Can Utes finish No. 1?
So now that the Utes have beaten Alabama and finished as the only undefeated team in the nation, the question of the day is can the Utes win the national championship? The answer is yes and no. The Utes can't win the BCS title, that will go to the winner of the Florida-Oklahoma game. However, the Utes could be voted No. 1 by the Associated Press, which crowns its own champion. Normally the AP voters vote in line with whatever team wins the BCS title game. However, in 2003, USC, ranked No. 1 in the AP poll at the end of the regular season won the AP championship by earning 48 of the 65 first-place votes after beating No. 4 Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl. LSU defeated Oklahoma 21-14 to win the BCS title.
Could the same thing happen to the Utes? Theoretically, yes. The one thing the Utes have going for them is that perfect record. In 2003, all three teams had one loss each, which is one of the reasons the rankings were so jumbled going into the bowls.
I really doubt Utah will have enough support among AP voters to finish No. 1. Too many are going to vote for the winner of the BCS title game and the ones who are willing to go outside of that game for a No. 1 team may look at USC or Texas, if it wins big, as candidates for their No. 1 team along with the Utes. The Utes, being from a non-BCS conference, still aren't going to be considered equal to those programs in the eyes of some voters. It might be unfair, but it's true.
In keeping with the subject of Utah as a possible national champion, check out this website which wants to level the playing field so such possibilities could happen.
Could the same thing happen to the Utes? Theoretically, yes. The one thing the Utes have going for them is that perfect record. In 2003, all three teams had one loss each, which is one of the reasons the rankings were so jumbled going into the bowls.
I really doubt Utah will have enough support among AP voters to finish No. 1. Too many are going to vote for the winner of the BCS title game and the ones who are willing to go outside of that game for a No. 1 team may look at USC or Texas, if it wins big, as candidates for their No. 1 team along with the Utes. The Utes, being from a non-BCS conference, still aren't going to be considered equal to those programs in the eyes of some voters. It might be unfair, but it's true.
In keeping with the subject of Utah as a possible national champion, check out this website which wants to level the playing field so such possibilities could happen.
4:35 PM
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5 Comments:
Any of you who are interested please join the Facebook group Utah Utes 2009 National Champions. Writing the AP writers has been suspended as they all had clearly been contacted and were getting a little annoyed. In this day and age lets try and use social networking sites, you tube and other media to create buzz and make the case that the Utes are the National Champions and the AP writers should recognize them as such.
Lya, you asked the wrong question. The Utes DID FINISH #1.
The question is: Will they be voted #1. Ans: Maybe
As I have surfed through many of the newspapers throughout the country, especially in the South, it became obvious that most people around the country had not even seen the Utes play until the Sugar Bowl. Comments like "who knew?" (how good Utah is) were common. We need to get a top-notch television contract if we are ever going to get the MWC out of obscurity.
This elitist voting system reminds me of that Randy Newman song of the 1960's, "Beehive State," particularly irksome to those of us who live here, which reminds us, "we got to tell this Country about Utah, cause nobody seems to know."
People, we need to be clear. By any traditional standard, indeed by any standard, the Utes are National Champions of College Football. We have heard calls from the press in places like New Orleans to give the Utes a "share" of the title. That is absurd on its face. You can't give an undefeated team a "share." The undefeated team is the Champion. Period. Any coherent arguments, if they were possible, in opposition to the fact of the Utes Championship could only come based on strength of schedule. So lets look at that. We beat Michigan at Michigan. Some will say that Michigan was not good this year. Well, Michigan had a sour taste to their season because, well, Utah beat them. We hear USC claiming a share after a loss to Oregon State, a team Utah beat the very next week. Now this Pounding of Alabama on what was essentially their own turf (everyone who went to New Orleans knows the entire establishment, from Blues Traveler to the game announcer to the officials at the game were opposed to Utah)is of course the clincher. Before adopting traditional football logic, let us note that Utah beat Bama worse than Florida did. More Importantly, Bama beat Ole Miss, who not only beat Florida at Florida (by blocking an extra point against Urban Meyer's enshrined special teams), but just beat Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl, the one team who beat Texas. And Texas of course beat Oklahoma. If you don't like the Alabama Connection fine. Vanderbilt beat Ole Miss. Vanderbilt lost at home to Tennessee. Guess who beat Tennessee at Tennessee? Yep, our very own Mountain West bottom of the Barrel Wyoming Cowboys went down to Tennessee and whooped the Volunteers. And of course Utah pounded the Cowboys in Laramie on October 11. (I'll spare you at this point the facts in support of The Mountain West Conference like the Pounding MWC handed the PAC-10 this year, or the patty-cake non-conference schedules of teams like Texas and Florida) Its over folks. Utah is the National Champion. They will have an exciting Orange Bowl on Thursday, but the National Champion has already been decided. That's the problem with losing in college football: It almost always rules out a national title. In college football analysis for determining national titles, each game, by whatever name, is just one game. Bowl games and regular season games are weighted only by the quality of the opponent and any "down the chain" factors that may represent. It isn't a matter of who "likes" a team, or even who is supposed to be the better team by any analysis. Its the team that wins, that is the champion. Utah won all their games including 5 against ranked opponents, not the least of which was Alabama, a team ranked number one for weeks. Utah is the National Champion. Do not hesitate in any way to claim it. Boldly assert it. Utah should have a presence at the Orange Bowl this week claiming the title before the game even starts. Utah is the outright National Champion of College Football this year. What an honor!
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