This is a question that will be answered January 9th after the BCS Title Game in Miami, FL. Some people out there are campaigning for the Utes to be ranked number one. That seems like a stretch but a voter in the AP must at least consider the Utes and I would not be surprised if Utah gained a few first place votes, as well as USC and Texas if they beat down Ohio State as most think.
When Utah scored 14 points in the first half of the first quarter they all ready scored more points then Alabama gave up, and then they ended the quarter up 21-0. All season Alabama gave up only 28 points in the first quarter, because they were able to get off to good starts.
The win was the largest defeat placed on Alabama all season, and yes that includes when Florida defeated Alabama in the SEC title game. Last night Utah played near perfect, not perfect but close, the most important play of the game was not the first drive for Utah but was the muffed punt by Brent Casteel that Utah recovered.
Had Alabama recovered that punt they most likely would have scored and the game could have taken a different turn. When the comparing the schedules, which I mention a lot, is comparable to most schools in the top five. The Utes beat two top 10 teams in TCU and now Alabama, they also beat another ranked team in BYU who won 10 games. Then do not forget that Utah defeated Oreegon State who beat then number one USC which is tough nowadays just look at how Penn State was worked in the Rose Bowl.
Why did Alabama pass as much as they did and listening to an idiot on Fox Sports Radio this morning who said Alabama did not want to be there and that the loss of Andre Smith hurt them since he was their best player. If you best player on a football team is your left tackle you must not be all that great. In saying that it did hurt Alabama to lose Andre Smith and it hurt when another lineman went out. However, neither plays defense and Alabama could not tackle or break through a wet paper towel.
Alabama has not been great in a long time and saying they did not want to be there is an excuse, these players wanted to win, because last year they went to the Independence bowl and lost to Louisana-Monroe. Not wanting to be there is a cop out and the big difference was Quarterback play for the Utes. John Parker Wilson was inacurate and had no time to throw by being pressured with being sacked eight times.
Utah's defense and offense overwhelmed Alabama and was out coached. The no huddle offense Utah ran left Alabama no choice but to keep their same personell and with Utah playing four and five sets Bama could not bring pressure. The All Americans for Bama did nothing, the only player to show up was Julio Jones who caught seven passes for 77 yards, and could have had well over 100 and a score if the quarterback was accurate.
Utah is no longer a mid-major program they are the only team in the BCS era to have two undefeated seasons, their coach makes over one millin a year, but they just happen to play in a non-BCS league in the Mountain West. The Mountain West is very close to being on equal footing with the other leagues that get inclusioin to the BCS for winning their league.
One final thought, Utah beat a team who was ranked number one for five weeks. Also, here is a very good article from Bama Online the Rivals fan site. Here is a snippet from the article:
When talking about BCS-busting wins in the future, fans and media will no longer refer to Boise State's improbable win over the Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl two years ago.
In my opinion Utah has to be in the conversation to be number one, but the way the system is they will not even with the AP vote. However Utah should be number three and possibly number two depending on the BCS title game out come.
The way the vote will turn out is that if we assume Texas beats Ohio State they will be ahead of Utah and most likely the loser of the title game will be two or three and the other will be Texas. Utah will be ranked fourth in the final rankings, not really fair but thinking of the way the voters do the Utes will not jump the loser of the title game or Texas again assuming Texas wins.
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