Keith Jackson, for several years the voice of college football for ABC, has no quarrel with Ohio State and LSU playing for the national title. But he is no fan of the Bowl Championship Series.

"I always thought it was a money grab and still do," the Hall of Fame announcer told Jim Jenkins of the Sacramento Bee. "And now they're talking about extending (the BCS) an extra game so they get one more payday."

Now 79, Jackson has no plans to come out of retirement a second time, but neither is he completely detached from the sports world.

On Dec. 29, Jackson, along with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, will be on hand to present awards for a Coach of the Year show on ABC.

So through Dec. 15, fans can visit coachoftheyear.com and review biographies and comments supporting each candidate of various college divisions. They also can participate in the voting process.

If Jackson, a traditionalist at heart, had his druthers, college football would be best served by not straying too far from the old bowl system.

For example, it bothers him that the Cotton Bowl, with all its history, has unfairly, in his view, lost prestige because of other preferred sites for top BCS matchups.

"I've always felt you'd be better off leaving the bowl games alone," Jackson said. "Once you get through the bowl games, take a vote, pick four teams and let them play for (the championship) and be done with it. To me, that's enough of a playoff. You can't keep playing football forever."

Talked out of retirement once, Jackson, who lives in Sherman Oaks, insists it won't happen again.

"I don't know that I want too much of anything," he said. "I'm trying to get my golf game back in shape."

Advertisers love the BCS: Fox televises NFL playoff games as well as college football's BCS bowls, so Fox Sports president Ed Goren knows quite well how popular a tournament-style postseason system can be.

He still values the unique culture of bowls, believing that fans want their college games to be a celebration and an event — a bigger spectacle than just another step toward the title.

"For the advertisers, I think it goes beyond hard numbers," said Goren, whose network is paying an average of $80 million a year through 2010 to broadcast the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls and the BCS title game.

"This is an emotional buy," Goren added. "This is a positive experience where as an advertiser you want to be associated with this event."

In the debate over whether college football should switch to a playoff system, Goren speculates that such a change would temper the enthusiasm that bubbles from fans and players associated with BCS bowls.

"The reality is the BCS games are as well-received and as popular in viewership as anything out there," Goren said.