I don’t think that those two conferences will be able to forestall the playoff system, though – especially if Adams gets the SEC on his side or if a Big 10 or Pac-10 team gets screwed in the BCS system. The momentum for a playoff system may not be enough to take down “tradition” now, but if the pro-playoff momentum surge continues throughout the year and into the next parity-laden football season, we could see some very interesting jockeying going on among conference heads.

All things considered, I think that 2013 will be the year that we first see the college football playoff played. After all the wrangling to get conferences to commit and the BCS to agree and the inevitable waiting period, five years away doesn’t seem too small or too astronomical a time.

But just because the goal is far away does not mean that we should stop making as much noise as possible. The reason I’m adding the massive amount of literature about this topic is the same reason that I’ve been talking about the playoff system as much as I can for the past two years: the chatter is working.

We’re closer than ever to a playoff system. From this single voice in 2000 to the media  frenzy that is the discussion today, the idea of a playoff system has done nothing but plant itself in more and more people’s heads.

Even if this isn’t the season where the BCS finally decides to do something about its broken system, we’ve gotten much closer than we have in any other season towards a playoff system. Continued noise from the fans, media and colleges will push us closer and closer to that coveted system. Even if it is a long ways off.