NCAA president Mark Emmert said Wednesday that he's willing to help create a playoff format to decide a national championship for the top level of college football. However, that won't happen unless the leaders of institutions fielding teams in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision want to make such a change after contracts with the current Bowl Championship Series expire in 2014. "If the leadership of those universities ... want to move in that direction, then the NCAA knows how to run championships and we'd be happy to help," Emmert said while speaking at the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, of which he was a member while serving as LSU's chancellor from 1999-2004. Emmert stopped short of endorsing a playoff, saying that the NCAA also sees value in the bowl system, particularly the way it expands opportunities for athletes to participate in postseason play. "We had 35 bowls this year, some of which were big and some of which were small, but the one thing I know about every one of them is, 70 teams loved playing in them," Emmert said. "Kids love playing bowl games. Schools love participating in bowl games and everybody knows that, so it's finding that right balance that I think is going to be challenging." Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6175391
