A law to mandate college football playoffs?

"We can walk and chew gum at the same time," U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, assured me. Others might disagree - especially when they hear what question prompted his remark:

Should Congress be involved in revising college football's postseason?

There appears little disagreement among the public as to whether there should be playoffs. A 2009 Quinnipiac survey found that 63 percent of college football fans favor changing the current system, but 48 percent said it's a "bad idea" for Congress to be involved.

Right now, a combination of two so-called human polls and a series of computer rankings (which take into account everything from who wins to where the game was played to a team's strength of schedule) determine which teams play in college football's national championship game. And each year at this time, the legions of reporters, observers and fans wishing to move to a single-elimination playoff - such as the NFL, for example - take their shots at the Bowl Championship Series system.

The BCS thinks Congress has better things to do.

Citing his own consensus - the 120 major universities that believe the current system is the best postseason scenario for college football - BCS executive director Bill Hancock said to me, "I feel that with all the serious matters facing our country, surely Congress has more important issues than spending taxpayers' money to dictate how college football is played."

He's right, obviously. But nobody is saying that passing cap-and-trade and prodding college football are mutually exclusive. Congress would be wrong to litigate the BCS the way it does cap-and-trade.

Green said as much during our conversation last week. He's a member of the subcommittee on commerce, trade and consumer protection, the body that recently approved the College Football Playoff Act of 2009. The bill would bar college football from promoting an event known as a "national championship" game unless it is the end result of a single-elimination playoff system.

"Congress' job is not only to pass legislation, but shine light on issues t

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