AP story said Boise curb stomping San Jose hurt the Broncos more than it helped them.
Here's my theory on why the playoffs for DI haven't happened.
It mostly has to do with travel. Most teams, with Notre Dame being the notable exception, couldn't range that far from home. While it seems crazy nowadays, loading up 100 players, and 50 more coaches and support staff then jetting them from the Southeast to the West Coast was really only possible about once a year. And all but the wealthiest fans couldn't have afforded to follow the team anyway.
It wasn't until the mid-60s or so before the bowl games, once considered a very glorified scrimmage game, began to even matter and then being your league champ was as good as it got.
TV and easier travel began to enter into the equation in the 70s but, by then, the bowl system was ingrained and had so much money behind it, scrapping it and starting a 16 team playoff was out of the question.
The only real success of the BCS has been busting the Rose Bowl to allow Pac-10/Big 10 teams to play outside of Pasadena.
If you ask how the NCAA was able to pull off basketball, well with maybe a total of 20 players and coaches traveling and the ability to play an entire tournament in a week, makes it much easier. Crap, the NAIA still does that.
And, until just a few years ago, you had to win your conference to even get a bid so it wasn't like the 65 team March Madness of today.