Despite not having a game or even a practice last week, Utah moved up one spot in the Associated Press and Harris Interactive polls and maintained its No. 6 position in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

Eight days after closing out a 12-0 regular season with a 48-24 victory over BYU at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Utes are now seventh in all three major top 25 rankings — AP, Harris and the USA Today coaches poll.

Utah will learn its Bowl Championship Series destination and opponent next Sunday when official announcements are made.

The Utes are most likely headed to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans to face the loser of Saturday's SEC championship game between Alabama and Florida, or to the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., for a meeting with Texas or Oklahoma from the Big 12.

The Sugar Bowl is on Jan. 2, while the Fiesta Bowl is slated for Jan. 5.

As such, Utah's preparations have yet to begin in earnest.

"We have a bigger window of preparation time than we've had in past bowls due to when the BCS games fall," said head coach Kyle Whittingham.

The Utes took last week off to get rejuvenated and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. They'll return to campus today for lifting (and) conditioning workouts. Other sessions are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Whittingham said the team will follow a "bowl model" that has been used in the past after learning who they'll play on Sunday. The coaching staff will work recruiting trips around practices over the first couple of weeks.