Comments about ‘Utah Utes football: Whittingham, rivals say feuds are over’

Coach Whittingham: We want a Mountain West Conference championship. It's eluded us for the last three years. That's what we have our sights set on.

Utah Fan: it's not surprising that [BYU fans] talk only about conference championships when that's how they've always measured success.

Its not surprising that SOME Utah fans have lowered their expectations from winning conference championships to finding other less meaningful accomplishments for judging success. Utah, after all, has won so few championships in the last half century.

Most BYU fans view regularly winning conference championships as a STEPPING STONE to greater accomplishments. It used to be the ONLY way of getting into a bowl game, which is why Utah disappeared from the bowl scene for 28 years following their 1964 Liberty Bowl appearance. It also leads to Top-25 finishes and other national recognition, which is why BYU has finished in the Top-25 FIFTEEN times compared to Utahs 3 or 4.

A great record in bowl games is something Utah fans can be proud of, however, you cant transform an above average season into a great season simply by beating another above average team in a bowl game.

"the newspaper writers did crown them national champs in 1984"

Newspaper writers, coaches, sportscasters, and every other prominent group that "awards" national championships in Div 1A football.

Nothing really has changed since 1984 except for a feeble attempt by the BCS to match the "two best teams" in a so-called national championship game.

Everyone who has payed any attention to college football since the creation of the Alliance/BCS Bowl knows what a dismal failure that process has been.

Until we have a true national championship playoff, the "mythical" national champion will continue to be "awarded" in a beauty contest reserved for the "beautiful" conferences.

The BcS is nothing but money-making operation for the "haves" of college football. The ONLY reason they decided to throw the non-BcS teams a bone was because they were FORCED to do so to prevent a class-action lawsuit from breaking up their money-grabbing monopoly.

"Utah has won in tournament settings, both in football and in basketball."

To call the BcS a "tournament" is like calling the Westminster Kennel Club dog show and real sporting event.

Both are nothing but beauty contests.

In their 115 years of college football, Utah has won their conference championship and then played in the bowl game designated for their conference champion...

ONCE!!!

2003 - Liberty Bowl - Southern Miss - 17-0

It would have been twice if they hadn't played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2004.

Thanks for the great laughs, "Lavell." Those are some of the most unintelligent comments on here.

To (dim) wit:

"And what we all love about tournaments is that when they're all said and done you pretty much know who's the best."

Oh, really?

So, in 2004 who was better ... USC or Utah? Who was better, Utah or Auburn? Who was better, USC or Auburn? And what about the year that USC was No. 1 in both polls, but not invited to play in the BCS Championship?

Yeah, we all knew who was the best team after those "tournaments."

That you ascribe Utah having success in "tournament" football for one game is the single most ridiculous comment in this entire thread. Stop bobbing for fruit in the barrel of red Kool-Aid, Lavell

I'm sure you don't see the irony in lauding Utah's Sweet Sixteen basketball appearances while denigrating BYU's conference football championships. I'd wager that BYU has more Top 16 final football rankings than Utah has Sweet 16 appearances.

And the only thing I remember about Utah and the NCCA Tournament is that the Yewts always find some way to lose to North Carolina. Beat the Tarheels, then pop off.

Sorry, Lavell, but you are missing the obvious. What has affected the conversation between BYU fans and Utah fans over the past 30 years can be traced to one single thing:

SCOREBOARD!

This is coach-speak. If I was a coach or player this year for Wyoming, I too would say "water under the bridge" or "onside kick? What onside kick?" But come game time it will matter, and it will make a difference.

Wyoming 24, Utah 20

Thanks for checking in, Lavell. The one thing you can say about Utah is that they do have a great bowl record. A big mitigating factor in that, however, is for most of those years, they did not win the conference and instead ended up in the lowest tier of bowl game possible to where they were playing opponents who could barely qualify for bowls. They should have won those matchups.

The two exceptions were 2003 and 2004 where Utah was conference champion and represented the league as conference champions. Although, one could argue that Pittsburgh was a vastly inferior opponent as well (through no fault of the Utes).

You crack me up, Lavell.

What would Utah's bowl record be if Ute fans counted the results of the BYU-Utah games during the Edwards era? During that entire span the BYU-Utah game WAS Utah's bowl game.

It is KENTUCKY that Utah can't beat in basketball (another team in blue they have problems with). How many MWC Championships in basketball does Utah have recently? How many MWC Tournament Championships do they have.

Please remind me.

Total Bowls
BYU - 26
Utah - 13

Bowl Record
BYU - 9-16-1
Utah - 10-3

Average Overall Record
BYU - 10-3
Utah - 8-3

Average Opponent Record
BYU - 9-3
Utah - 8-4

No. of Opponents with 3 or fewer losses
BYU - 14
Utah - 2

No. of Opponents with 2 or fewer losses
BYU - 5
Utah - 0

No. of Undefeated Opponents
BYU - 2
Utah - 0

No. of Top 25 Rankings after bowl
*BYU - 14 AP, 14 Coaches
Utah - 3 AP, 4 Coaches

*BYU was ranked 16 AP, 20 Coaches in 1979 and didn't play in a bowl


Played in/Qualified for bowl reserved for conference champion
BYU - 17
Utah - 2

Longest streak of consecutive bowls
BYU - 18
Utah - 5

BYU was ranked 16 AP, 20 Coaches in 1977 and didn't play in a bowl

Coach nit-Whitt knows that he made a bone-headed decision to call for an onside kick with the Utes up 43-0.

Now he's wishfully hoping to smooth things over so he can sneak into Laramie without being ambushed.

Maybe he's learned a hard lesson about not kicking an opponent when he's down, but, if not, he may yet learn that it's not wise to throw fuel on the fire when you have to play in the enemy's camp the following season.

I thought this was an article about Wyoming...

Given all the stupid comments from Cougar fans about an article that didn't have a thing to do with BY WHO maybe you Cougar fans time would be better spent getting the Jello ready for the MIA social

When it becomes clear that you've lost the argument and you have no genuine rebuttal, always resort to your best third-grade response to end the argument.

Good luck to the Utes at the Big House and in Laramie. Looking forward to meeting your undefeated team in November.

Just like calling every Ute fan the town drunk, jokes about green jell-o are not funny anymore. Get some new material (Green Jell-O).

This is an open forum. No one owns the right to comment here. Ute fans do not have sole authority on stupid comments

Yes, they are over, that's because the u is going to lose to both of those teams this year, just like Bball last year. Thanks Wittless.

byu, Yahoo called and they want their "Y" back.

USU called and they want their navy blue back.

Return to glory?!?! Find some identy first, stick with it, then talk about glory.

Your poor fans don't know what color or logo to purchase because your identity is a moving target!

The only consistancy you have is green jello, ignorant yet arrogant fans (very strange combination that exists only at byu) and envy for big brother in SLC.

Try having just ONE player stick in the NBA before you declare glory. Win a few bowl games (UCLA booted last year's game to you). Win an NCAA tournament game... just one every decade would be an improvement.

U of U envy? Certainly! Count the posts from negative byu fans on this U of U article and draw your own conclusion.

You rant about off-topic posts and then give us a long diatribe about ABCs and colors and basketball.

As a Utah graduate and an avid BYU fan I can state unequivocally that:

BYU has had the dominant football program for the last half century.

Utah has had the dominant basketball program for the last half century.

There are exceptions, such as BYU's NIT run in 1966 and their NCAA run in 1981, and Utah's BCS-busting season in 2004. BYU has gotten more competitive in basketball recently. Utah has gotten more competitive in football and has had some bowl success since 1992. But, if you look at the overall success of each program for the last 50 years:

BYU football has been MUCH better than Utah football.

Utah basketball has been MUCH better than BYU basketball.