Utah shows it belongs among the nation's elite

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Utah shows it belongs among the nation's elite
January 2, 2009

No matter what you call it or how you see it, there are a whole lot of folks in Salt Lake City begging for a little deductive reasoning.

If A beats B and C beats B worse than A, why isn't C playing for it all?

Or something like that.

"I know where I'm voting us," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said Friday night to a nationally televised audience after the Utes' 31-17 victory over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. "I'm voting us No. 1."

Amen, brother.

We've seen three of five BCS games, and it's beginning to look a whole lot like the BCS points series not only whiffed once by not spitting out Rose Bowl champion USC, but may have blown it twice by ignoring unbeaten Utah.

That Florida-Oklahoma national title game is getting more minimized by the moment.

Utah's convincing victory over Alabama -- the same Tide team that spent five weeks at No. 1 in the BCS standings before losing in the final week of the season to Florida -- will have playoff proponents in full force. Let me explain more steps of deductive reasoning:

• Utah beat Oregon State, which beat USC. Deductive reasoning: Utah would beat USC.

• Ole Miss embarrassed Texas Tech -- the same Texas Tech team that Oklahoma uses as its go-to game in its BCS argument. Alabama beat Ole Miss, and we all know Utah dismantled the Tide from the first snap of the Sugar Bowl. Deductive reasoning: Utah would beat Oklahoma.

• And, of course, Utah beat Alabama worse than Florida. Deductive reasoning: Utah would beat Florida.

Before you playoff nuts get all sideways, consider this: The one model that could eventually be agreed upon by the BCS presidents -- a plus-one game after the bowls -- wouldn't settle this debate. The winner of the Florida-Oklahoma game plays who?

USC, Utah, Texas?

Anyone who says Utah doesn't belong in that argument didn't watch the Sugar Bowl. Exactly which team looked like the SEC team -- the team with superior speed and athleticism and desire?

I'm not exactly sure how many third-and-longs Utah made, but it had to be 800. I'm not sure how many times the Utes' quick defensive line beat Alabama's senior-laden tough guys for sacks, but it had to be another 800.

Utah had the two best players on the field (defensive end Paul Kruger and wideout Freddie Brown) and the fire and passion of a championship team. Florida and LSU beat Ohio State in the last two national championship games because the Buckeyes couldn't handle the SEC's speed on the defensive line.

Utah gave the snobby league a taste of the humiliation it has handed out for years -- and hopefully forced pollsters to take a second look at non-BCS teams.

That, or use a little deductive reasoning.

Matt Hayes covers college football for Sporting News and is an analyst on NFL Network's College Football Now. E-mail him at mhayes@sportingnews.com.