2008 Bcs Sugar Bowl – Alabama Came to Play, Utah Came to Win and Did so Too Easily, 31-17

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

After more than 50 years of watching football it pains me to say it, but Alabama came to play in the 2008 BCS Sugar Bowl and Utah came to win the Sugar Bowl. Guess what happened? Utah made Alabama look like half the team it is, winning convincingly, 31-17.

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban did not help his cause. After guiding Alabama to a perfect 12-0 record before losing to Florida 31-20 in the SEC championship playoff, Saban announced to the world that his club was still the only team to have an undefeated regular season in a “BCS conference”.

The Utah Utes, who came into the Sugar Bowl with the nation’s only undefeated record at 12-0, took umbrage at Saban’s remark, and then proceeded to take it out on Saban’s players, who were not prepared to win the Sugar Bowl against Utah.

As the legendary Lou Holtz would say, Utah is not nearly as good as the Utes looked in the Sugar Bowl, and Alabama is not nearly as bad as the Crimson Tide looked in the Sugar Bowl. The Utes were totally focused, and the Crimson Tide had no focus at all, as evidenced by the 3 quick touchdowns Utah scored to run up a 21-0 1st quarter lead.

A 3rd-down sack of senior quarterback John Parker Wilson on Alabama’s first possession gave Utah the ball and the Ute’s senior quarterback Brian Johnson completed 5 consecutive passes for 19, 14, 22, 7 and 7 yards as Utah scored before Alabama could turn around and get into the right coverage.

On Alabama’s second possession, John Parker Wilson (you always sound more important with 3 names) promptly threw an interception and Utah had the ball on ‘Bama’s 32-yard line. The Utes wasted no time scoring again, putting them up 14-0.

A second 3rd-down sack on Alabama’s third possession gave Utah the ball back and Johnson led his Utes’ down the field and found senior wide receiver Bradon Godfrey on an 18-yard touchdown toss, making it Utah 21-zip with more time to play in the 1st quarter.

At this point, it began to dawn on some of the mighty Crimson Tide players that they needed to stop sulking over their loss to Florida or the final score might end up 84-0. Utah had no such lapse in mental attitude. The Utes were on their game like a bee on honey, and everything was tasting sweet like success. Utah’s defense would record 8 sacks and 2 interceptions. The Ute offense would slice and dice the Crimson Tide defense like a blender demonstration by a huckster at the county fair.

While Alabama would begin to fight back with 17 unanswered points, making it 21-17 early in the 2nd half (probably after a great halftime speech or a tongue lashing by coach Nick Saban), there really was no fight in ‘Bama from the beginning.

In a word or three, forget John Parker Wilson, who was no match for the Utah’s Brian Johnson. Johnson completed 27-of-41 for 336 yards and 2 touchdowns with zero interceptions. Johnson was named Most Valuable Player and finished his career as Utah’s winningest quarterback (26-7 as a starter). Senior wide receiver Freddie Brown caught 12 of Johnson’s 27 completions for 125 yards.

Neither team had a running game. Alabama came into the game averaging 196+ yards on the ground, but the Utes stopped them dead in their tracks, limiting the Crimson Tide to 31 yards on 33 carries (that’s what 8 sacks will do for you). To say that the Utes dominated both sides of the line would be an understatement.

But enough about what Alabama did not do. Utah deserves high praise. I have been an Alabama football fan since the glory days of Bear Bryant, Joe “Willie” Namath and Kenny “The Snake” Stabler. Having said that, it is doubtful that Alabama would have won the Sugar Bowl even if the Crimson Tide were on their game; Utah looked that good.

It’s not hard for me to understand why Alabama was favored by 10.5 points in this game. The Tide played 5 AP Top 25 teams and beat 4 of them before arriving at the Sugar Bowl. Utah played and beat 2 Top 25 teams. Alabama’s strength of schedule was much more difficult than Utah’s. That does not mean Utah was not a great team; it simply means that a lot of poll voters and football fans did not realize just how great.

In stomping Alabama into a Tuscaloosa mud hole, Utah made history by becoming the first team from a non-BCS conference to win 2 BCS bowl games. The Utes topped Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl under Urban Meyer before Meyer became head coach of the Florida Gators. Utah was left out of the BCS national championship game in favor of perennial powers Oklahoma and Florida.

Florida would win 24-14 over Oklahoma to eventually be declared the 2008 National Champion. There is no arguing about this; whichever team wins the BCS national championship game is the national champion, period.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, QB Brian Johnson and the rest of the Utes were left wondering, “What else do we have to prove?”

Utah even lost the top position in the final AP Top 25 Poll as Florida was declared No. 1 and Utah No. 2. Utah did receive 18 first-place votes but could not overcome Florida’s 48 first-place votes. The drumbeat for a national championship playoff series grows louder every year the BCS system is in place. One honor did come to Kyle Whittingham as he was named BCS Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

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