"If there's one thing we should all remember, especially when it comes to college kids, it's this: Nobody is as good or bad as they're made out to be, especially in the two-dimensional world of print and the sound-bite world of video. Especially in the distorted atmosphere leading up to a (national-championship game). ...

"Before painting people or programs with broad brushes, remember to step back and look at the gray amid the black-and-white, the subtleties amid the sanctimony. ...

"Maybe people expect more from football players who are getting a free ride, but maybe they're also held up to unfair double standards. Because the engineering major who gets busted for marijuana possession isn't going to land in many newspapers. And the computer major who takes a free airplane ticket to Seattle to interview with Microsoft isn't going to be hauled off by the NCAA extra-benefit police."

Thom Loverro, columnist
The Washington Times

"You bring a bunch of young men, ages 18 to 22, to one of the biggest party towns on the face of the earth for a week -- in the middle of the biggest New Year's celebration of the century --and ask them to be home by a decent hour? That's an indecent proposal...It's just one of the absurdities of college football and the bowl system -- you bring kids to a town like New Orleans for a week and ask them to act like monks while everyone around them lives like there is no tomorrow.

"Is there any group of 88 people that you could bring to New Orleans for a week without having some curfew violators -- monks included? And yet year after year they ask these college kids to defy the very nature of being a college kid. ...

"So if the game is so important, why bring these kids here a week before the game? (Let) them come in the day before the game, like most teams do for any other game. Why tempt them?

"Because the bowls demand it and the bowls, considering the money they pay the schools, usually get what they want. They want fans coming to town early to spend money and have a good time. They just don't want the players, who make the school all that money, to do so."

I-A football playoff

John R. May, director of athletics
Rice University
Houston Chronicle

"There's the six major conferences and everybody else struggling to make the most of their situation. The rest of us are trying to upgrade our leagues and our competition. It seems like musical chairs out there with the constant shifting between league affiliations, but there is a reason for the moving madness.

"I think it's likely these realignments are going to continue. I believe (Division I-A) college football is headed for a playoff system, and every school is trying to place itself in the best possible position to be ready for it."

Jeff Snook, columnist
The Stuart (Florida) News

"(The excitement of the regular season) is what separates college football from all the other sports, which need CPR until their playoffs begin. College basketball is a fine game, but who really cares until March Madness? The NBA? The regular season is as useful as your appendix. The NFL's regular season is intriguing, sure, but still, 12 of 31 teams make the playoffs. And the (Miami) Dolphins, after winning two of the last seven games, are still in the running into the final weekend. Enough said. ...

"Critics argue that any year that ends with either one or three or more unbeatens will not present a true national champion. They forget that a playoff would pit an unbeaten against a two- or three-loss team in the first round. How is that any fairer should the unbeaten lose?

"As it is, the tradition of the bowls and the ultimate purpose of the Bowl Championship Series co-exist like Regis and Kathie Lee. We put up with one in order to enjoy the other. With a playoff, tradition-laden bowls like the Cotton and Sun would die a quick death. And there is no legitimate way to incorporate all the bowl giants like the Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar. No longer would teams and players be on site for week-long events and festivities. No longer would there be parades. It would be all about business. All about money.

"For once, here's hoping the mega-millions that TV networks offer for a playoff will be left uncollected."

Televised football

Furman Bisher, columnist
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

"Television coverage of college football has become an absolute drag, with its pregame interview inserts, interrupting coaches for interviews during play, flashbacks, shots of family in stands and, of course, unbearable deluge of commercials. If these advertisers really understood how few identify a product with a game, would they continue to buy in? And why not let all the press rush down to the field and interview the coach while the game is on? Four-hour games are killing written coverage."

Athletics budgets

Tom Stanton, director of athletics
Baylor University
Houston Chronicle

Discussing the comparison of spending among Division I schools:

"I think you have to look at the median for the budgets at all the schools and not just pick out one or two. We've done a lot of research and picked out factual information from other Division I schools across the board to see how much money is being spent in order to be nationally competitive. There's no doubt in my mind that a private Christian institution can compete on the national level. ...

"Football is magic. The decision all universities have to make on this is tied to their view of marketing and the level they perceive sports programs play in marketing the institution. You want to draw students who enhance the reputation of your school, and Division I football is a good way to do it. ...

"Two years ago, we beat Texas in our homecoming game. In a matter of five working days after that game, our staff raised more than $1 million from supporters. That's what football can do for you. But you have to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities. If you don't have a plan before you get there, you won't be able to get the most out of it. What we've learned is that it's extremely important to have the infrastructure in place when success comes. You have to be in position to take advantage of things when something big happens."