The world of football has two distinct branches: one is that of the NFL and the other is of its little brother, college football.

The state of each is on vastly different sides of the scale.

The NFL seems to being doing a lot right. It has diversity amongst the teams. This year’s playoffs feature a number of clubs that, had their names been considered for the playoffs before the season started, the ones making the predictions would have been labeled insane or on heavy amounts of drugs.

The Saints and the Eagles both miraculously turned things around and made it to the postseason. Amazing. Even better yet, the Saints did it without their starting quarterback and running back for a large portion of the year. They had a couple of unknowns lead their team on offense, winning the Western Division. Who would have thought that either of those teams would make it to the respectability, let alone make it to the postseason?

The same goes for the AFC. Baltimore, of all teams, is in the postseason. It didn’t even have a team a couple of years ago. Trent Dilfer has seemingly come back from the dead, playing just enough to let the Baltimore defense win games. The other surprise is the Oakland Raiders. The dreaded silver and black were preparing to explode, but their run this year is still impressive.

The college game is a little different.

The college football bowl season came to a stunning halt last week when Oklahoma University defeated Florida State University 13-2 to win the Orange Bowl and the Bowl Championship Series National Championship.

College football lucked out. If the Seminoles had won that game, all hell would have broken out.

Miami defeated Florida handily in the Sugar Bowl the day before. It would have had one loss, just like FSU. The only difference is that Florida State’s loss came against Miami. Even more, the University of Washington also had one loss, and its victory list included a conquest of Miami. The question of which was the best team in the country would have been anyone’s guess.

Luckily, the Sooners won and all was well. Oklahoma was clearly the best team of the year, going 13-0. But should it have been Florida State in the title game instead of either Miami or Washington? That is still up for argument.

The system still stinks, though, and needs to be changed.

The pro game seems to have accomplished what it has been trying to do: Give every team, every city and every fan a chance at glory.

The college game, on the other hand, is wallowing in confusion, running the risk of not having a clear champion.