Utah Utes football: Team ready to reap their reward with sweet game

NEW ORLEANS — When the Utah Utes closed their final full practice of the 2008 football season inside the Louisiana Superdome on Wednesday, the players excitedly hooted and hollered while "bringing it up" before coach Kyle Whittingham.

The emotions shown by the Utes weren't typical for the ending of a normal football practice, and they were no doubt a result of the team's accomplishment of busting the BCS and playing on a prominent national stage on Friday night.

How sweet it is that the Utes are playing in the Sugar Bowl for the first time in school history.

"It feels great to be back in the BCS and in the Sugar Bowl," said Utah athletic director Chris Hill. "It's the 75th anniversary of the Sugar Bowl, so it's a special time for everyone."

He isn't kidding when he says everyone. Utah's Mountain West Conference rivals, and conferences without automatic BCS bids, also are benefiting by the Utes busting the BCS.

The Utes receive a whopping $17.5 million payday for playing in the Sugar Bowl, a gigantic jump from the $750,000 they earned from playing in the Poinsettia Bowl last year. Hill confirmed on Wednesday that he expects Utah to net about $1.4 million from playing in the Sugar Bowl. Other Mountain West schools and conferences without automatic BCS bids receive a portion of Utah's payday.

"They're excited for it," Hill said. "I'm sure they're happy. For us, we're happy to provide it."

Travel and various other expenses such as meals and game tickets also take a major chunk out of Utah's profits. Still, the $1.4 million payday is quite nice when you consider many programs have the goal of not losing any money when they play in postseason contests.

Hill said the money earned by the Utes will go to finishing the lobby in the Spence Eccles Field House, as well as for upgrading locker rooms for other programs. He'll also put some of the money away for "a rainy day," which he said is necessary because of the state of the economy.

Quarterback Brian Johnson has some ideas of where the money should go.

"We don't get paid nothing," he said, laughing. "Maybe we should. I'd like to see what they're doing with that money. It's out of our control. We just go out and play ball, and the administration can take care of the money."

But specifically, Johnson said he'd like to see Utah's facilities upgraded.