There are a number of things in this country I’d like to see come to an end. The recession tops the list, followed by M. Night Shyamalan’s filmmaking career and the BCS. Yes, the BCS, that flawed and controversial overlord of college football. Or, in the eyes of the state of Utah, the root of all evil.

After what some (read: residents of Utah) perceived as an outrageous snub, the 12-0 University of Utah was not allowed to play for the 2008-09 national title. Despite being the only undefeated team left in FBS football, the Utes were ranked sixth in the BCS standings and played Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, while Oklahoma battled Florida for the title in a matchup of one-loss teams.

Apparently, the pride from throttling an uninspired Alabama team and finishing second in the final polls didn’t last very long, as Utah’s attorney general Mark Shurtleff plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against the BCS in June. When public whining by non-BCS schools and pleas to the president weren’t enough to change things, those incensed Utes decided to take things into their own hands.

The lawsuit accuses the BCS of owning an unfair and harmful monopoly over college football. In many respects, Shurtleff has a legitimate argument. Only 10 teams get bids to BCS bowls, and a non-BCS school such as Utah has to play flawlessly to be one of them. It needs to finish both as its conference champion and in the top 12 of the BCS rankings to earn an automatic bid, and only one non-BCS school can receive said-bid each year. And just to rub salt in the wound, Notre Dame, which doesn’t even belong to a conference, gets in automatically if it finishes in the top eight of the BCS rankings.

In addition, the amount of revenue major conference schools get from the BCS dwarfs that of the Hawaiis and Boise States of the world. While the BCS distributed $70 million total to the non-BCS conferences since it was instituted, ESPN reported that it paid $18 million each year to the major conferences.

So yes, the BCS is the jerk in Monopoly who buys every property just because he can, while Utah is stuck with a house on Baltic Avenue and a sour attitude. But a number of purely football-related reasons indicate the messy affair this lawsuit is bound to become.

Utah will point to the fact it is the only non-BCS team to win two BCS bowls. Their 21-0 first- quarter lead over Alabama in the ’09 Sugar Bowl — good. The fact the Crimson Tide players looked like they would rather be eating glass than playing that game — not so good. That incredible 2007 Fiesta Bowl victory by Boise State will probably be pointed to as well. Hawaii’s 41-10 loss in the 2008 Sugar Bowl might be conveniently forgotten.

Shurtleff won’t be alone in the suit either; he’s gathering allies to form a Justice League of Football as I write this. However, his only hope might be if some of the big boy BCS schools decide to take up the cause. Perhaps the Badgers could be motivated to join the fight? As recently as the 2006-07 season, they finished 12-1 with a top 10 ranking, yet did not play in a BCS bowl due to rules stating only two teams per conference may do so (thanks, Michigan and OSU).

Texas Tech might have something to say as well. After all, the Red Raiders weren’t too happy about being odd man out in a Big 12 where Texas got a BCS bid despite losing to the Raiders in their head-to-head matchup.

More than likely, the lawsuit will result more in publicity and courtroom bickering than in the end of the BCS. According to ESPN, if Utah wins the suit, the BCS would have to restructure and pay damages to any “states and universities harmed by the BCS.” That’s a lot of money. Luckily, after signing a $500 million TV contract, the BCS can afford lots of big defense attorneys, who will likely use lots of big words to make this into a bigger deal than it needs to be.

Ultimately, I don’t think the lawsuit will succeed. There’s too much subjectivity involved and, ironically, subjectivity is what the BCS was created to fix. I don’t even necessarily think this is the right way to go about changing things.

However, by actually doing something, Shurtleff is at least taking a step toward fixing the problem. Unfortunately, money can go a long way, so the chances we get playoffs in FBS football are about as good as the odds Utah accepts a settlement just to shut up.