Bill Hancock Is Tom Smykowski

BCS executive director Bill Hancock finds himself in an awkward position these days. He doesn't have any say in how the new playoff format will be decided, and he didn't have a choice that one would be forthcoming. In the immortal words of Bob Slydell, "what would you say ya do here?" It's as if he's being beaten over the head with it like a stick by the conference commissioners.

They really seem to be the ones in charge here. We have the NCAA to govern the game. Well...they have the responsibility. The collective BCS poll is made up of polls independent of the BCS. As Hancock himself says, the conference commissioners make all the decisions.

"There's 11 conference commissioners and the Notre Dame AD. That's basically the board that runs the BCS. And I wouldn't hazard a guess as to where they are on this. They haven't come to a final conclusion. But they're split. It's safe to say that - they're split. ... The commissioners will collaboratively come to some agreement about what the format should be. There won't be a vote - they will just sit and talk it through until they come up with something that everybody can live with."

So you actually hand carry the documents from the client to the engineers? Or does your secretary do that? It's not that anyone is in love with the NCAA, but there's really no reason to have two organizations to run one sport. This question isn't breaking new ground. But it's never been more evident than now. We have a layer of bureaucracy that has no responsibilities, but you know their getting paid. At least until they decide they want to keep living, and back out into traffic without looking.