Final Four shows football how cool its own playoff could be

ST. LOUIS -- Roy Williams threw open his curtains in his Adam's Mark room on Friday, looked down and saw that other game.

"I can see the Arch, I can see the river," North Carolina's coach said. "I said, 'Look out there, there's five or six of my players throwing the football in a grassy area out there.' I love that ... I thought that was a fantastic, fantastic scenario."

Just imagine how much of a fan following a football Final Four would receive. (AP)

Yes, even here at the Final Four, college football won't let go. The NCAA's signature championship is almost the perfect sports event in this country. Not as corporate (yet) as the Super Bowl. Not as drawn out -- or, ahem, pumped up -- as baseball (ever hear of October Madness?).

And yet it remains the perfect example of what college athletics is not. Not whole. Division I-A football is the only NCAA sport that does not declare a champion. All those names listed in the NCAA records book? Essentially mythical champs.

The sporting public has long been clamoring for a football playoff, especially since the commissioners aligned the initials B, C and S in a row. With every basketball that is bounced this weekend, one can only dream of what could be with the oblong ball.

From 2,000 miles away, Friday's scene was described through a cell phone to Fresno State football coach Pat Hill, one of the most ardent playoff supporters. At that moment, 20,000 people were watching Illinois practice. The outside of the Edward Jones Dome had turned into a mini ticket-hunting, souvenir-buying bazaar.

"Wouldn't that be something?" Hill said. "A national championship playoff in college football would be -- God dang it -- you couldn't ask for anything more. The people would go nuts."

The NCAA, of course, doesn't want to hear it. It -- and its member presidents -- has chosen to draw the line at college football. No more, no how, no way.

"(Football) can be just as exciting," NCAA president Myles Brand said. "You don't need a tournament to enjoy a game."

But you need a tournament to fill the NCAA's budget -- 85 percent of which comes from March Madness. Beyond that, it's in the interest of no one who matters that there be a football playoff. It's an infinite conflict. The NCAA doesn't control the BCS, and the commissioners who do know it would eventually want the purse strings if there were a playoff.

So there sits college football, undervalued, leaving millions on the table -- while arguably the greatest weekend in college basketball history just passed before our eyes during the Elite Eight.

"College basketball is so staggering right now from an entertainment value," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "It's like you're watching a movie that's going to win an Oscar."

Kind of makes this year's Orange Bowl seem like an Orange bore. Kind of makes you wonder what a true tournament in football would be like.