If you’re like most people in town, you care about the outcomes of two of the 28 bowl games.

Any sports fan and many others who don’t want to be left out of the conversation, if for no other reason than they are chronic talkers, will tune in to the Rose Bowl matchup between USC and Texas that will determine the national champion.

And then there’s the Forth Worth Bowl, which offers Kansas University its first chance to finish with a winning record since Glen Mason’s 11th-ranked Jayhawks capped the 10-2, 1995 season with a 51-30 Christmas Day victory over UCLA in the Aloha Bowl. A loss to Houston means a .500 finish.

That leaves 26 bowl games you probably couldn’t care less who wins. Unless, that is, you’re dying to see who comes out on top in the Pioneer PureVision Bowl in Las Vegas. Will it be Brigham Young or the University of California?

Or how about the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between Colorado State and Navy? If that doesn’t do it for you, make sure to block out a few hours to take in the Emerald Bowl, which pits Georgia Tech against Utah.

So, really, the fact that the BCS system didn’t get in way of a true champion being crowned this year shouldn’t lessen the cry for a national championship playoff tournament. It should intensify it. If there were three undefeated powerhouses, at least you’d be inclined to watch both games involving teams that feel they deserve the national title.

Wouldn’t you rather care deeply about the outcome of 15 huge college football games than just a couple?

A 16-team, single-elimination national championship tournament means you and everybody else you work with, socialize with, back-stab, etc., would fill out a bracket in the office pool. You would watch each of the 15 games because it would affect your standing. And, if you’re one of those chronic talkers who doesn’t want to be left out of the conversation, you would continue to watch even after you’ve been eliminated from contention.

In time, it would generate more interest even than March Madness. Imagine the television ratings, which in turn would morph into dollars kicked back to schools.

Shoot for launching the first tournament after the 2009 season, Kerry Meier’s senior year.

The eleven Division I-A conference champions, plus five at-large schools comprise the field. A tournament selection committee chooses the at-large berths and seeds the bracket. First-round games are played at the higher-seeded school’s stadium, and the next round can be played at the site of current bowl games. The three Final Four games are played at the Superdome, a week apart. Imagine all the money that would be pumped into a New Orleans economy that four years from now still will need the help.

What about the other 40 teams that won’t participate in the postseason and do now? Some always could play in a football version of the NIT, and others could continue to play in the string of Who Cares Bowls they now prepare for during the month of December.

A college football tournament would do even more to cure holiday blues than cutting down on sugar intake and increasing exercise. Let’s do it.