Did Florida coach Urban Meyer sell the secret to beating the Alabama Crimson Tide to Utah?
Utah, Meyer's former team, defeated Alabama 31-17 on Friday night in the Sugar Bowl. For those keeping score at home, Florida beat Alabama by 11 points in the SEC championship game while Utah trounced coach Nick Saban's Crimson Tide by 14.
"I know where I'm voting us. I'm voting us No.1 End of story," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham told reporters in New Orleans on Friday night. "I don't know why they wouldn't deserve that consideration. Somebody has to explain to me why they wouldn't. There is only one undefeated team in the United States of America right now in Division I football, and it's these guys right here."
Quite the eye opener in the Superdome, no? Where do you think sportswriters should vote Utah in the final AP poll? I'm thinking No.4 if Texas defeats Ohio State. If the Buckeyes defeat the Longhorns, I'd vote Utah No.3 behind No.2 USC and the winner of the BCS national championship game. Thoughts?
-jo-
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As impressive as USC has been all year, you can't play a different game in the final poll that gets played with big conference teams all year. Utah beating TCU and Alabama, both likely ranked higher than USC's biggest win (Penn State) combined with Penn State being ranked below Bama AND Utah beating the only team to beat USC and looking at the MWC record against the Pac10 this year, I think you have to rank Utah ahead of USC. Doesn't matter how scary USC is- did they get it done against Oregon State? No- did Utah? Barely, but yeah, they did. Utah has to be ranked ahead of USC. Show the respect- if Bama had beat Florida (and they had their chances) they would have gotten the respect for winning out their schedule (even having it be lower that Utah's). Give Utah the minimum respect they deserve- credit for winning all their games.
Posted by: Pinko Punko | January 03, 2009 at 03:46 AM
Utah is undefeated, why shouldn't they be ranked #1? This system suc**, but it will not change due to the politics and $ in college FB.
Who would draw more fans ala more $?
Florida vs OU
Florida vs UT
That's why Utah is not in the game, but if there was an 8 team playoff things would be so different.
I personally think USC would win it all, just to much talent and speed. And a D that rivals the Gators.
Posted by: GatorAid | January 03, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Taken from a Dan Wetzel article:
Shannon deserves special scorn and extra analysis by potential Hurricane recruits because of the outrageous breadth of the (MARVE) provisions.
Waandy will not make it.....He is truly not smart enough to coach at a high level
Posted by: Mike | January 03, 2009 at 01:41 PM
UTAH #1 Period !
Posted by: JW-FLA | January 03, 2009 at 03:21 PM
Why shouldn't they be ranked No. 1? Because their schedule is soft as hell. UF, Oklahoma or Texas could've played the same schedule and been undefeated. The reason why these non-BCS schools aren't ranked high ISN'T because people think they're not good enough. It is because people think their OPPONENTS are not good enough. Utah needs to move into the Pac-10, period. THEN we can talk about them as a legit No. 1. For now, they're 3-4 at best, IMO, depending on how the rest of this all plays out.
Posted by: Adam S. | January 03, 2009 at 06:05 PM
The MWC was 6-2 against the Pac-10 this season (one of those losses in the bowl game b/n BYU and Arizona). The MWC owned the Pac-10.
Utah beat Oregon State the week after Oregon State beat USC.
Utah beat TCU which beat undefeated Boise State.
Utah beat mighty Alabama -- which was basically a home game for Alabama. They dominated Alabama.
Utah = #1
Posted by: John | January 04, 2009 at 07:00 AM
Plain and simple Utah should be #1
Posted by: Darren Z. | January 05, 2009 at 09:42 PM
What about co #1's
Posted by: MiamiGator | January 06, 2009 at 04:31 PM