In a few weeks, it will die down. The national sports media will turn their attention to something else, something more meaningful and timely, like the Cowboys-Niners NFC Championship or Dennis Rodman's newest hairstyle.

The defiant banners that hang proudly on the windows of downtown shops -- "Penn State No. 1" -- will be taken inside, neatly folded and put away in a basement somewhere, hidden for the ages.

And the debate will die across most of the country.

But the pain will never end. The pain brought on by a handful of selfish fat-cats who let their egos lead the way -- that will never die in blue-and-white eyes.

Penn State is No. 2, say the media in such a convincing fashion that one wonders if they ever looked up from behind their keyboards. They must have missed this team that averaged more points in one half than the Princeton basketball team scores in an entire season.

Penn State must play Oregon, say the Tournament of Roses executives dressed in their obnoxiously ugly white suits and bright red ties. Bowl coalition? What bowl coalition?

Penn State defeats Oregon to finish the season 12-0, and the stadium is full of people paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket.

People watch on TV, the Tournament of Roses Parade earlier that morning draws millions more viewers and the spectators walk away with thousands of dollars of merchandise with that stupid rose logo printed on it.

And the men in the putrid white suits walk away happy. They couldn't give a damn about a playoff, because that would diminish the importance of their bowl. That would belittle The Granddaddy of Them All.

That would mean college football would simply be like every other sport in American society. It would be decided on the field, and that simply wouldn't make sense.

Then it wouldn't be in the hands of the media or coaches who have been so busy studying tapes of the next week's opponent that they can barely remember their wives' names, let alone compare two undefeated teams' turnover ratios.

Penn State defeats Oregon to finish 12-0, and the coaches vote for Tom Osborne because he is a nice guy and Joe Paterno has already had his just due. Twice.

The national media, still hungover after watching the nice guy of the moment finish his season undefeated in the Orange Bowl the night before, begin to pine for a playoff.

Then they vote in the polls anyway. They vote for one team over the other because one team overcame adversity by losing its starting quarterback and one team's coach deserved a national championship.

How can they justify it? Simply by writing a column in the next day's edition, by saying these two teams must play, by saying it is an injustice?

Does that purge their conscience?

Instead, they should all be sent into the Penn State locker room, one by one, the greasy bowl executives and the sportswriters and the coaches. And they should look these players in the eye.

Every single one of them. From Carter to Campbell, Gelzheiser to Gray.

And then these coaches and writers should decide if they still want to cast their vote for a national champion. These bowl executives should decide whether they still want to stand in the way of a true national championship game in order to feed their own egos.

"I know everybody feels sorry for Tom Osborne," said tailback Ki-Jana Carter, "but I've never won a national championship either."

Look that in the eye.

And then you can make your decision.