I am a staunch BYU football fan, and I love it. BYU is an ideal team to root for, because you know your team has at least a shot at winning any game they play (even when they play the #1-ranked defending national champions, as is the case this weekend), but you also know your team has a shot at losing any game (see Wyoming last year). On top of that, not only do you get to root for a team with a great tradition and a fair amount of national respect, but you also get to root against the evil BCS.

I have a deep and abiding conviction that the BCS is immoral, illegal, and destructive to the sport of college football. ABC and six conferences simply got together and decided they were better than anyone else, and widened the rift between the conferences. ESPN, ABC's red-headed stepchild, is in on the cartel, even going so far as to publish a separate ranking of the "mid-major" conferences, as if we're not all in Division I-A. Sure, they say, all the elite teams are from BCS conferences. First of all, that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The best football players in the country aren't going to want to play for a team that, because of the way the system works, has no chance whatsoever at playing for the national championship. Second of all, not all the teams in the BCS conferences are elite. Hello Baylor, Temple, Rutgers, Arizona. These teams suck, yet they get their share of the BCS millions because of what their comrades arranged for them. The Big East Conference, now that Miami and Virginia Tech have bolted to the ACC, is a joke. I hear West Virginia is ranked this year, but when you think of "elite" teams, do you think of West Virginia? Nope.

Every year, I cheer for the BCS to be busted. I want some non-BCS team to show that non-BCS teams can play with the best of the BCS teams (a position I believe in firmly--we just don't get a chance to show it very often). In 2001, it was a perfect world, because BYU almost did just that, and it was a glorious feeling to be able to complain about how my team was being mistreated. Other contenders through the years have been TCU, Marshall, Tulane, or Fresno State.

So here's the thing. This year, it seems the best contender for BCS-busting duty is BYU's nemesis, Utah. They're ranked #14/15, and they sure ain't gonna lose to Utah State tomorrow. The only other non-conference game they have is against North Carolina, hardly a football power. Much as I hate to admit it, they could conceivably go undefeated (the only way a non-BCS team can have a chance).

Do I cheer for the Utes? It's against my principles as a BYU fan, but Utah's success this year could actually be useful for BYU in the long run. BYU lost last week, so even if we thrash USC tomorrow (yeah, right) and go undefeated the rest of the way, we're not going to get any farther than the Liberty Bowl. If Utah breaks the BCS cartel, BYU gets money and the conference gets respect. When the BCS is reorganized in 2006, it will be more likely that the Big East will be out, and the Mountain West will be in (then I'd be in a tricky pickle, as my team would be part of the demonic conspiracy). I think I can handle cheering for Utah to keep winning until the last game of the season, but should I cheer for them to actually beat BYU?

My only other option is to cheer for the success of the two other non-BCS teams who also seem poised to make some noise: Fresno State and Boise State. But one of them will have to lose when they play each other on Oct. 23, and Boise State plays BYU next week. Sigh.