“You want to play a real team in a BCS Bowl game, you got it,” or “How did we go from the potential members of the BCS Championship to opponents of BCS fraud members,” and “What the hell is a Ute?”
This is how I picture the inner monologue developing in several Alabama players’ and coaches’ minds when Bowl Championship Series Bowl berths were handed out Dec. 7.
If Alabama is overly confident in its chances in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, the Crimson Tide aren’t alone. According to data taken from an ESPN poll at 8 p.m. on Dec. 14, 82 percent of the 50,397 voters worldwide think the former No. 1 team in the country will win this game.
Even with a Superdome that is sure to predominantly garbed in the Alabama shade of crimson, Utah is more comfortable in the underdog role then President George W. Bush apparently is at dodging Iraqi footwear. Nick Saban could spend the remaining 19 days paying Utah a compliment for every dollar on his lucrative contract and that still wouldn’t change the bulletin board material he’s already furnished for the Utes.
Nick Sabban told The Associated Press his Alabama team is the only one “that plays in a real BCS conference that went 12-0.”
When Louie Sakoda went to the ESPN College Football Award show Dec. 11, he was surrounded by some of the best players and coaches in college football. At one point, Alabama’s prized left tackle Andre Smith8212;who was named to the Outland Trophy winner, handed out to the best offensive lineman in the nation8212;was interviewed by ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and was asked how disappointed he was to be playing Utah, considering the Tide were just 15 minutes short of the BCS Championship game.
Sakoda, who was sitting next to special teams head coach Jay Hill, said he just turned to his assistant coach and the two of them smiled.
I spent Friday afternoon interviewing players from the U football team for a story intended for this Sugar Bowl guide. Somehow my recorder vanished from the face of this earth, meaning I can’t quote Kyle Whittingham and his football team verbatim.
But I asked several people, including Whittingham and defensive tackle Paul Kruger8212;who will have the privilege of showcasing his abilities against Andre Smith8212;how much Urban Meyer has been able to help Utah scout Alabama. Everyone was full of praise for the Crimson Tide’s defense, which is ranked fourth in the nation and holds opponents to fewer than 79 yards on the ground, and its offense, which averaged 196 yards on the ground against the SEC. I don’t need my recorder to tell you that Meyer has basically functioned as a sound board for Whittingham. Everything Utah needs to know about Alabama is all there on tape. Alabama’s game plan is to run the football hard behind a massive offensive line and play nasty defense. Thirteen games worth of tape has reiterated that message.
Alabama is Goliath. Utah isn’t David, but rather the ultimate Swiss Army Knife. If you’re looking for the quintessential knife8212;the Crocodile Dundee knife8212;Utah isn’t it. If you’re looking for the single best screwdriver, saw, tooth pick, scissors, bottle opener or leather punch, Utah isn’t any of those either. The Utes don’t have the best running back, quarterback or defensive line.
But if you’re looking for a group of tools that play under one logo, Utah might just be the most superb, if not the most eclectic. Utah is only one of two teams to win every single game it has played this season and every win has been different. Defense has won a few games, and Utah’s running game, Brian Johnson’s arm and even special teams have kept the undefeated season alive. National experts point to how Utah needed the Horned Frogs’ missed field goals to beat them, but I say Brian Johnson and Utah’s defense showed excellent survival skills, which is what you want a quality Swiss Army Knife for in the first place. Utah has even proven to be a capable blade with its sharp offensive performance a time or two.
Utah is going up against a formidable foe from the best conference in the land. Utah’s run defense will be tested more than it has this entire season, but Utah has tools. Most national “experts” have stats to go off of, and maybe a nationally televised game or two in which Utah needed last-minute drives to survive.
Whether Alabama comes prepared or not, Utah has already begun to use the wave of doubt as a wet rock, and Utah’s four-inch steel blade won’t be the only thing that’s sharp come Jan. 2.
