This Saturday, the 16th-ranked Utah Utes will visit the 4th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs in one of this season’s most anticipated games. In fact, ESPN’s College Gameday will broadcast live from Fort Worth, Texas—ESPN’s third broadcast from a Mountain West school in four weeks. To up the ante, TCU will debut new, state-of-the-art uniforms designed by Nike.
Last year, the undefeated Utes held off TCU in the final seconds at home to secure a second BCS berth. The Utes went on to soundly defeat Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, finishing the season as the nation’s only undefeated team, but ranked no higher than second. This season’s Utah team, after a loss to Oregon early this season, has virtually no hope of returning to a lucrative BCS bowl. The Utes can, however, still compete for a Mountain West Conference championship and play spoiler to TCU’s BCS dreams.
Because of the BCS system, however, Utah has perhaps more to gain by losing to TCU than by winning. Yes, the Utes would love to knock off the fancy-uniformed Horned Frogs on their home field, and earn another conference championship trophy. But by winning, the Utes stand to lose the more than $1 million their program would receive from TCU’s trip to the BCS. And a Utah win would jeopardize the Mountain West Conference’s reputation and ability to earn an automatic BCS berth.
The Western Athletic Conference will certainly be cheering on the Utes tomorrow night. Their likely conference champion, Boise State, is ranked slightly behind TCU in the current BCS standings and is unlikely to receive a BCS berth unless the Horned Frogs lose. WAC teams also have to hope that Boise State can run the table in its remaining conference games. Even those teams remaining on Boise’s schedule after Saturday’s University of Idaho rivalry game—Utah State, New Mexico State, and Nevada—all have every reason to quietly lay down when they line up against the Broncos. A million dollars is a large sum—more income than many WAC teams generate in an entire season. With no chance to visit a BCS bowl themselves and with the dire need for funds to jump-start struggling programs, these schools, like the Utes, could gain more by losing than by winning.
The BCS creates perverse incentives that benefit a team for capitulating to a conference rival. Unfortunately, this is only one of the ways that the BCS hurts college football and its regular season.