Utah Utes football: Sugar Bowl QBs winners, not about stats

NEW ORLEANS — Brian Johnson and John Parker Wilson, the starting quarterbacks in the the 75th anniversary Sugar Bowl, don't have extremely glossy statistics.

The seniors' numbers pale in comparison to several others in the Bowl Championship Series. Johnson and Wilson both have less yardage and fewer touchdown passes than Oklahoma's Sam Bradford (4,464 yards, 48 touchdowns), Texas' Colt McCoy (3,445 yards, 32 touchdowns), Southern Cal's Mark Sanchez (2,794 yards, 30 touchdowns) and Florida's Tim Tebow (2,515 yards, 28 touchdowns).

Even so, it just doesn't matter.

Johnson and Wilson are bottom-line guys. They win football games.

Both led their squads to 12-0 marks in the regular season. Johnson directed the Utes to a Mountain West Conference championship, while Wilson guided the Crimson Tide to the SEC title game.

"I think both quarterbacks are invaluable to their teams respectively. Numbers are one thing, but in my opinion the number one thing you look at in a quarterback is win/loss record," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "And our guy (Johnson) has won 20 of his last 21 starts. He's the all-time winning quarterback in Utah history as far as number of wins."

Johnson completed 241-of-353 passes for 2,636 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. He was intercepted nine times. Wilson, meanwhile, connected on 169-of-293 throws for 2,096 yards with nine touchdown passes and six interceptions.

Though the numbers differ a bit, Whittingham pointed out some similarities between the players. Both have excelled with respectable, but not overwhelming statistics in some categories. "(Wilson) hasn't put up great numbers, but he did win 12 ball games this year and he did a great job of managing the offense," he said.

"And there's no doubt that having a fifth-year senior quarterback at the helm is a big advantage, and we were fortunate to have that this year."

Alabama coach Nick Saban also complimented the play of both quarterbacks. Wilson, he noted, has done an outstanding job managing Alabama's offense and is a good leader. The people around him have responded well and played well.

"He has done what he needs to do to for us to be effective and efficient offensively," Saban said. "We haven't turned the ball over a lot. We have made enough big plays and scored enough points most of the time and I think his confidence, demeanor, management and leadership has made a significant difference versus last year. His confidence and the player's confidence in him are certainly positive factors."

Saban then praised Johnson for doing a fantastic job of directing Utah's offense.

"They have a lot of multiples, formations and personnel that they utilize, but as a passer he has a very high completion percentage, a very high quarterback rating in terms of passing efficiency. They make their share of big plays and certainly keep defenses off balance with the multiples they present and how they utilize their personnel.

"We feel he is one of the better quarterbacks we will play against all year."

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