Utes vs. Crimson Tide should present interesting matchups

This one had all the suspense of guessing where the sun would come up this morning.

Many Ute fans had already booked flights to New Orleans and made their hotel reservations before they tuned into Fox-TV Sunday evening or mingled among the boosters that attended the buffet on the fourth floor of the Rice-Eccles Press Box.

We've been hearing Utah-Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for a couple of weeks now, and it became reality Sunday at 6:14 p.m. when the Utes' logo was flashed on the TV screen and joined by the Crimson Tide's a few seconds later.

As Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said, "That's what we've been anticipating for a couple of weeks now — it is no surprise."

Some among the Ute faithful were holding out for the possibility of another Fiesta Bowl trip, this time against a more worthy opponent than a 3-loss Big East champion.

There was always the outside chance that the Utes might end up in the Orange Bowl if the Sugar Bowl decided to take Big East champion Cincinnati.

Another possibility was Alabama knocking off Florida in the SEC title game and leaving the Gators in the Sugar Bowl.

But just like we all thought, it ended up Utah vs. Alabama for the first time ever on a football field on Jan. 2. For the Utes, it's their first appearance in the Sugar Bowl, while Alabama will be making its 13th appearance there.

Of the five BCS bowl games, this will be the second-best matchup on paper. Only the national championship game features two combined higher-ranked teams than No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 6 Utah. And according to Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Houlihan, outside of national championship games in New Orleans, this will match the two highest ranked teams in the Sugar Bowl in 20 years.

Houlihan said all the right things about being excited about the Utah-Alabama matchup, although he gushed a little more about the Crimson Tide, calling it "a remarkable occurrence" and "a gift from heaven" and "a fabulous situation" that Alabama would be in the 75th anniversary Sugar Bowl game.

Of Utah, Houlihan simply said, "We're equally impressed to have another highly-ranked opponent."

Houlihan was also honest when asked if he was worried about having another non-BCS opponent in his game after what happened last year when Hawaii was throttled by Georgia 41-10