2 UVSC profs deem BCS unethical

OREM — Two weeks into this college football season, Brigham Young University and the University of Utah had already blown their chances of playing in a Bowl Championship Series game.

The only longshot left in the Mountain West Conference is Air Force, which to bust the BCS must beat BYU in Provo on Saturday, remain undefeated by winning its last eight games, and climb from total obscurity in the polls to the top 12 in the BCS rankings.

That's unfair, unethical and possibly illegal, a pair of Utah Valley State College professors said Wednesday during a presentation for UVSC's annual Ethics Awareness Week.

Dennis Farnsworth and Jon Moore encouraged the MWC to file an antitrust lawsuit against the BCS together with the four other Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences, whose champions aren't guaranteed a berth in BCS bowl games.

Moore went a step further and said it is unethical for the NCAA not to step in and level the playing field for all teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formally known as Division I-A. The NCAA hosts 88 national championships each year, guaranteeing fair competition in playoff or other championship formats, Moore said, but "for college football, the NCAA does not necessarily guarantee fair competition."

"The NCAA as a regulatory body has full control over basketball and all its other sports, and the courts should step in and force it to do the same in football."

After the presentation, Moore said, "If you consider irresponsible behavior to be unethical, yes, the NCAA isn't acting ethically."

The NCAA membership has never voted on the creation of a playoff for the Bowl Subdivision. It conducts a 16-team playoff for the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, previously known as Division I-AA, and Divisions II and III.

Farnsworth is a history professor who earned two degrees at BYU and one at the U. Moore is a geography professor who earned his doctorate at Ohio State and just finished a four-year run as UVSC's faculty athletic representative.

The duo found willing listeners in a room dominated by students, who clearly were fans of BYU — they said the school's 1984 national championship helped launch the BCS — and U. fans. Utah and neighboring Idaho have produced the only two BCS-busters — Utah in 2004 and Boise State in 2006.