Utes hope to punch BCS bully

NEW ORLEANS — No pressure. Honest. All the Utes are doing is carrying the aspirations of everyone who was ever chosen last on the playground.

If you love long-shot bets and Adam Sandler movies, you gotta love the Utes against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

"It would put us on the map," said linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, when asked what a win would mean. "We would get recognized, and it would get us some media love. What I've been hearing all season is that we were at the bottom end of everybody's lists. So maybe a win would get us some more love."

Not from the BCS conferences, but you get the idea.

In earning their second big bowl berth in five years, the Utes have emerged as the nation's top non-BCS program. The best of the other guys.

"In my opinion, we represent the non-BCS schools," said Ute coach Kyle Whittingham. "That's an obvious situation. It's a process. The BCS versus the non-BCS is an ongoing process."

The BCS, it should be noted, is a nefarious cabal of Division I conferences that decides the national championship. The catch is that only six conferences get automatic berths to the most lucrative bowl games. The others — Mountain West, Conference USA, Mid-American, WAC and Sun Belt — must navigate an elaborate checklist that includes going undefeated, finishing high in the polls and BCS standings, and changing their oil every 3,000 miles.

It's not fair and it's not nice, but that's the breaks.

But a strange thing happened to the BCS on its way to global domination: The Utes got unruly.

They ramped up their program in 2004 under coach Urban Meyer and went undefeated, shaking the BCS monopoly for the first time. Then they mugged Pitt in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.

Two other teams have crashed the party besides Utah. Boise State made the Fiesta Bowl in 2007, shocking Oklahoma in overtime. It was everything you could want from an outsider. The Broncos were offbeat, daring, edgy and just a tad cocky.

Suddenly the little guys were two-for-two.

But then came a year ago, when Hawaii got an invitation to the Sugar Bowl. Another great opportunity for Junior America. Hopes were high in the hinterlands of college football. But Georgia slapped the Warriors down, 41-10.

There it came. More criticism of the small fries, more justification of the BCS system.

For some reason, Louisiana State can beat Notre Dame 41-14 in the 2007 Sugar Bowl, and nobody complains. But if Georgia wipes out Hawaii the cries arise: Ban the small stuff!

In returning to a BCS bowl, the Utes have become the flag-bearer for have-nots. Once is a surprise but twice is a campaign. They have more wins against BCS schools (15) since 2000 than any other non-BCS team. They are 10-3 against the BCS since 2004.