The opening weekend of college football features four battles between the most powerful non-BCS conference teams and some major competition from the BCS leagues. Whether or not you're on the side of the WAC and Mountain West getting full-fledged access to the BCS, this weekend could go a long way in supporting one of those arguments. Or not.

Utah, who has gone undefeated twice and won two BCS bowls, defeated the #15 Pittsburgh Panthers 27-24 in overtime on Thursday night. Pitt was the preseason favorite out of the Big East, but the Utes thoroughly dominated the game in the trenches.

As of now, the non-BCS conference teams are up 1-0 with three games remaining. There will be two more big games on Saturday, and one huge one on Monday night.

At 7pm Saturday, Jake Locker will take his Washington Huskies into Provo to battle BYU. Locker could possibly be the #1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, but he'll be facing a BYU team that has had a lot of success in recent years. That said, the Cougars are breaking in six new starters on defense, as well as a new quarterback. The Washington offense brings back nine starters, including their star quarterback.

At 7:45pm that night, Saturday's biggest game will take place when #24 Oregon State takes on #6 TCU in Cowboys Stadium. This is a TCU team that went undefeated in the regular season last year, and brings back nine starters on offense and seven on defense, and who will basically have the home field advantage. Oregon State returns 14 starters, but this will be a tough game for the Beavers in what amounts to a road environment.

Finally, Virginia Tech and Boise State will face off in a battle of Top 10 teams on Monday night from FedExField. Of the four BCS teams who are battling (or have battled) these dangerous small conference teams over the weekend, the Hokies are the only squad who gets to do it with a home field advantage. There will be a lot of Virginia Tech fans in attendance on Monday night.

Sometimes it makes you wonder what athletic directors are thinking. What good does it do Pittsburgh to play at Utah? I realize Oregon State will get a nice payday for their neutral site game, but they will also play at Boise State later this year. Finally, why would Washington play at BYU?

If the BCS conference teams win these games, everyone will say they should have. However, if they get upset, everyone will be clamoring for more access to the BCS for the WAC and MWC, or a playoff. Either way, that means the BCS conferences will be sharing more of their hard-earned money with the smaller conferences.

Yet we've seen Oregon play at Boise State, and now Oregon State will visit the blue turf. We saw Florida State play at BYU last year, with Washington making the trip this year. It just doesn't make sense for the BCS conference teams to play these games when there is no benefit for them. That's just asking for a loss. These small conference teams are very capable of knocking off BCS conference teams at home, and every time that happens they sneak closer and closer to gaining full-fledged BCS conference status, which means the BCS schools that are crazy enough to play these road games are now closer to being forced to share their revenue.

Like I said, it just doesn't make sense. As long as Jim Weaver is the athletics director at Virginia Tech, we can be confident that the Hokies will never take a trip across the country for a no-win situation like that. The matchup with Boise State is a good one because it will be played in FedExField, where Virginia Tech will have a major home field advantage. Any other setup would not be worth playing the game.

For the record, I think Virginia Tech will beat Boise State, I think Washington will beat BYU, and I think TCU will knock off Oregon State. Along with Utah's win on Thursday night, that will give the top four non-BCS schools a 2-2 record on opening weekend against BCS competition.

Fans of BCS conference teams need to pull hard for Tech, Washington and Oregon State this weekend. If those teams fall, then it could be only a matter of time before you see more and more of the money you help generate for your team going to help fund the San Jose State field hockey team, and other such programs. That's just not the way it should be.