I would like to take this opportunity to say concerning the changes in the landscape of college football, I don’t care. The Big 16, the Pac 16, the MWC with 10 teams…don’t care. Football will come every fall and end in the middle of January with some team from one of those mega-conferences hoisting a championship trophy into the air — while on some occasions, as we all here in Utah know, the real best team in the nation remains locked out of the party.

My disinterest in “major college” football really began when the Utes went to the Sugar Bowl and dismantled the Alabama team no one thought would lose, only to then hear the scoffing comments, “well if Utah had to play a team like Alabama every week…”

It was the same comments made by those same big schools after BYU knocked out Sam Bradford and Oklahoma last year.

Face it, those bigger conferences and their programs will never allow us to be part of their game. It’s never going to happen.

The heads of these mega-conferences remind me of the kids playing in the sandbox who believe they're are entitled to that sandbox. Maybe their families have more money than you or a prominent name or whatever the case may be. I had a situation like this when I was about 7 years old.

Dang, I tried everything to be cool and to be accepted by these other kids. I bought better sneakers, had my father improve my bicycle’s looks, anything to be one of them. But you know what? It didn’t matter. I still was never cool enough to play with those kids. My mother finally explained to me that I could spend my time chasing these guys or just do my own thing and move on…which was much easier and less frustrating.

And I found out that it worked.

I’ve also done the same thing with football. It’s there and I love the game but I’m done worrying about this whole BCS thing. I follow the Cougars and the Utes. But I’ve also gone my own way in that I love I-AA football or Division II or III. With cable and satellite television I can watch Yale play Columbia and find satisfaction (I have always been a Yale fan at heart anyway), but I even watch Montana playing Montana State or whatever game that happens to be on.

It has made me care very little about all of this BCS nonsense. I know Utah was ripped off from two national titles over the last 10 years and it irritates me, but life goes on. There are plenty of sandboxes.

sschulte@davisclipper.com