Any time you have media saturation of an athlete (or any person, for that matter), you are going to have people who idolize them and people who hate them. I don't really have an explanation for why that happens, but it's pretty much a law of nature. It's somewhat easier to explain in sports because if the media darling plays for a team you like, you'll love them. If they play for a rival team, you are going to hate them. I don't like Tebow because he is the QB for a team that beat one of my favorite teams last season (Alabama in the SEC Champ. game). That being said, I was rooting for him in the UK game because I hate UK more than I hate Tebow or Florida.
I kinda like Tom Brady, indifferent towards Eli, but absolutely hate Peyton Manning. Peyton was part of a Tennessee Vols team that came to Louisville and committed one of the most classless acts I have ever seen in a college game. They ran through the U of L band when they took the field when the band wasn't really in their way. It was ********. It doesn't help that he plays for my Titans divisional rival, and I've heard that off the football field, he is a complete moron.
BTW, I don't think you are stirring controversy by suggesting a college football playoff system. Damn near everybody except those that profit from the bowl system agree that a playoff system is needed.