Utah Utes football: Sugar Bowl features overachieving defenses

NEW ORLEANS — Gary Andersen has plenty to be happy about, even if time for a good night's sleep isn't necessarily among them.

The defensive coordinator for No. 7 Utah is helping prepare the defense to face No. 4 Alabama in Friday night's Sugar Bowl, then will head full-time to take over the Utah State program.

In the meantime, he's also juggled hiring his own staff and shoring up recruiting for Utah State.

"I wake up happy every single day with a smile on my face," Andersen said. "But any time you leave something that you've had a longtime relationship with, it's kind of difficult."

With Andersen's looming departure and Kalani Sitake's elevation to replace him, the Sugar Bowl will feature three defensive coordinators, a head defensive coach and two defensive-minded head coaches.

Not surprisingly, it will also boast two pretty good defenses. The success also means some coaching turnover, possibly for both staffs.

Alabama defensive head coach Kevin Steele is reportedly a candidate to become defensive coordinator at Clemson under new coach Dabo Swinney.

That was news to coordinator Kirby Smart, who said he learned about Steele's reported candidacy on the ride over to a news conference Tuesday morning.

"Obviously we're going to have coaches pursued here because people want to get winners and we won some games this year," Smart said.

But like Utah coach and former defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham, Alabama's Nick Saban is heavily involved in defensive gameplans and philosophies. He also frequently works with the defensive backs.

"We all do the defense here. It's a collaborative effort," Smart said. "We all work at that together."

Both defenses have overachieved this season, thanks largely to the emergence of the front seven defenders. Nose guard Terrence Cody transferred in from junior college and became an All-American and freshman linebacker Don'ta Hightower also became an immediate starter.

Plus, most of the other key defenders gained familiarity with Saban's system last year. The result is a unit that ranks among the nation's top six teams in points allowed, total defense and rushing defense.

"I think their second year in our system is really important because they guys start to learn everything and they are comfortable with everything and they do a good job of that," Smart said. "I thought they competed hard, played hard, and we got some help.