BCS Good Enough for Some but Not Good Enough for Football

I'm a Ute.

I'm not delusional about the way college football works: big programs = big $ = big coaches/recruits = big wins = more big $, and so on. 

Nor am I delusional about where Utah fits in this milieu. 

I understand that when it comes to college football, there are a lot people who believe that it will never be possible that a team like Utah can—for one year, or even one night—play at the same level as Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, LSU, Ohio State or USC.

I also understand that there are a lot of powerful people and institutions with a strong interest in making sure it stays that way.

What I don't understand is: Why is that good enough for a sport as great as college football?

Why is it good enough that tradition, reputation, power, and money preclude all-but a small handful of teams from ever being given honest championship consideration?

Why is it good enough that the system is so fearful of exposing its glamour teams to outside competition that they have devised a convoluted plan with the only logical purpose of protecting those interests at the expense of legitimate competition?

Why is it good enough that, while there are 116 teams, the financial disparity created by the current system means that probably only 12 have any real chance of ever being a National Champion? 

Why is it good enough that the word Champion means something completely different in DI college football than in any other sport, on any other level other, with a few exceptions like ice skating or gymnastics?

Why is it good enough that the opinion or bias of a single individual, or one math function programmed into a computer, can overturn or dismiss clear results on the field that are watched by the whole country?

Fortunately for me, and I would hope for other Ute fans, I don't need the artificial validation of pre-programmed, subjective voters or arbitrary formulas to reach my own conclusion that the Utes would beat any team in the country this year, because I saw what they did to precious 'Bama, Pride of the SEC, in the Sugar Bowl last week.

While some—like Nick Saban, like Barry Switzer, like the BCS folks—cling to relics of past glory as sufficient proof of today's greatness, I can't help but think that last Friday in the Superdome, Bear Bryant himself would have had tipped his houndstooth hat to a worthy competitor and said: "I don't know where the hell Utah is, but they sure as hell should be playing for a championship."