...about it ad nauseam from Ute fans. If TCU, BSU and Utah hadn't already done it I don't think it would be that big of a burning issue.

What's interesting is to follow the life of the whole BCS concept. It started back in the early 90's as the Bowl Coalition and it was designed to keep a non major conference team from getting a National Championship by trying to force a "national championship game" of their choosing in one of the major bowls. Basically the goal was to keep a team like BYU from repeating what BYU had inadvertantly "Busted" in 1984.

It was inherently flawed and never quite worked out according to plan so the Bowl Alliance was formed. It still contained some of the same problems that the Bowl Coalition had (Rose Bowl contract prevented Big10 and Pac12 champs from participating, etc) and it only last 3 seasons. Once again BYU was at the heart of this change when they finished the '96 season 14-1 and with a #5 ranking and got ignored by the major bowls and settled for a Cotton Bowl.

With the pressure of potential Congressional action after Lavell Edwards testitied before congress about the unfair advantage this system gave certain teams by excluding others, the Bowl Alliance reformed into the Bowl Championship Series that not only included the Big Ten and the Pac-10 conference but also cracked open the door to allow the possibility of a "mid-major" team's participation.

It's also ironic that the 1984 Holiday Bowl selection committee tried to create a "national championship game" by inviting top ranked opponents to play #1 ranked BYU. As many as 7 highly ranked teams were offered and declined.

Even the #4 ranked team at the end of the regular season, the University of Washington Huskies were offered a slot against BYU in the Holiday Bowl; Washington declined, preferring instead to play in the more lucrative Orange Bowl where they beat #2 Oklahoma to complete a Pac-10 sweep of New Year's Day bowls (USC Rose and UCLA Fiesta). Washington (111) was voted #2 following the bowl season with their only blemish a late season loss at Pac-10 champ USC. Coupled with the 1983 season of 11 consecutive wins, BYU finished the 1984 season with a 24 game winning streak and was a near-unanimous choice as national champion in final polls.

Washington had the chance to play BYU on the field and decide the National Championship and turned it down, then after BYU was chosen #1 they turned around and complained that they should have been selected ahead of BYU.

BYU set the table that other schools like Utah, TCU and BSU have been able to dine at where they otherwise wouldn't have been able to before.