Utah Deserves Share of National Title
Nobody can legitimately argue now that Utah does not deserve a piece of the national title.
Not after what the Utes did on Friday night. Not after they traveled across the country, deep into SEC country, and knocked off mighty Alabama, 31-17, in a Sugar Bowl that was basically a de facto home game for the Tide. Not after the Utes came out and stunned the 'Bama defense with an incredible show of offensive skill and, yes, speed. They've got Southern speed out there in Utah, I guess.
Fact is, this one was never really that close. Utah jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back. They were faster than 'Bama. They were every bit as strong. They proved that they can play with anybody.
No, this was no fluke, folks. This Utah team came into the Sugar Bowl having already beaten some really good teams. They knocked off No. 11 TCU in a slugfest, 13-10. They crushed No. 17 BYU, 48-24. They went into the Big House and beat Michigan. They beat an 8-5 Air Force team. And, lest we forget, they beat the same Oregon State team that beat USC earlier this year.
So don't try to dismiss the Utes a lucky team from a bad conference that caught 'Bama on a bad night. The Utes played real competition en route to a 12-0 record and Sugar Bowl bid. And then they went down to New Orleans and dominated the same Alabama team that ran through the SEC regular season undefeated. They pushed around a Crimson Tide offensive line that even mighty Florida had trouble matching up with. They beat Alabama because, believe it or not, they are actually better than Alabama.
Now, the Utes can proudly say they're the only undefeated Division I team in the country.
So please, explain to me why this team is any less deserving of a national title than one-loss Oklahoma. Or one-loss Florida. Or one-loss USC. Because, the fact is, those teams lost. Utah never did.
And that's an achievement that deserves more than just our respect. It deserves the greatest award college football has to offer. It deserves a national championship.
Photo: Utah proved it on the field—they can play with anybody in the country. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Comments
This was a fluke. Bama did not show up to play this game. And until Utah can garner wins in a season schedule against teams like Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska or equivalent caliber, all in the same season, the title should not be split. Add to this that if Alabama was to have their same recruiting opportunities in a Mountain West Conference they would have gone into say maybe a hundred National Championship games undefeated. The major big guys play major big guys all season long. This is why the title can’t and should not be split. It’s like Apples and Oranges and put Utah in the SEC and they finish maybe 8-4 at best. But why should Oklahoma split a title with a team, when the team that Utah played against laid an egg, a big fat egg, but still it’s not Oklahoma’s fault.
Why is the excuse when it comes to non-BCS schools always that if they played in the Big 12 or SEC or blah, blah, blah that they would finish 8-4 or 2-10 or whatever? How do you know what would happen? Utah throttled Alabama. The game wasn’t even close. Tell me how that was a fluke? Saying Alabama didn’t show up is taking the easy way out.
And seriously, as Tim says, this was a Utah team that has a legitimate resume. They didn’t knock off a couple of I-AA teams and waltz through a crap conference. The Mountain West this year was better than the Big East and ACC and maybe on par with the Pac 10 and Big Ten. If Alabama played the same exact schedule and finished undefeated they would be national champions, hands down. So why does Utah not deserve some of the same recognition?
Because of how the system is set up, if the AP voters had any guts they would vote Utah No. 1.
“This was a fluke.”
Give me a break. First of all - Utah *dominated* Alabama. This wasn’t a case of Alabama not showing up, Utah was clearly just plain the better team.
Second, sure there are a few teams that have arguably tougher schedules, but not many. Coming into the game, they had beaten three different (currently) ranked teams, one of which let’s not forget, beat the mighty USC.
Third - just because the MWC isn’t part of the corrupt BCS system, doesn’t mean that the conference is weaker. The MWC deserves to be a BCS conference.