Yeah, and I'm at a Big Ten school, and have taught student athletes, and can attest that on the whole, they're no worse or better than other students. The only exception (and on this I have no personal experience, just statistics) is for members of football and basketball teams. who consistently score below the average grades. In spite of the "dumb jock" stereotype, I don't think as a group they're any dumber than the average undergraduate.
Anyway, what it boils down to is: University presidents are the ones who will make the call. Consider it from the perspective of a Big 10 university president.
You're the president of a corporation that does billions of dollars a year in revenues. Let's say you're not Northwestern (where they've diverted general fund money to the football team). As a state school president, you're answerable to a board of regents, and ultimately the state legislature.
Football and Basketball are a tiny fraction of your total revenue, yet one that exposes you to the greatest risks. Heck, even the biggest bowl payout looks like the cost of an MRI machine. But you've got this small section of your corporation that attracts a lot of attention. There's always at least one regent who decides to use the sports program as a personal stepping stone. The coach and possibly the AD are more visible figures to the state population and legislature than you are, and those guys aren't even your biggest revenue generators.
Yet, if one unpaid 19-year-old pisses in a planter at the Holiday in on a Friday night (in the offseason, no less), suddenly, reporters and trustees are calling you to task).
So basically, as a college president, with respect to the sports program, you've got a ton of responsibility without much authority. And yet it's such a minor part of your job.
It'd be like if the CEO of Hewlett Packard's job hinged on the fortunes of a minor-league baseball team the corporation owned.
So, while college presidents can't get rid of football, there's reason to believe many don't want to see it get any bigger. Oklahoma can win all the BCS bowls it wants, it's never gonna beat Harvard.
What about ADs and coaches? Certainly, a championship win could help the careers of those who win the championships. But even these guys have something to lose. Nobody wants to be the next Grady Little. A coach that prefers the media to his players is not a coach one should hire. And if in the end, it's not going to settle anything, why bother giving Disney or whoever more money?