Comments on: The Utes are the 2008 Football Champs.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:59:52 +0000

#36 – and that last paragraph is exactly why anything but a playoff is stupid.

By: Agellius

Agellius — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:39:21 +0000

Granting that flaw in my reasoning, I think my point still stands: That the undefeated record on its own doesn’t dispose of the issue. The only way it would, is if you assume that Utah’s schedule *is* every bit as tough as Florida’s, Oklahoma’s, etc., which I consider doubtful at least. It can’t help being a matter of opinion, though, since there are so few common opponents to look at when comparing teams from different conferences.

That being said, I was very surprised and impressed by Utah against Alabama. I won’t say that they *shouldn’t* be national champs, just that it’s no more clear that they should be, than that USC or Florida should, IMHO.

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:33:53 +0000

When people tell me my reasoning is circular, I point out that therefore my conclusions are true by definition.

By: Agellius

Agellius — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:06:24 +0000

I confess it was circular. I was just hoping their superiority would be taken for granted. : )

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:41:38 +0000

Circular reasoning, Agellius. A lot of the schools on USC’s schedule had weak records too. But, you say, at least they had weak records against good teams. How do we know it was against good teams? Why, because they played BCS schools.

Ah.

By: Agellius

Agellius — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:26:12 +0000

Sorry, I’m a little late on this. Anyway:

USC’s schedule:

Virginia
Ohio State
Oregon State
Oregon
Arizona State
Washington State
Arizona
Washington
California
Stanford
Notre Dame
UCLA

Utah’s schedule:

Michigan
UNLV
Utah State
Air Force
Weber State
Oregon State
Wyoming
Colorado State
New Mexico
TCU
San Diego State
BYU

It’s . . . just . . . not the same. I know some of the Pac-10 schools stunk this year. But SDSU was 2-10, New Mexico 4-8, Utah State 3-9. Utah’s schedule was against teams who were weak even against other weak teams.

I realize this doesn’t prove that Utah could not have beaten any of the teams that were ranked above them at the end of the regular season. But by the same token it’s got to be understandable why they were not ranked in the top two — which would have given them a shot at the championship — despite being undefeated.

Would they have remained undefeated after playing USC’s schedule, or Florida’s, or Texas’s? I’m going to stick my neck out and say there’s a pretty good chance they might have ended up a 1-loss team as did USC, Texas, Alabama and Penn State, all of whom were deprived of the opportunity to play in the championship game.

A playoff? Sure, who can argue that that would be the best way to pick the champion. I’m just saying that under our present system, not putting Utah in the top two was totally understandable, and they’re not the only ones who may have deserved it, yet still missed out on the chance to be no. 1. Their undefeated record, in and of itself, does not dispose of the matter.

By: Daytona Beachboy

Daytona Beachboy — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:27:26 +0000

As a Native Utahn and a USC Trojan alumnus, I feel doubly wronged. Congrats on a great and memorable season Utes. Now I’ve got to spend the rest of the winter listening to these myopic SEC fans here in Florida. Uuccckkkk!

By: Alison Moore Smith

Alison Moore Smith — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:24:38 +0000

I am a true, blue, lifelong Cougar fan. I got a degree there, my husband got three, my sister got two, my brother got one, my mother got one, and my dad taught there for almost 40 years. (He got his BS at the U, but did repent about three years ago when he was awarded the annual BYU honorary alumni award.)

Still, we cheered long and loud for the U. We were thrilled that they won and that was pretty much what I heard from all the other BYU alumni I talked to. (Anecdotal, I know.)

I love the rivalry, it’s great fun. But although I’ve cheered for Utah in pretty much every game they’ve played when it didn’t effect BYU’s standing, but I hear almost nothing positive from U fans. I’m sure there are lots of exceptions, but they don’t seem very vocal. There have been an awful lot of congratulatory letters to the editor from BYU fans lately. I don’t recall the same response when BYU won the national championship…or any other time, either.

queno, as much as I love BYU football, I’d rather have some decent men who serve others, who go on missions, who follow the honor code than those who win every game. If that is the tradeoff, as you suggest, I’ll take what Bronco brought back.

By: manaen

manaen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:50:36 +0000

12
post-game cries of the unfair returned missionary advantage from Alabama media
.
This touches on something that’s puzzled me for decades: if RM’s are such a huge advantage to a team, why don’t you recruit them for your program?
.
How can they be an *unfair* advantage if you can recruit them also? Cal had 5 LDS players on their team when they beat BYU in a recent Las Vegas bowl, including their Center and their QB. Todd Santos at SDSU, Darrell Bevell at Wisconsin, and Nate Longshore at Cal are examples of star LDS QB’s who excelled at gentile institutions so why not bring some into your program?
.
Conversly, explain USC’s and other schools’ prennial success without this purported advantage that they don’t campaign to acquire.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:19:39 +0000

Oklahoma stunk up the joint tonight. 54 points per game? Lousy defenses.

Should have been Florida v. Utah.