Sugar Bowl

[sangell2007]

LOLL TIDE

[YardBirds13]

Watching Nick Saban getting the #(%(#$ kicked out of him and at the same time knowing the Dolphins have a playoff game in two days is really, really satisfying.

[RShack]

Utah is really really good at:

• Having their D get in the Bama backfield.
  
• Not missing tackles, and having extra guys Right There just in case.
  
• Having their runners and receivers know exactly where a 1st down is.
  
• Having their runners and receivers take the first hit and twist and roll for another few yards.

Plus other stuff too...

[BaltimoreTerp]

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 Division 1, Bowl Subdivision, non-BSC National Champion, the only undefeated team to be allowed into and survive the BSC, the University of Utah Utes!

[mrbig1]

Bama ran into a buzzsaw tonight. Utah was great on both sides of the ball. At least we beat Auburn.

[Sports Guy]

Bad bad time for Smith to get suspended.

Not really surprising to see Bama do this...That Utah team was a lot better than people were giving it credit for and Bama is very young.

They are going to be a force for a while though.

[CrimsonTribe]

Ugh. We got our butts kicked. Certainly doesn't help that we lost the whole left side of our line (and consequently two of our best offensive players), but our defense just could not stop them.

On the bright side, there were plenty of "Utes/YouTHs" jokes to go around.

I need (another) drink.

[CrimsonTribe]

Bad bad time for Smith to get suspended.

Not really surprising to see Bama do this...That Utah team was a lot better than people were giving it credit for and Bama is very young.

They are going to be a force for a while though.

Doesn't help that we also lost Mike Johnson at the beginning of the game. There went the strength of our offense, the left side of the O-line, and our ball control offense. Either way, we got beat.

[RShack]

I think Utah did a better job of having their ball handlers get to the 1st-down marker than any team in any game I ever saw.

I don't know how many 1st downs they got, but a *ton* of them were because their guys managed to get a foot or two past where they needed to be to get the 1st down.

Runners and receivers both. It was almost eerie.

I bet this was no accident. I bet their coaches make a bigger deal about that in practice than most do.

[geschinger]

Utah's coach and players are saying how they are the best team in the country and should be #1.

Maybe they should take a long look at this and then they'll know exactly why no one considers them as such.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teams/schedule?teamId=254

I don't know who they may or may not have tried to schedule OOC games against. But I would be willing to bet that many of the better programs would want no part of a home and home with Utah. I find it hard to hold their schedule against them when I know how many of the top programs would much rather schedule OOC upcakes rather than go home and home with programs like Utah. Regardless, Utah in 2008 is yet another example of why we need a playoff. They might be the best team in the country but we'll never know. It sucks that college football is the only sport where championships are not decided on the field of play.

[YardBirds13]

Utah's coach and players are saying how they are the best team in the country and should be #1.

Maybe they should take a long look at this and then they'll know exactly why no one considers them as such.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teams/schedule?teamId=254

Maybe if Division 1-A (FBS) football wasn't such a fraud they would get a chance to actually prove it on the field.

FBS football is a joke until they develop some kind of playoff system to actually determine a true champion. I don't care who wins the Oklahoma-Florida game, they aren't a National Champion. Texas, USC, Utah, etc.

This sport is ridiculous. Take a page from the FCS and do things the right way, you incompetent %$)*%'s.

[NNYyardbird]

Utah's coach and players are saying how they are the best team in the country and should be #1.

Maybe they should take a long look at this and then they'll know exactly why no one considers them as such.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teams/schedule?teamId=254

Utah has every right to state their claim. They are the only team standing that is undefeated. They just whipped a very good Bama team (don't want to hear Bama lover excuses). They beat the only team to beat USC. They beat a Top 10 team in TCU and buried BYU. There have been past champs who did a whole lot less than that (e.g. BYU in 1984).

Do I think Utah would win a playoff? Probably not, but I'm not sure OU or Florida would win it either. I certainly don't take issue with the fact that they have every bit as much a claim to the championship as anyone else.

Blame the NCAA but don't blame Utah. They don't need to look at any ESPN link. They did it on the field.

[mrbig1]

Utah has every right to state their claim. They are the only team standing that is undefeated. They just whipped a very good Bama team (don't want to hear Bama lover excuses). They beat the only team to beat USC. They beat a Top 10 team in TCU and buried BYU. There have been past champs who did a whole lot less than that (e.g. BYU in 1984).

Do I think Utah would win a playoff? Probably not, but I'm not sure OU or Florida would win it either. I certainly don't take issue with the fact that they have every bit as much a claim to the championship as anyone else.

Blame the NCAA but don't blame Utah. They don't need to look at any ESPN link. They did it on the field.

I agree 100%. They did it on the field not in the polls. One thing that Utah has is speed, and as everyone knows speed kills.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Agree that it's got to be tough for them to schedule a top team..

Having said that, it's a bit absurd to say that a team that has beaten who they have beaten is better than a Florida, Oklahoma, or even an Ole Miss IMO.

All this does is further show how much of a joke the BCS is.

If the AP had a collective pair amongst it's august multitudes they would vote Utah number one no matter the outcome of Oklahoma-Florida.

They are the only team to get this far, both in completing their schedule and in getting to a top bowl, to finish without a loss.

[ledzepp8]

I don't know who they may or may not have tried to schedule OOC games against. But I would be willing to bet that many of the better programs would want no part of a home and home with Utah. I find it hard to hold their schedule against them when I know how many of the top programs would much rather schedule OOC upcakes rather than go home and home with programs like Utah. Regardless, Utah in 2008 is yet another example of why we need a playoff. They might be the best team in the country but we'll never know. It sucks that college football is the only sport where championships are not decided on the field of play.

Good post. And just to add: Maybe Utah's schedule wasn't quite as difficult as Florida or Oklahoma, but they did still play 6 bowl eligible teams and beat 3 ranked teams and manhandled a #4 Alabama team that was #1 for a very large part of the season. And Utah was the only team to go through their schedule undefeated.