Jan 05 2009
#1 Utah
I really think it is unfortunate that this will be as good as it gets for a team like Utah. At this point, the least they deserve is at least a chance to play for a national championship, but they won’t get that chance.
This is not the same as last year’s Hawaii team, or even the undefeated 2004 Utah team. If you look at Utah’s overall resume, it is pretty darn good. They have beaten six bowl teams, including victories over #24 Oregon State (who had beaten USC), #17 BYU, #11 TCU and #4 Alabama. Remember, Alabama was #1 for all of November and nearly was playing for the national title instead of Florida. And yet, Utah won convincingly, thoroughly outplaying Alabama from the big, bad SEC.
Yes, the other top teams may have played slightly tougher schedules and defeated a few more bowl teams, but the fact remains that Utah won all of its games and Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and USC, frankly, did not.
Let’s say that LSU or Florida State went 13-0, was the only undefeated I-A team, beat six bowl teams, four of them ranked (two in the top ten), including the #1 team for all of November. Would there be any question that they would be national champions?
