Utah Utes football: Utes can take advantage of disgruntled 'Bama team

NEW ORLEANS — Faced with the biggest obstacle in their 116-year football history, the Utes have one big advantage in today's Sugar Bowl. They'll walk away with their second BCS bowl victory in four years if they do what they've done before — pounce on the team that doesn't really want to be there.

Few things are more effective than taking advantage of another's misfortune. That approach has worked nicely for the Utes. They do well by taking offense at the slights, both large and small. But the key is to capitalize on teams that would rather be someplace else. It worked against Pitt in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl and made the Panthers look silly.

Imagine how disappointed Alabama feels. It thinks it should be playing for the national championship, and what does it get for its trouble? A game against the little team that could.

"If they don't want to play us, that's their problem," said Utah receiver Jereme Brooks. "We just want to keep our bowl streak alive; that's all we're worried about."

The Utes have made a living off disgruntled teams over the years. They have the nation's longest active bowl win streak (7). Sure, they've defeated the non-BCS schools Navy, Tulsa, Fresno State and Southern Mississippi. But they've also dead-ended big programs like USC, Pitt and Georgia Tech. Too-cool-for-school regular-season victims have included Oregon State, Michigan, Louisville, UCLA, Arizona, Texas A&M, North Carolina and Cal.

Which brings us to Alabama. For all its insistence on being thrilled to be in the Sugar Bowl against Utah, the Tide thinks it should be playing Oklahoma.

Playing Utah is like winning Miss Congeniality.

This whole philosophy started for Utah with the 1994 Freedom Bowl, only the fifth bowl game in Ute history. The opponent was Arizona, with its famous "Desert Swarm" defense. The 'Cats were No. 1 in some preseason rankings.

But unexpected losses dropped the Wildcats from Rose Bowl contenders to Freedom Bowl dead-enders. Utah won its first bowl game in 30 years.

Thus, the seed was planted. In 2001, the Utes met a disappointed Southern Cal in the Las Vegas Bowl, a team led by future NFL quarterback Carson Palmer. The game was plodding and inartistic but ended in a 10-6 Utah win.

Like dirty water in the desert, ugly never looked more appealing.

The Utes were living off someone else's winter of discontent.