Custodians of the most exciting regular season in sports, college football officials refuse to implement a playoff.

As a result, the institution's biggest perceived fault is its old-school stubbornness, one which continues to favor an archaic bowl system that fails to meet the needs of a generation weaned on short attention spans and elimination games.

Ironically enough, it's that defiance which helps make college football what it is.

Some grit their teeth, put on a fake smile and reluctantly talk about the distant possibility of a Bowl Championship Series playoff. Most, however, are more direct, turning their shoulder without even giving the idea a second thought.

With the BCS entering its fifth year - and contracts extending it until the 2005 bowl season - fans are stuck with the current system, one that was again watered down in the offseason when three more bowl games were added to the postseason docket.

That increase brought the total number of postseason games to 28, the total number of postseason teams to 56. With 117 Division I football schools, that means 48 percent will qualify for a postseason that used to be renowned for its stinginess.

Fans should not be dismayed. Until a playoff is adopted, the number of postseason games will do little to undermine the meaning of a bowl season meant to celebrate the game.

NCAA officials found a way to create more public outrage May 2 when the San Francisco Bowl, Hawaii Bowl and Queen City Bowl were certified. The decision to add the games came one week after a two-year directive limiting the maximum number of bowls to 26 expired.

"We had several new bowl organizations that came to us very well prepared with conference and television commitments, as well as good facilities and support from their communities," said Tim Curley, Penn State athletics director and chair of the Football Certification Subcommittee.

"We believe they will sponsor events that will be good experiences for student-athletes."

Yet the gluttony agitates those who feel that the postseason is supposed to mean something. Twenty-seven of those 28 games are meaningless.

The BCS - which is comprised of the six major conferences and Notre Dame, and which controls the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls - has ensured that only the national title game matters, a marquee matchup that rotates among those four bowl games and pits the top two teams according to the BCS rankings against each other.

Despite the buildup, and the protests that followed, nothing has really changed. The bowl increase simply reflects the constant expansion in sports.

Yet the current bowl format, however seemingly archaic, also upholds the strength of the game - the regular season. Each game within each week affects the national title race. The entire season is akin to an extended postseason.

In a way, college football's postseason is anticlimactic. It always will be until there's a playoff. And that's one of the most compelling paradoxes in sports.

How can a sport so exciting end without a playoff crowning its champion? Officials fear such a tournament would reduce the significance of the season itself.

We all know what college basketball did to its season. Though the NCAA tournament is a three-week highlight reel of thrilling moments, it has teamed with conference tournaments to render the regular season meaningless.

The brass of the six major conferences and Notre Dame, those responsible for football's humdrum postseason, also command the cash flow. Even though a playoff would generate more money for all involved, the BCS ensures it goes mostly to the chosen ones.

Though it was developed to showcase the top teams at season's end, the BCS' own existence has contributed to the proliferation of bowl games.

"I think a lot of people believe that adding more bowl games diminishes the honor of being invited to one," said Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters, whose conference champ plays a team from Conference USA in the New Orleans Bowl.

"That's not the problem. The problem is that we have too many teams from some leagues tied to bowls."

Along with governing the BCS games, the major conferences also control most of the remaining bowl games. Some leagues are contracted to send as many as seven teams to the postseason.

They even have influence on two of the three new games. The Queen City Bowl will pit a team from the Big East against one from the ACC. The San Francisco Bowl will match up teams from the Mountain West and Big East. The Hawaii Bowl will counter teams from Conference USA and the WAC.

The smaller conferences have been forced to make these arrangements to create more postseason slots featuring their teams during the holidays.

The increase, however, will not mask the true results of a season. Fans, alumni and trustees will not be duped by perceived success of a bowl appearance. Thus, even a bowl victory might not translate into increased job security for coaches who direct an otherwise struggling team to the postseason.

The public knows which games are important, which games it will watch, which games embody the true bowl season. Recruits also understand the difference. No high school star will be fooled by a savvy recruiting coordinator boasting about who won the San Francisco Bowl.

Regardless, the growth in bowl games will continue.

Expect more groups in more cities associated with more sponsors to apply for bowl games next offseason. And don't be surprised if the NCAA approves them.

Call it what you will: expansion, dilution, pollution. But the final number of games doesn't matter until there's a playoff. A format in itself that could debilitate the strongest aspect of college football.

Vito Forlenza is a writer for AP MegaSports. Write to him at vforlenza(at)ap.org.

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