It stops short of the BCS era, but "College Football: History,
Spectacle, Controversy" by John Sayle Watterson takes an academic's
view of the sport from the 1870's up to the SMU "death penalty" era.
You may need to check the big online publishers for it, it was
published as a Johns Hopkins University Press paperback in 2000.
--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, rejected_skittles <no_reply_at_...> wrote:
>
> After 6 years of wedded bliss, my husband, Dave Leach, has decided to
> like college football. This is okay though because I have decided to
> like Coach purses. Anywho, he was talking the other day about how the
> whole college ranking thing started and has continued even though
> everyone agrees it is fubar. I'm thinking that it would be a great
> Christmas present for him if there is a book on the history of college
> football out there that might explain all of this. Any of you guys
> know of such a book??
>
> Thanks
> September
>