bowl win a year ago. That was a very satisfying conclusion. Four other teams also ended their seasons with BCS wins. Would the collective experience of those teams and those universities have been better if they had kept playing until all but one of them finished their seasons with a loss? I don't think so.

Boy, cannot disagree with you more.  Winning is always "satisfying", but having to play VaTech rather than an Oklahoma or about two other teams that year was a disappointment.  Losing to a much more legit OSU team this year was to me much more of an event and a challenge than the exhibition that the Orange Bowl turned into.

The interest in the Fiesta Bowl nationwide this year was what -- three or four times -- the interest that the Orange Bowl generated.  You had many folks thinking that the Fiesta Bowl would be the best bowl game of the year.

You think most people would have been less satisfied after the Orange Bowl win with a shot at Auburn or Oregon -- even if it ended with a loss?