Deseret News | Utah has reason to feel like No. 1

Reader comments
Utah has reason to feel like No. 1

AzByuFan | 1:53 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

There was only one perfect team and that was Utah. Ole Miss beat FL and was a good team but Utah beat a couple of teams better then ole Miss. If the SEC is so great then why did MWC dweller Wyo beat SEC power Tennessee in TN and then Wyo fires their coach, ha ha!

2008 University of Utah #1 in football

Big Daddy | 3:58 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

UTAH is #1 in "Big Daddy's" poll...
Florida was a distant second...
GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!

BYU grad in Kabul | 4:05 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Congrats to the Utes! Never have I enjoyed so much seeing Utah win a football game! This from a BYU grad. I watched the game in Afghanistan with a Utah grad a room full of Alabama fans. It was sweet! By the time the game was over, the 'Bama boys were long gone and it was me and my Ute buddy. I felt some revenge because of how nasty the 'Bama rednecks treated us when BYU played in Birmingham ten years ago and I went to the game with my family. BYU and Utah fans should stick together (except when we're playing each other). It's the rest of the country who are our rivals!

Comments continue below

Mario | 4:45 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

The Gator's and the Sooners are glad they did not play us I bet. Did you see how they struggled against each other,we would have rolled them up and sent either of them home. UTES are No.1 !!!!!!!!

Anonymous | 5:25 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

get out of mwc,then maybe you will be # 1

Anonymous | 5:43 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

A perfect record didn't add up to #1? I wonder if having Weber on the schedule and struggling through that game was a problem?

Congrats to the Utes for being #2. A job well done!

Coaches Stand Up | 7:04 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

I'm glad to see that Whittingham had the cajones to vote his team number one. They deserved it. Any argument for another team introduces bias and does not hold water.

outsider | 7:03 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Monster props to the Utes and the MWC. The notion that this conference doesn't have enough good teams to qualify as a BCS automatic bid conference is so silly on it's face that MWC fans should just shake their heads, shrug their shoulders and dismiss the BCS with a wave of the hand. We need a playoff system folks. The BCS geniuses have been shown to be a bunch of greedy jerks who could care less about the fans and the integrity of our great college football teams. And they are incompetent. Three different coaches calling themselves the number one team in the nation and all having a good point. None, however--as good as the argument made by your Utes. That's a team for the ages folks. And nothing about this stupid system will ever change that.

Mike Johnson Fallon NV | 7:44 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Florida played a 4-8 Citadel team, an FCS team significantly inferior to Weber State (10-4 and a playoff team).

And Utah didn't struggle against Weber State. Utah led 37-7 in the fourth quarter, before allowing two late WSU touchdowns.

But, Florida did beat two #1 ranked teams in a row. I congratulate them on winning. Utah came in #2 in the AP and #4 in the coaches' poll. Hopefully, they can patch the holes they have next year and use this as a starting point. If they had started the season ranked, they would have been playing for the national title. That is just the dynamics of the human polls.

Yewts overated | 7:45 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Yewts get over it you actually think you could beat the sooners or gators. You would not have rolled them up. WAKE UP

Utes fan | 7:52 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Number #2 okay! I"m a huge Utes fan, but I hate the dumb logic, utes fan have here on this forum. Utes should be number one because we beat Alabama better then Florida? Did you guys forget, we almost lost to TCU? which Okalahoma destroy? then they got beat by the gators? So we played great against alabama, but not TCU, which okalahoma destroy and was beaten by a great gator team, okay #2 is where we belong. But after watching last nite game, utes would struggle against that gator Defense!!

RE: Anonymous | 7:55 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

I'd put Weber State against the Citadel in football (an FCS team on Florida's schedule) any day, especially last year (Weber had a top 10 finish). And anyone that watched that game would know it wasn't a struggle.

Huh? | 7:58 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

A squeeker against nobody OSU, a shower of luck from the field goal gods against TCU, a win against hapless BYU and one solid game against an Alabama without their best defender and they didn't even want to be in the Sugar Bowl and you think you should be #1?

Mario at 4:45am, the Gators and Sooners are glad they didn't play you? Ha, that's a laugh. Either of them would likely have trounced the Utes.

I'm with you on one thing, the Utes should have been allowed to play in the national championship game. Then we wouldn't be having this discussion because you would have either proven it on the field or you'd be cowering and embarrassed with a loss.

When you look at it, this is about as good as you could have hoped for. Like Boise State, you were good but you weren't #1 good. Boise quietly kept their mouth shut about getting snubbed by the BCS, then played a close game to a better TCU. They finish 12-1 and everybody says they're good.

Utah couldn't have asked for better. This way you can claim #2 and #4 in the polls and not be embarrassed by Florida/Oklahoma/Texas/USC/ETC....

re: BYU grad in Kabul | 9:08 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Agreed! I was very upset to see BYU to lose to Arizona! Arizona is a good team, they were within 7 of USC, but they lost to NM, so BYU should've handled them! I hope BYU kills Oklahoma next year, and that Oklahoma is a very good team next year. Then I hope Utah beats BYU! :)

re: Anonymous | 9:24 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

I think the conferences should be power ranked now! I doubt the MWC would be 7. We have three teams in the top 25, two of which are in the top 7! How about the Big East?! One team in the top 25 for the Coaches Poll, and two for the AP! How about the ACC? Three in the top 25 of both polls. The mighty SEC, and Big 12 only put one more team in the top 25 of both polls than the MWC. Oh, and all three conferences had an equal # in the top 10! The PAC 10 also had two in the top 10, and three in the top 25 of the AP. They scored one extra team in the top 25 in the Coaches poll. That said, the MWC also went 6-2 against the PAC 10. Utah also beat the team that should've won the PAC 10 if it wasn't for OSU having their running back injured for the Oregon game.

re: Anonymous | 9:30 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Weber wasn't an issue. I don't think they struggled when you look at the score. Bias was an issue! Nobody else went undefeated, and I think struggling and winning is a little better than outright losing! Florida lost at home! Both Utah and Florida has the same record for wins over ranked teams at four each. Utah beat TCU, BYU, Alabama, and Oregon State. Florida beat Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Florida State. Utah has no losses, and Florida has a loss to Mississippi, at home! Note, that both have the same record over top 10 teams with two wins each.

Back from OZ | 10:01 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

It's to bad the wizard couldn't give Utah a national
championship. They already had the heart, brains and courage to beat Alamama in their back yard. They may be #2 in the AP, but will always be #1 in the hearts of Utah fans and college football fans who root for the underdog.

Go Utes!

Anything more inclusive works | 10:13 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

If the debate is about who has the toughest conference, then why don't they start the season in conference play. Then once a conference champion is found from each conference, hold a tournament among those teams. Seed them according to the bias that already exists if you have to, or even add the 2nd place team from so-called power conferences into the mix, but at least let the games play out on the field. Teams not in the tournament could go play out of conference exhibition games (or what many bowl games have become anyway). This format wouldn't require extra games either, because the out of conference games would just now be part of the tournament or part of exhibition play.

Anonymous | 10:35 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Why are we so obsessed with who's the best in the nation anyway? Do we need voters to validate how good we are at something? Who cares? It's just a game.

From a BYU fan | 10:50 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

I did my own analysis of perceived conference strength based on final top 25 ranking (assigning 25 points for a #1 ranking and 1 point for a #25 ranking, using both the coaches and AP poll) and came up with the following conference rankings:
1. B12 150 points
2. SEC 142 points
3. P10 96 points
4. MWC 90 points
5. B10 84 points
6. ACC 36 points
7. WAC 28 points
8. Big East 24 points

This is based purely on the final polls, but seems to show that the MWC was better than at least 3 BCS conferences, 4 if you consider their 6-2 record against the P10 this year.

I fully believe Utah was robbed by the BCS system of a fair chance at the title. I don't want to hear arguements about being from a weak conference, especially from Big East, ACC, Big 10 and PAC 10 conferences.

Blaine Washburn

Chucky D | 12:00 p.m. Jan. 9, 2009

"re:Big Daddy | 3:58 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009
UTAH is #1 in "Big Daddy's" poll...
Florida was a distant second...
GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!"

Utah is #4 in Chucky D's poll. That's #2 1/2 in the country.

#2 1/2 Nationally.

Go Utes!!!

Boo Hoo | 12:47 p.m. Jan. 9, 2009

Wer'e #2! We're #2! Cougars 1 National Championship - Utes 0. Scoreboard! It will always kill Ute fans but there is nothing they can do about it. I look forward to 2009 so we can quit talking about the Utes.

Sorry but... | 3:25 p.m. Jan. 9, 2009

If the game worked like it did back in the 80s...Utah would be 2. BYU 1.

I love you Utes!!!

RE: yewts overrated | 3:27 p.m. Jan. 9, 2009

You must not get out much! I thought the Utes proved that theory wrong by starting the season unranked then working their way to #2 (should be #1) by smashing the powerhouse in the SEC. Tupac said it best "jealously and envy coming from my enemies." Nice try Zoob, talk about an inflated team that chokes worst than my hands around your throat. Thanks Yners for nothing related to football except your congratulations on our superb season.

Go Utes

Add your comment

Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.

Words Remaining

E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.

Follow us on facebook

Reader comments
Utah has reason to feel like No. 1

Add your comment

Letters: Trump card for believers

BYU would like friendlier rivalry

Protests against Phoenix LDS temple

KSL: Prostitution in Utah County

Water reaches "end of the row" in Congo

Ex-Aggie ties CFL playoff record

Obama Afghan decision 'within days'

Students protest animal testing

Animal-rights protest issues resolved

Boys basketball rankings

	Oklahoma City at Utah
	Game starts at: 7:00 p.m. MST

Reader comments Utah has reason to feel like No. 1

Add your comment

Reader comments
Utah has reason to feel like No. 1