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No, for all of you sports fans out there, the tide is not Alabama. The tide is the way people are feeling about the idea of a college playoff system. As it turns out, there are a number of people in college athletics who are pushing to have a playoff system at least considered. Perhaps Congress' involvement, the second time Congress has looked at college football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in three years, will spur some athletic directors and university presidents to action. Perhaps they will at least consider the change.

One of the signs that the support for a college playoff system may be picking up steam is Lloyd Carr's announcement that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should at least look into the possibility of a playoff system. Carr, the University of Michigan's coach for a decade, was one of the most vocal opponents of a playoff. Like many other coaches, Carr cited many reasons for his opposition to a playoff.

First, people who support the BCS or the old-fashioned crowning of the championship, which involved whoever was number one in the Associated Press poll at the end of the season, believe that it preserves something about college football that would be lost otherwise. Conferences are not broken up in favor of divisions. The bowls, many of them mainstays in the world of college football, are allowed to continue. There is something about bowl week in college football that cannot be replaced through implementing a playoff system.

Another opposition point against the playoffs is what it would do to the players. There are a number of players who would be affected. First, you would have to deal with the logistics of practices that would continue over the winter holidays. Many players, then, would be unable to see their families because of football season. Second, there is the possibility for a team to lose valuable players and have to make big changes because of eligibility.

Before you say it, I will concede the point. Yes, the players should do well in their courses regardless, and it is the job of the football coaching and support staff to help ensure that the players are performing well in school. Having been a teaching assistant at a huge university, however, I understand the demands placed on these players' time. And let us be honest. Some of them are just going to have rough semesters. So, a team could be left without a starting receiver because of the change in semesters over a playoff period.

Other eligibility issues include fifth year students. The NCAA allows for a fifth-year of eligibility if a player was red-shirted, or not used, during one season. That typically happens to freshmen or because of injury. So, many players are left taking one class in their final season of eligibility. Those players would then need to stretch out their classes because of the change in semesters, which really would amount to nothing more than them taking nonsense courses.

A playoff system could be a little tough to arrange as well. There is an on-going argument between the five major conferences - the Southeastern Conference, the PAC-10, the Big Ten, the Big Twelve, and the Atlantic Coast Conference - and eight minor conferences that the larger conferences are favored with a bowl system. That is because, the argument goes, those schools produce a higher caliber team. A playoff system would be looking at those situations and determine how to bracket conferences like the SEC with perennial powerhouse against conferences like Conference-USA, with an occasionally competitive team.

The playoff system seems to be gaining support, but there are no set plans in place. Many people say they want a playoff, but none of them have a clear idea how to deal with the hurdles it would create. When someone comes up with a viable solution to the BCS, then it may be possible for others to consider changing their opinions and at least giving thought to the idea of using a playoff to determine a true national champion. Until then, we will continue to have something to debate at sports bars and while watching Sports Center. There will continue to be controversy, which in the end is all the better for college football.

By Julia Mercer