What Makes a BCS Conference BCS?

Recently, the Mountain West Conference appealed to the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) to allow them to be a part of the BCS, or something like that. However, it seems that the BCS says no for the time being.

I understand the argument from the BCS schools and conferences. They don't want to share the money with the non-BCS schools. What constitutes BCS anyway. What makes your conference a BCS conference, having a big name like the SEC or ACC? Utah, a school outside the BCS and in the Mountain West Conference, toppled the SEC Champions Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last January. If you base being in a BCS conference on talent, Utah should be in the BCS on that argument alone.
Boisie St, a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) which is not a BCS conference, defeated Oklahoma 3 years ago in the Fiesta Bowl. Why isn't BSU in the BCS?

On three occasions, the non-BCS conference teams have out performed BCS teams: Utah over Pitt a few years back. I've already mentioned Utah defeating Alabama and Boisie St. Defeating Oklahoma.I would say that both Utah and Boisie St. are better than most of the Big East teams, and the Big East is a BCS Conference. In fact, both the Utes and the Broncos are capable of beating West Virginia, Rutgers and Pitt.

The answer, I guess, is the good ole boy network. Members of the ACC, SEC, Big East, PAC 10, Big 10 and Big 12 have long-standing traditions of college football success. More success means more money, and the newcomers the WAC, MWC, Mid-American and other non-BCS conferences aren't part of the club. The BCS schools have most of the money and they aren't interested in sharing it. I'm not saying that's right. It isn't. The whole system is BS anyway. I hope that the Utahs and Boisie States of the college football world keep having undefeated seasons and beat these so-called BCS teams in the BCS bowls.

Hopefully, it will put an end to this wretched system and we will have some sort of a playoff with these "smaller name" conferences (WAC, MWC, Mid-American) on the same playing field as the "Big Boys."