Hatch urges Obama to invite both Boise State, Alabama to White House

SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says that if President Barack Obama is serious about pressuring major college football to convert to a playoff system, he should invite all undefeated teams to the White House to be honored — and not just the Bowl Championship Series "champion."

In other words, he wrote Obama on Thursday, he should invite Boise State as well as BCS champion Alabama, the only undefeated teams this year in major college football.

"Inviting both Alabama and Boise State to the White House will not erase the unfairness of the past," Hatch wrote. "But it will send a clear message that champions should be chosen on the field and not in pre-arranged agreements."

Hatch noted that Boise State's football team "had its third undefeated regular season in five years and, on Jan. 4, capped its season with a Fiesta Bowl victory over a very good and highly ranked team from Texas Christian University."

But he noted that Boise State has never been invited to the BCS championship game. The only invitees so far have come from conferences that have automatic berths to BCS bowls. The Western Athletic Conference, to which Boise State belongs, is not one of those conferences, nor is the Mountain West Conference, to which the University of Utah and BYU belong. The U. was undefeated in the 2004 and 2008 seasons.

"This year's Boise State team is not the first deserving team to be refused an opportunity to compete for the national championship under the BCS," Hatch wrote.

"Last year, the University of Utah had a similarly impressive run and finished the 2008 season as the only undefeated team in the country, but, due to the BCS's selection criteria, was left out of the national championship picture," he wrote.

Hatch noted that Obama has said in interviews that major colleges "should be creating a playoff system" and said that he planned to "throw (his) weight around a little bit" on efforts to reform the BCS.

"In my view, inviting both these great football teams to the White House would be one particularly effective way to do just that," Hatch wrote. "Furthermore, should you only invite Alabama, you would add legitimacy and credibility to a system we both believe to be flawed."

Hatch held hearings last year on the BCS and has pushed for years for a playoff system.

He noted in his letter to Obama that without a playoff system, fans are left "to speculate whether more than one team is worthy of the sport's top honor, particularly in those years, like this one, when more than one team finishes the season undefeated."

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