John Walters

If the events of Tuesday taught us anything, it is that 1) Sarah Palin can cover more airspace in one day than anyone outside of NASA, and 2) “Where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.”

Yes, we can. Unless we play in a non-BCS conference.

Five years ago you might have been able to write, “the likelihood of a non-BCS school winning the national championship is about the same as that of a black man becoming president of the United States.” Today, however, the paradigm has shifted. The White House no longer has a glass ceiling, but the Bowl Championship Series? No, we can’t.

Half of the six remaining undefeated teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) are non-BCS schools: Utah (10-0), Boise State (8-0) and Ball State (9-0). Even if all three of them go undefeated, none of them are headed to Miami for the BCS championship game. In fact, it is possible that only one of them will even be among the 10 schools that participate in the BCS inauguration gala come January.

They each have that dream, but only Michael Crabtree’s dreams come true, apparently. No, we can’t.

I am not advocating that Utah, Boise State or Ball State deserve to be in the national championship game. After all, the most trenchant establishment retort to the “change we can believe in” argument is that this trio is undefeated precisely because they are non-BCS schools.

After all, it’s quite possible that the two most competitive non-BCS teams this season are Tulsa and TCU, both of whom have one loss. Tulsa, which leads the nation in scoring and was unbeaten a week ago, lost at Arkansas, 30-23. The Razorbacks held the Golden Hurricane to less than half their average despite having the SEC’s worst scoring defense.

Texas Christian (9-1) may be the best non-BCS school of all, but they lost by 25 at Oklahoma. There’s no shame in losing to the Sooners — TCU, which legitimately has one of the nation’s top five defenses, held Sam Bradford and his pals to a season-low 35 points. But a five-touchdown beat-down is no way to stump for the most prestigious contest in the land. Just ask Mike Huckabee.

Thursday night in Salt Lake City, undefeated Utah (10-0 and currently No. 8 in the BCS standings) beat TCU, currently No. 12 in the BCS standings. It was being billed as a BCS bowl elimination game, which was fairly accurate. If Utah wins out, it will receive an automatic berth to a BCS bowl.

Why? Because, according to the third provision of the BCS selection procedures, the champions of any one of the five non-BCS conferences (Conference USA, Sun Belt, MAC, WAC or, in Utah and TCU’s case, the Mountain West) receives an automatic berth as long as “such team is ranked in the top 12 of the final standings." And if two non-BCS conference champions both finish in the top 12, only the higher ranked team is guaranteed a bid (that won't make Boise State fans happy).

And, while I’m no Jerry Palm reader, I’m willing to state that a 12-0 Utah squad (yes, the Nov. 22 home game vs. BYU is no gimme) or an 11-1 TCU will finish in the top 12 of the final BCS standings.

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