They beat a wrongful idea, one that unfortunately remains strongly in force in college football, but also that transcends college football and all of sports.

They took a sack of hammers to the ridiculous notion that they really didn't belong - not because of what they were, rather on account of who they were.

Righting wrongs doesn't get any more American than that.

For one night, Boise State was America's team, at least the half of America that feels disenfranchised, put down, discriminated against, temporarily blocked from its own upper reaches, and unfairly characterized and categorized by the powers that be.

They picked up where Utah left off two years back, compiling a record too spotless and a ranking too high to keep altogether out of a BCS bowl, but not convincing enough to permit into the BCS championship game against the only other undefeated team in Division I-A - Ohio State.

Florida got that slot, despite having lost to Auburn.

One of the smaller problems that leads to the bigger problem of inequality of opportunity in college football is that teams

generally play regionalized schedules that are difficult to fairly compare. Most people, including those who vote in polls, figure that going 12-1 and playing in the SEC is more credible than going 13-0 and playing in the WAC.

But that kind of thinking doesn't take into account the actual strength and character of individual teams that have no other choice and chance but to play the league schedule in front of them.

The Utah team that went undefeated in 2004 could have played with - and maybe beaten - any team in the country that season, even though it came from a relatively weak Mountain West Conference. But the Utes were stuck in the place college football put them - does anyone doubt they would have loved to have had the opportunity to play in the Pac-10 that season or any other, given the chance? - and took care of the business at hand.

The Utes had no say in having to play Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl, a matchup they dominated, and, despite going undefeated, had no shot at a national championship.

Same as Boise State, this time around.

It's funny to hear analysts and commentators speak in terms of surprise when teams such as the Broncos beat teams such as Oklahoma. And their surprise is warranted to the extent that the BCS system was built to the disadvantage of teams from non-BCS leagues that traditionally have not shared in the same rewards and opportunities as teams from BCS conferences.

Those disadvantages adversely affect many facets of a program, not the least of which is recruiting top athletes, almost all of whom want a chance to play for a title.

In other words, schools from the MWC and WAC are forced to recruit players who have to sign on a promise and a prayer that, somehow, their lofty goals will be fulfilled, in spite of lowered percentages that they will be granted opportunities for top bowl games. And don't think that, say, Oklahoma wouldn't use that rhetoric against Boise State, had the two programs been competing for the same athlete in a recruiting battle.

It's as though the BCS blows the legs off non-BCS leagues by way of its uneven stipulations and rewards, and, then, when non-BCS teams lose to BCS teams, they are blamed for bleeding rather than being able to dance at the same tempo.

Well. In one of the most entertaining games ever played, Boise State danced right past the Sooners on Monday night. The Broncos would have busted off their moves even better had all other things been equal. They were allowed in only because of a few adjustments forced upon the BCS postseason a couple of years ago, but those adjustments need further tweaking.

No. The entire system continues to cry for an overhaul, for a comprehensive playoff.

Boise handled Oklahoma, all right, but how would it have done against the Buckeyes? We'll never know, and, still, it would have been a blast to find out. It's remarkable, the celebration and interest everyone enjoys via Cinderella teams in the NCAA basketball tournament, and, yet, Cinderella in the football postseason has generally been greeted with all the enthusiasm of an uninvited hag trying to crash somebody's exclusive party.

Maybe not anymore.

Not after the Broncos' performance in the Fiesta, which captured the imagination of college fans from BCS and non-BCS leagues alike. Who wasn't switched on by the way Boise State took its lead, then blew it, then tied it back up with its hook-and-ladder, then surrendered it, again, in overtime, then, scored on a halfback pass, then, put it all on the line on a two-point conversion straight out of Houdini's playbook, and, then, topped it all off with its star running back dropping to his knees and asking his cheerleader girlfriend to marry him?

Come on.

What in college football this season was better than that?

Turns out, the hag can move pretty well.

Maybe there are more hags just like her, waiting for similar opportunities to get up and dance, to show off the unrecognized beauty within.

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* GORDON MONSON can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com. To write a letter about this or any sports topic, send an e-mail to sportseditor@sltrib.com.