Season Recapitulation

It kills me to say this. It really does. But I have to say it. I am going against every fiber of my college football soul. I am going against my stubborn and blue-tinted goggles. I am even going against my highly-esteemed Joe Rankings formula here. I will put it in quotation marks (even if it is incorrect to do so) to add emphasis.

“Utah--if you thought about it really hard--maybe has a claim that they could possibly deserve to be the 2009 national champions.”

There, I said it. It is out. I have just provided everyone with future smack material to sling at me. But I cannot lie on my blog. The University of Utah has an argument. Now, before you all think I am kowtowing to Kyle Whittingham and rubbing my Bourbon Street beads while making the sign of the U across my chest, I will bring a couple of things back to reality, or at least back into perspective:
1. Utah did not win the national championship. They can print out whatever shirts they want and hang whatever banner they want, but it would be a lie. As a Cougar fan, I can at least hang onto that last shred of school pride. BYU can at least legitimately claim the 1984 national title. And I can use it as smack material because it happened in my lifetime. So there you go.

2. When I say that Utah deserved to win the 2009 national championship, I don’t mean to say I feel that it is undisputed. Texas, USC, and Florida could all argue their way to the top spot as well. At least if you base this all on the argument of “which team is best.” Utah could go 0-3 against these other teams, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone. The sad thing is that we’ll never know, and my point is that for Utah fans that might be a good thing. At least they have an argument now and can puff out their chests. In a playoff scenario, I don’t think they’d be coming home to a parade. But I could be wrong. Maybe they would beat everyone. Who knows. I think I’m going in circles here, confusing myself more and more.

But I give Utah all the credit in the world. After the dominating Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama, I told a couple of friends that I didn’t think Utah would stand a chance against either Oklahoma or Texas. I didn’t mean that as a slight to Utah, I just thought that the Sooners and Longhorns were that good. But after watching the Fiesta Bowl and BCS title game, I think I’m wrong. I think that the Utes would be able to hang with these boys. Texas didn’t look too impressive in their last-minute victory over Ohio State. And Oklahoma only put up 14 points against Florida’s defense (the same defense that struggled to contain Alabama last month—the same Alabama that Utah creamed).

So what we end up with is a huge mess where nobody knows anything after all is said and done. Florida? They looked pretty darn convincing in their last two wins over ‘bama and Oklahoma. And they DO get to hang the national championship banner, after all. And if they want they can also hang a Joe Rankings Championship banner as well.

Texas? They lost one game in heartbreaking fashion on the road to a very good Texas Tech team, blew out everyone else they played, and beat an underrated Ohio State (at least underrated in my opinion) in the Fiesta Bowl.

USC? Yeah, they lost a close one at Oregon State early in the season, but they have been incredibly dominant since then. I don’t know if you could argue against their chances at this point if there were a playoff.

Utah? Name another team that went undefeated. And it isn’t like they were beating cream puffs. They beat two top 10 teams in Alabama and TCU. They beat two other top 25 teams in Oregon State and BYU. They went into Ann Arbor and beat a Michigan team who everyone thought would at least be decent (and they weren’t). And they set a new record for most times storming the field in one season. Give them some credit for that.

I don’t know what else to add to my ramble concerning the Utes’ incredible season and the BCS mess that has resulted. Utah is a top ten football program in my opinion. Kyle Whittingham has done an amazing job, but I think his biggest test remains. It is unclear how much of this team’s defensive ingenuity can be attributed to Whittingham or to now-Utah-State-head-coach Gary Andersen. Whittingham was a great defensive coach under McBride and Meyer, too, but can he coach the program while letting Kilane Sitake lead the defense? Probably. But maybe not. In addition, Utah loses most of their offensive firepower. Their offensive success came this year on great ball control and decision-making from Brian Johnson, which is only partially coachable. Can they bring in a new quarterback that won’t turn the ball over? They still have Aiona Key, David Reed, and Matt Asiata, so it isn’t like their cupboard is bare with only incoming freshmen and promoted third-stringers. But they might struggle with an inexperienced quarterback. Also, a few wins for the Utes this year came in large part because of their consensus All-American punter, Louis Sakoda. When games are won by defense and field position, you need a great punter. Will they have that luxury next year? Granted, there are always question marks going into every season, but if Whittingham can maintain success, then I’ll truly admit that I wish BYU would have snagged him over Bronco Mendenhall.

Speaking (or typing, I guess) of my BYU Cougars: What a disappointing finish. Back-to-back not-that-close of losses to Utah and Arizona…well, that kind of stunk. I think the loss in the Las Vegas Bowl was mainly attributed to BYU not being motivated, while the Wildcats came in with a ton of emotion in their first bowl game in a decade. It was the same thing with Utah hitting Alabama in the chops. They came out motivated, excited, and happy to be there, while the Crimson Tide and BYU went into their respective bowl game on a down note. That’s not an excuse…motivation and emotion is as much a part of the game as skill and tactics. That’s merely one of the main reasons Utah and Arizona won. I think if BYU were to play Arizona in a regular-season game with a high ranking to prove (like when they played UCLA), the result would probably have been different. But that’s just my speculation. Luckily for me, the Vegas Bowl was played while I was holding my one-day-old son Parker in the hospital. I wasn’t too concerned with the game, so I was emotionally stable after the loss (though my wife might argue against me ever being emotionally stable. But that’s another blog post for another day). Despite the disappointing season (and I maintain that it’s a good sign when 10-3 is “disappointing”), I don’t think it will hit BYU too hard in recruiting, and they have what should be a good team coming back next year. Austin Collie is leaving for the NFL, but I think we’ll see O’Neal Chambers and McKay Jacobsen put up some good numbers alongside Dennis Pitta. Harvey Unga is the best player on this offense, and I think he’ll see a lot more touches next year. If Manase Tonga can re-qualify academically, he would be a huge asset. And defensively, I don’t think their defense was THAT bad. They obviously weren’t great, but I bet that they’ll be vastly improved next season with a year of experience under their belts. So that is my take on the season. I apologize for not being very diligent in my blogging. Let’s hope for better from me next year.