Even so, Prater acknowledges Utah presents a strong case in terms of strength of schedule and success. However, he expects the Utes to end up No. 3 or No. 4.

According to pollspeak.com, which tracks the ballots of the major polls, the Utes still have a lot of ground to make up. They didn't receive a single vote higher than fifth in the AP or coaches rankings prior to the Sugar Bowl.

In fact, a breakdown of how Utah fared in the most recent AP poll revealed five fifth-place votes, 13 sixth-place votes, 23 seventh-place votes, 16 eighth-place votes, seven ninth-place votes and one 10th-place vote.

The coaches poll, which agrees to honor the BCS title game winner as the national champion, had an even wider spread.

Three coaches — Whittingham, Urban Meyer and Joe Glenn — had the Utes fifth. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Missouri's Gary Pinkel showed a BCS conference bias by putting Utah 15th, just ahead of other non-BCS powers Boise State and TCU.

Between the extremes, the Utes received seven sixth-place votes, 27 seventh-place votes, 16 eighth-place votes and seven ninth-place votes.

As is the case with Whittingham, Texas coach Mack Brown announced he would vote for his team in the coaches poll.

"That's what coaches should do and that's looking out for their players," said Whittingham. "If you're not looking out for your players, you're not a very good coach in my opinion."

The passion, Franchuk pointed out, is "a cool thing about the voting" and part of the reason there's so much interest this year.

Pollspeak.com, which chronicles poll tabulations each week they're released, says it does so to hold voters accountable. Its mission is clear.

"Pollspeak is a watchdog organization dedicated to keeping college sports polls (and computer rankings) honest, or at least questioning those that seem to be flawed, uneducated or have an unreasonable bias," reads a statement on pollspeak.com. "Why? Because polls affect team's TV exposure, finances, recruiting and national championship hopes."

The ballot box

Where voters in the two major polls put Utah in the ranking prior to the Sugar Bowl:

ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25

No. 5 (5 votes): Brett McMurphy (Tampa Tribune), Joe Giglio (The News & Observer of Raleigh), Mike Hlas (Cedar Rapids Gazette), Mike Strain (Tulsa World), Tom Hart (CBS College Sports Network).