University of Utah president to testify about BCS at Senate

University of Utah President Michael Young is expected to report a robbery to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday — of his university's shot at a national football championship last season.

Young is scheduled to be the lead-off witness at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing titled "The Bowl Championship Series: Is it Fair and in Compliance with Antitrust Law?" The witness list for that hearing was released Thursday.

The hearing is scheduled to be webcast at judiciary.senate.gov beginning next Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. MDT.

Other scheduled witnesses included Harvey Perlman, chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and leader of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee on how the BCS operates; antitrust lawyer William Monts III, who has said the BCS does not violate antitrust laws; and antitrust lawyer Barry Brett.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, pushed hard for the hearing, contending the BCS robbed undefeated Utah of a chance to play for the national championship last year.

Hatch, in a Sports Illustrated story this week, called the BCS "biased" and said it probably violates federal antitrust laws. "Although the Utes had plenty of big wins, the BCS system denied them the chance to play for the national championship," he wrote.

Utah ended the season 13-0, was the nation's only undefeated bowl division team and defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The Associated Press ranked the team No. 2 at the end of the bowl season.

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