WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- NCAA President Mark Emmert told the Department of Justice Wednesday his organization does not have the power to create a college football playoff.
Emmert was responding to a letter sent to him this month by Assistant Attorney General Christine A. Varney, in which she asked why major college football does not decide its champion by a playoff system.
The national football champion is determined through a combination of polls that select the top two teams in the country, and those teams play for the NCAA title. Emmert said the Justice Department's question concerning a potential playoff should be directed to the Bowl Championship Series, which administers the championship game.
Since the Justice Department's inquiry to the NCAA, it has been pointed out by several outside observers that the NCAA merely administers the wishes of college presidents and has no authority to create or alter policy.
Emmert made those points in his letter to Varney.
"At no time in the history of (major college football) has a formal proposal come from the membership to establish a post-season football championship," Emmert said.
