Sports

BOWL MAY BE ‘NON’ FACTOR

ONCE upon a time, there were four big bowl games – the Cotton, Orange, Rose and Sugar. The thought of another bowl game joining them was considered, well, a fairy tale.

But some very sharp, energetic and visionary folks in Arizona decided to write a fairy tale of their own. They had everything the elite bowls had – great weather, civic leaders who supported a big-time bowl and, well, great weather. The Fiesta Bowl was born.

By 1982, 11 years after its inception, 21.8 millions homes watched Penn State crunch USC, 26-10, giving the Fiesta validation as a major player.

The payoff came in 1987, when Penn State beat Miami, 14-10 for Joe Paterno’s second national tile. A still-record 21.9 million homes tuned in, making it the most-watched college bowl game ever.

The Fiesta had bucked the system and won. Now comes a chance for the Fiesta to do it again. It can give us undefeated Boise St. vs. unbeaten Utah – the first-ever non-BCS conference BCS bowl game.

It’s something the Fiesta Bowl is considering, The Post has learned.

If Boise State beats Fresno State today, the Broncos and Utes will be two of the remaining four undefeated teams.

One problem – Utah already has completed an undefeated season and is BCS bowl eligible.

The BCS system is designed to reward the major conferences while throwing the non-BCS conferences some crumbs. They don’t want two non-BCS conference teams going to BCS bowl games. But since there is no playoff in college football, wouldn’t it make for a riveting bowl game to match two of the four undefeated teams play?

The Fiesta is contractually obligated to take the Big XII champ. But there’s a good chance the Big XII champ – Texas or Oklahoma, assuming Missouri doesn’t pull an upset in the league title game – will play in the BCS championship game.

“It is something we are mulling,” said John Junker, Fiesta Bowl president.

Boise State, which beat Oklahoma 43-42 in an amazing 2007 Fiesta Bowl, and Utah, which clobbered Pittsburgh 35-7 in the 2005 Fiesta, sure sounds better than Cincinnati vs. the ACC champ in the Orange Bowl.

Why, it sounds like a fairy tale come true.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com