Obama to influence a college football playoff system?

By Rob Miech

Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008 | 8:29 p.m.

Might a college football playoff system be in the near future?

On "60 Minutes" Sunday night, President-elect Barack Obama said he aims to influence playoffs becoming a reality in college football.

"I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit," Obama said. "I think it's the right thing to do."

At the end of an hourlong interview with Steve Kroft of the CBS show, Kroft asked that final question, about the playoffs, to Obama.

He unclenched his right hand from his wife Michelle’s left hand and leaned forward. He glanced at her, and he knew that she knew that this was serious.

"Eight teams,” Obama said. “That would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this."

Obama has addressed the topic before, most recently on ESPN.

Every other division of college football has playoffs.

Sunday night, USA Today got a response from BCS coordinator John Swofford.

"First of all I want to congratulate newly elected President Obama and I am glad he has a passion for college football like so many other Americans,” Swofford said. “For now, our constituencies — and I know he understands constituencies — have settled on the current BCS system, which the majority believe is the best system yet to determine a national champion while also maintaining the college football regular season as the best and most meaningful in sports.

"The college presidents, conference commissioners, athletics directors and coaches have continually considered ways to improve the system in keeping with four primary objectives, among others: protecting the unique significance of the regular season, preserving the bowl system for the thousands of students and fans who participate each year, keeping football as a one semester sport and doing what's best for the student-athletes. We certainly respect the opinions of president-elect Obama and welcome dialogue on what's best for college football."

Swofford failed to mention the aim of the “constituencies” to retain as much of the financial pie as possible.

The bigger question – when would UNLV compete for a piece of that playoff pie?

If the Rebels win at San Diego State on Saturday for a 6-6 record and manage to get to a bowl game, they’re much closer to such thoughts than they’ve been in recent seasons.