TCU and Boise State will each cash in big after appearing in this year’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

From ESPN.com:

The five conferences that don’t get automatic bids to the Bowl Championship Series will receive a record $24 million from this year’s BCS bowl games, augmented by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl matchup of TCU and Boise State.

The figures still lag behind the six BCS conferences. The Big Ten and Southeastern conferences received $22.2 million each, with $17.7 million going to each of the other four BCS conferences.

Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, has cited the revenue discrepancy as a reason for his legislation that would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision game as a national championship unless it results from a playoff. The bill passed a subcommittee last month but faces an uphill battle in Congress.

In a telephone interview Monday, Barton responded to the figures with a shrug.

“What is the BCS theoretically about? I thought it was about the best teams playing the best teams,” he said. “This simply acknowledges the reality that’s it’s not about that, but about revenue sharing. It’s an economic cartel.”

While I agree with Barton that a playoff system needs to be implemented in college football, I disagree with his above comment. The BCS isn’t about the best teams playing the best teams – it’s designed to pit the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation in a championship game. That’s it. It’s not a playoff system and it’s not designed to let all the teams battle it out on an even playing field. All it essentially cares about in the end is figuring out who the top two teams are and then letting them duke it out in the championship.

Do I want a playoff? Yes – very much so. But I also realize what the BCS is intended to do in its current format. For better or worse, the BCS is what it is and while the current format exists, it will continue to only care about matching the top two teams against each other in the title game.

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