Convoluted BCS hurt Utes

In a perfect world, the Utes would be playing Auburn in a bowl game, perhaps the Sugar Bowl, in a matchup of two undefeated 11-0 teams.

It could be the "mini" national championship, to go alongside the approved national title game between USC and Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

The little guy Utes would get a chance to show what they could do against a fellow unbeaten team from the mighty Southeastern Conference. It's a matchup that would generate excitement on a national basis.

Instead, because of the convoluted Bowl Championship Series (BCS), the Utes are stuck against a three-loss Pittsburgh team that lost to Connecticut, barely beat Temple and was taken to overtime by Furman.

OK, the Utes don't want us to denigrate Pitt, which made it to a BCS bowl by surviving the weak seven-team Big East race. The Utes are in a big BCS bowl, for the first time in history, earning $14 million and don't care who they are playing, right?

Still, it makes one lament what could have been.

For those who are still scratching their heads about what has transpired in regards to the BCS and recent bowl matchups, here's a brief primer.

Why must Utah play Pittsburgh instead of a higher ranked team such as Auburn, Texas or Michigan?

Blame the BCS. The current system was set up in 1998 to take care of the six "major" conferences — the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-10, the SEC, the ACC and the Big East. Last year the Big East was weakened considerably when Miami and Virginia Tech left to join the ACC.

But the original contract is still in place, requiring the BCS to take whatever team the Big East had to offer for one of its eight berths. That turned out to be Pittsburgh.

Why did Pittsburgh get the berth from the Big East?

The Panthers ended up in a four-way tie for first with Syracuse, West Virginia and Boston College at 4-2. The initial tiebreaker for the conference is head-to-head competition.

Because Pitt and Syracuse were both 2-1 in the head-to-head competition among the four teams, they advanced to the next tiebreaker. That belonged to the team with the higher ranking in the BCS standings. Pitt finished ranked No. 21, while Syracuse at 6-5, didn't crack the top 25.

What happened to Cal?