In 2004, the undefeated Utah Utes broke through the BCS ranking scheme. Beating every opponent by an average margin of victory of more than 26 points, the ’04 Utes defeated Texas A&M, Arizona, North Carolina, and their entire Mountain West Conference schedule. In the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, Utah embarrassed Big East champion Pittsburgh 35-7. Urban Meyer’s creative offense somehow transformed passed-over recruits into five-star football gods.  

            Unfortunately for Utah, 2004 was a crowded year for perfection, as USC, Oklahoma, and Auburn also boasted undefeated regular seasons. Playoff PAC, for one, still dreams of climbing into Doc’s DeLorean, punching in circa 2003, riding a skateboard around, magically fixing the BCS joke, and then settling in to watch an 8-team playoff featuring the four aforementioned squads. Alas, Playoff PAC presently requires a slightly larger budget to purchase the plutonium required to operate the DeLorean (please, donate now!).

            Of course, the old saw is that history repeats itself.  Tragically, college football history does indeed appear to operate on loop mode. Only a few short years after the ’04 BCS slight, the Utes found themselves trapped in yet another year’s version of BCS-sponsored inferno. 

            The 2008 Utes played it out a bit different than the ’04 dominators. The ’08 version specialized in the clutch. They showed up only when necessary to eek out the victory. Their unbeaten season hung in the balance several times, and featured come-from-behind wins over eventual Pac-10 runner up Oregon State, and one-loss TCU. College football commentators and many fans gave Utah little chance when it headed down South to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide—a team that spent most the 2008 season ranked No. 1.

            However, come Sugar Bowl time, Utah put the game away quickly, scoring three quick touchdowns. In the words of the noted “talker” Mr. Jim Rome, “I didn’t expect Utah . . . to kick ’Bama’s tail up and down the field all day long . . . [Utah] punched them in the mouth all day long. The better team won.”

            After the game, even the biggest Goliath-lovers acknowledged that the Utes deserved something better than the BCS pyramid scam. The 2008 Utes finished the season as the only undefeated team in Division I football, and all they went home with was a “Sugar Bowl Champs” shirt and presumably, a heartfelt “great season, guys” from BCS director Bill Hancock.

            The stink of this particular injustice forced a few to pay attention. In the final polls, 16 AP voters ranked the Utes No. 1, over Florida, Texas, and USC. However, the AP poll still left the Utes at 2nd place overall, and the Coaches’ Poll pushed them down to 4th.  

One ESPN commentator explained that Utah’s shafting was justified because, well, it just did not play as many good teams as USC. However, this argument appears based more upon reputation than performance—the reality was that in 2008, the MWC was 6-2 in games against the Pac-10. Another ESPN commentator explained that the big schools should be ranked higher than the little schools, because the big schools have better players. As Playoff PAC itself is getting on in years, though, we have to admit that there’s some utility in ESPN’s novel reasoning. For instance, the next time that Playoff PAC shows up for the annual political action committee 100-yard-dash, it will easily triumph by simply explaining “Listen, CoalPAC.  I’m faster than you, so let’s not actually run, let’s just vote and declare me the winner.”        

            While the BCS busily promotes its beautiful ideals of exclusion and greed, the ’04 and ’08 Utes displayed gaping flaws in the BCS’s ridiculous caste system. 

We’re not saying that Utah would’ve beaten Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, or USC. Maybe the commentators would’ve been proven right and all of these schools would’ve steamrolled the 2004 and 2008 Utes if they had actually lined up to play. We’ll never know.  The point is that commentators shouldn’t be the ultimate arbiters of college football’s championship. Their off-the-field predictions about Utah proved grossly inaccurate.  Why should college football rely on the same guesswork about hypothetical match-ups to crown a champion?

In the minds of all who respect competition and sport, Utah’s 2004 and 2008 football seasons should remain a reminder that backroom deals and too-busy voters should not replace the on-the-field efforts of our country’s student-athletes.