The College Football Association wants to find out once and for all who the best team in Divsion I-A collegiate football is. Not by votes. Not by a popularity contest. But by a game which would pit the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation, as decided through a playoff system, against each other in national championship game.

Only they'll have to do it without the Big Ten and without the Pac-10. They'll have to do it without Penn State.

"Our presidents and chancellors have been on record for some time as not wanting a national football championship," said Mark Rudner, Big Ten assistant commissioner. "Our conference is opposed to it on the basis of supporting the bowl structure as it is."

A Division I-A playoff was a hot topic at this week's NCAA convention in San Antonio. Big Ten presidents and chancellors met to discuss the issue on Dec. 15 and unanimously reaffirmed their opposition to any college football playoff.

However, a four-person committee was formed last night at the convention to research the effects a playoff would have on collegiate football, said Kathryn Reith, a spokeswoman for the NCAA. The committee includes Cedric Dempsey, the NCAA's executive director. Penn State Coach Joe Paterno and many of his players, however, would like to see a national title decided on the field -- not in the polls.

"I think a playoff would be nice because there's so much controversy over who's the best team," said redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Bobby Engram. "The only way to really find out (the national champion) is to give everyone a fair chance -- and the only way to do that is to have a playoff."

Paterno, who was active in the CFA before Penn State moved to the Big Ten, has spoken favorably of a football playoff.

"(A football playoff) is one of the areas where I think we can raise some money to help out with the gender equity problem," Paterno said last summer. "There's probably 50-60 million dollars out there, at least. I've heard figures like 75-100 million dollars.

"Not only in the fact that you've got the playoff, but in the licensing money that can be made -- you can televise it to Europe," Paterno continued. "There's a tremendous interest in football around the world. The pros have really capitalized on it. We have not in college football, and I think we can do that with a playoff, and I think it will really help.

"I think we should have a playoff right now," Paterno told reporters on Jan. 2 in Orlando. "We should see how four teams end it."

Rudner doesn't think that the prospects of a playoff are not yet promising.

"The history of the conference is that we've always had coaches for it," he said. "But the presidents have always been opposed."

If the 66 CFA schools decide to implement a playoff system at the CFA's June meeting, a plan will most likely be on the agenda for next year's NCAA convention. And that could put a lot of pressure on the Pac-10 and the Big Ten to jump on the CFA bandwagon.

One possible reason for the Big Ten's opposition to the playoff system could be a fear of losing funds that schools gain by participating in the Rose Bowl.

The Pac-10 football champion has played the Big Ten football champion in the Rose Bowl every year since 1946. Big Ten teams also get a shot at the Holiday, Hall of Fame and Citrus Bowl games.

University President Joab Thomas was not available for comment.

Nittany Lions' sophomore outside linebacker Terry Killens said the main problem with selecting a national champion off the field is that it is more like a popularity contest than a true test of talent.

"It's just like voting for a president," he said. "You don't know what you're going to get."