Utah’s flair for the dramatic is certainly helping out.
The Utes (10-0, 6-0) are ranked No. 7 in the Bowl Championship Series standings, which were released Sunday, with two weeks left of football to play.
Quarterback Brian Johnson, the orchestrator of the final 80-yard drive that led the Utes to the 13-10 victory over TCU on Thursday, said the team needs to stay focused.
“We’ve still got two football games to go,” Johnson said. “This is nice to be 10-0 obviously, but at the end of the day we have to realize there is a lot of work left to be done.”
Following their last-minute victory over TCU, the Utes have jumped back in front of Boise State, securing the No. 8 ranking in The Associated Press poll. The Coaches Poll was a bit more generous to the Utes, jumping them past Penn State after the Nittany Lions’ unbeaten streak was ended against unranked Iowa on Saturday.
Utah continued its streak of being the highest-ranked non-BCS team in the BCS standings, but Boise State remains undefeated at 9-0 and continues to stalk the Utes8212;sitting one spot behind them in the AP and Coaches polls and two behind in the BCS standings.
“Words can’t explain the feeling I have inside of admiration and pride I have for this football team,” said head coach Kyle Whittingham.
While the Utes are sitting pretty heading into a game against a 1-9 San Diego State, the rest of the MWC is making some noise. The Wyoming Cowboys, a team Utah beat 40-7, marched into Knoxville, Tenn., and gave Volunteers head coach Phillip Fulmer a bitter 13-7 loss. BYU got back to its offensive business, besting SDSU 41-12 in Provo, and dark horse Air Force defeated Colorado State 38-17 to run its record to 8-2 on the year, including an impressive 5-1 within the MWC.
The MWC has three teams within the top 16 in the nation (No. 8 Utah, No. 15 TCU and No. 16 BYU) with Troy Calhoun’s Falcons knocking on the Top 25 door.