Ask any Texan, and they’ll tell you the stakes are always high when Texas and Texas A&M meet on the football field, as they will do for the 111th time on Friday. But this year, thanks to the tangled web that is the Bowl Championship Series, Texas A&M stands to gain much more than just Lone-Star State bragging rights if it can upset the favored Longhorns. In fact, a win over Texas could make the Aggies favorite sons of… Boise, Idaho?

Confused? Welcome to the world of the BCS, which was unleashed on the college football world in 1998.The goal was simple enough – to ensure that the nation’s two top-ranked teams would face each other in a national championship game every season. The title game would rotate among the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose Bowls, whose eight spots would be filled by the champions of the six major conferences – no matter their position in the standings – plus two at-large spots.

To choose its title-game pairing, the BCS created a standings formula based on both human and computer polls, and at various times additional factors such as strength of schedule, number of losses, and a “quality win” component. The formula has rarely been the same from year to year, as BCS officials tweaked it to prevent a series of perceived injustices from being repeated.

The BCS encountered little controversy in its first two seasons. But problems began to surface in the 2000 season, when Florida State finished no. 2 and played in the title game despite having the same record as Miami, who had beaten the Seminoles during the regular season.

The following year, Nebraska played for the title despite being blown out in its final regular season game and failing to qualify for its conference championship game. Last season, USC was ranked no. 1 in both human polls but no. 3 in the BCS standings, and was left out of the championship game, leading to a split national title.

This season appears to be headed for more trouble. USC, Oklahoma, and Auburn all remain undefeated and make strong cases for invites to the Orange Bowl. But beyond concerns over the legitimacy of its title-game pairing, the BCS has been dealing with another controversy all season: for the first time, a non-BCS school looked like it would qualify for one of the two at large berths in the BCS games.

Utah, which plays in the Mountain West Conference and finished its regular season with a perfect 11-0 record, has all but qualified for an at large berth, based on a rule that was added to head off a lawsuit threatened by the so-called “non-BCS” schools. The rule guarantees an at large berth in one of the BCS bowls to any school from outside the six power conferences that finishes in the top six of the BCS standings.

Conference commissioners from the BCS leagues probably thought the rule would never come into play, and are now hoping that the novelty of Utah’s appearance will drive attendance and TV ratings for whichever bowl invites the Utes.

But Utah suddenly isn’t the only “non-BCS” school in position to gain access. This week’s BCS standings were jumbled after no. 7 Michigan and no. 8 Florida State both lost, allowing no. 9 Boise State, from the lightly regarded WAC, to move up two spots. That’s where Texas A&M comes in.

If the 19th-ranked Aggies knock off no. 5 Texas – certainly a possibility, especially in a rivalry game (just ask Ohio State or Florida) – Boise could move up to no. 6, qualifying for the other at-large bid, and shutting out no. 4 California. (It should be noted that Boise State is in a tightly bunched group of schools that includes Georgia and Miami, so it’s not automatic that the Broncos would take the sixth spot.)

California, which will finish behind USC in the Pac-10, would appear to be protected by another BCS rule that guarantees admission to the highest ranked school in the top four that is not an automatic qualifier as a conference champion. But that rule is trumped by the top-six rule for non-BCS schools.

It’s clear the conference commissioners never envisioned a scenario that would force them to fill both at large berths with the likes of Utah and Boise State, and one can safely assume that Rose Bowl officials, who grumbled mightily about having to accept Oklahoma instead of a traditional Big Ten participant two years ago, might rethink their BCS participation if they have to extend an invitation to Boise State.

Friday’s game, therefore, boils down to a clear choice for college football fans: Do you prefer order (Texas) or chaos (A&M)? Those seeking the demise of the BCS will no doubt be pulling for the Aggies.

Mr. Levine writes for FootballOutsiders.com.