Is Utah a BCS Buster?

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11/7/08

Is Utah a BCS Buster?

Utah Is Having Themselves A Nice Season, But They Just Aren't That Good

NCAAF, Team News / Analysis

kantwistaye

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11/7/08

briannel1318

This is ridiculous. A wasted BCS Bowl? The wasted Bowl will go to the Big East or the ACC who have no business being there. Utah slaughtered the "Big East Champ" in '04 and the ACC is 1-9 in BCS Bowls while Utah is 1-0.

Utah is 10-0. They have beaten 3 teams that have defeated top 10 ranked teams. Oregon St. was a bigger non-conference victory than anyone in the SEC or the Big 12 has with exception to OU over TCU. Which Utah matched. The bottom of the MWC - UNLV 0-5 is 2-0 against BCS teams. While the whole MWC is 6-1 vs. the Pac-10 (w/o playing WSU).

11/7/08

kantwistaye

briannel1318 wrote:

1) Both the Big East and especially the ACC are better than the MWC. '04 is irrelevant.
2) Nobody is denying the Utah is having a nice season. But they've only beaten Michigan by 2, who Steve above you pointed out is 2-7. Oregon State is 5-3, which is a decent win. However, it doesn't qualify you to go to the BCS.
3)Being 6-1 against the Pac 10 this year doesn't mean much unless you've beaten USC.
4) While UNLV is 2-0 it was in OT against teams that are a combine 4-13. Beating Arizona St and Iowa St doesn't qualify you for anything, let alone a BCS bid.

11/7/08

briannel1318

1) Hard to rate a conference. Sagarin favors conferences that are strong in the middle. That will not work well with the MWC. The MWC is very top heavy with the bottom being very bad. The ACC and the BE are stronger in the middle and on the bottom but substantially inferior at the top.

'04 is not irrelevant b/c utah beat the snot out of Pitt. They didn't even belong on the same field. You probably would have made these same statements that year.

2) I understand your point but what conference has quality Non-conf wins? Maryland beat Cal but lost to MTSU. Az beat Cal and bottom MWC New Mexico beat AZ. Utah has beaten as many ranked teams and as many top 50 teams as TTU, Bama and Penn St. How are they any less qualified?

3) The claim was that Utah, TCU, BYU would be middle of the pack in the Pac. So if Utah is undefeated in a conference that is 6-1 against the Pac and has beaten the current first place team in the Pac-10, how does that place them in the middle? So throw USC and WSU in the mix, and the MWC is 7-2 against the Pac. That's blatant superiority.

4) This is baseless. A team that is 0-5 in the MWC beat two BCS teams. Is the bottom of the MWC that inferior to the bottom of the other conferences?

11/7/08

beerstudk

I don't see how it would be wasting a BCS game to let Utah in? The BCS should call itself the BSC for "Bull-Sh*t Championship" because in the end that's all it ever produces. If you guys would actually watch Utah play instead of reading about other teams they play and thier schedules, you'd see that Utah against almost anyone would be a pretty good game! The games against Oregon State and TCU have been won in the 4th quarter during the last drive, they play tough and win games! But without a playoff system (seriously, a 16 team tournament would be soooo easy to put together) we'll never really see how good anybody really is!

11/7/08

briannel1318

Utah is a run the ball, play good D team. They win a lot like the vaunted SEC teams have won but without the fanfare. The BCS run is relevant for '09 pole position as their RB and entire starting D come back next year.

But I understand Kant's point that they haven't proved they can play with the elite teams. Just no one has proven that they couldn't. I still don't think Penn St. or "Bama have played anyone particularly special.

11/7/08

kantwistaye

1) I'll give you that it is tough to rate conferences. That said, the fact that Saragin heavily weighs the middle of the MWC shows that there isn't much to the MWC outside of the top 4.

And the only place '04 is rellevant is in Utah. It means nothing for this year. Also, Pittsburgh may have been the weakest BCS representative ever (outside of maybe Hawai'i last year.)

2) I understand your points about Maryland and Cal, but neither of those teams are going to BCS bowls. Utah needs to prove that they are better than those two teams, and so far I believe they've only proved to be on the same level as those teams. As for TTU, Bama, and Penn St, they all have schedules that are considerably tougher than Utah's. While their elite wins may be equal to Utah's, there is more consistency to their schedules.

3) As a whole, the MWC may be superior to the Pac-10 (Saragin disagrees, but its close.) However, outside of USC, there isn't much to the Pac-10 this year. Its a barren conference. Out of the 6 wins I counted up that the MWC has over the Pac 10, those Pac 10 teams have a record of 20-29. Its a nice record, but there isn't much to it.

11/7/08

joeymac02

Nobody is really denying the fact that they have played good games, winning them in the 4th quarter is awesome, it makes a game fun to watch but it doesnt mean that they are a BCS team. I can go watch Western Oregon University, a division II school, win a game late in the fourth quarter. That doesnt mean they are good enough to be a national champion. Nobody is trying to take away the fact that they have had a great season and that they are a good team. But they arent a National Championship nor a BCS Bowl caliber team until they can consistantly play against better teams and win

11/7/08

yellahammer66

0	Didn't Boise State beat a BIG 12 Oklahoma team a few years back?

11/7/08

briannel1318

Utah is not a NC title contender. But saying they are not a BCS-caliber team is absurd. utah is easily better than Maryland and Cal because they don't lose to teams like Arizona and MTSU and they beat big opponents like TCU and Oregon St. And almost every unbiased (like Sagarin) conference rating pits the MWC as 4th or 5th. To go undefeated in the 4th or 5th best conference is very deserving of a BCS Berth.

What "BCS contender" has a better resume? What magical teams are winning against top tier opponents weak in, weak out?

11/7/08

briannel1318

1	week in, week out.

11/7/08

joeymac02

Dont get me wrong I like seeing the unlikely get a chance. It brings a different aspect to the game. More people are interested which is good for the sport. But what I want to know is where is their tough game? the game(s) that you schedule to beef up your schedule difficulty? Oregon State? Nobody really expected TCU to be ranked that high and they have to play BYU. I hope their tough games werent supposed to be michigan, cause although they have a great prestige for college football, they have lacked in the last few years, and Weber St. As long as there is a BCS system we may never find out who the best teams really are in the end. Until that day though we will basically be comparing apples to oranges because no two conferences are the same throughout. Oh and Georgia Tech is a better deserving team.

11/7/08

YankeeDudeL

I don't think it was a waste of a BCS game when Boise St. beat Oklahoma. That was one hell of a good football game. Of course, Hawaii getting crushed by Georgia last year didn't help this argument.

Truth is, we don't know. And if they don't win the rest of their games, we won't know. They play BYU soon, and if they can beat them, then I think they deserve it. Then we'll see how they play against the loser of the SEC Championship game, which is who I'm guessing they'd play.

11/7/08

briannel1318

YankeeDudeL wrote:

11/7/08

briannel1318

Joey - You're clueless. Utah is as proven as any other team in the country. They just beat the 11th ranked team (#2 defense). What "great game" do they need? And where are these teams that have played and beaten better teams than Utah has?

GA Tech as deserving? They've lost twice to two mediocre teams. They've only beaten one ranked team (as has Utah). They're not even near Utah's league. Didn't Utah beat the shit out of them in '06?

11/7/08

Pat

briannel1318 wrote:

The difference with Bama is that by the end of the season, if they're still undefeated, they WILL have beaten some very good teams. Can't really say that about Penn State or Utah.

11/7/08

joeymac02

'06 means nothing I dont know why you would say that. You had a better chance wiping crap on the screen and telling us about it to make a point then that '06 comment. There is no point in referring to different years in comparing teams over more that one year cause it's points less. The rankings dont take "in '06" into consideration. Gorgia Tech beat Florida St.(15), Boston College, Clemsen, Mississippi St., Jacksonville state(ok pathetic), Duke, Gardner-Webb(not a quality team) with North Carolina(19), Georgia(13), and Miami(fl) still to play. That is what a schedule should look like. They play plenty of teams that can compete at a higher level than the majority of Utah's conference. Virginia and Virginia tech compete every year for national rankings too. If they win 2 of their last three games they shout be in the top 12 at least

11/7/08

briannel1318

Pat - I don't disagree with you. If "Bama wins out they're far superior to Utah. But at this point, there are very few teams with a better resume. Maybe 2 or 3. But not 10 which is why it's irrational to say they are not BCS caliber. The only point anyone points to is past performance of traditional conferences which is why I cite '06. It's moot.

I get Joey's point with GA Tech. They have a tough schedule. The last 3 teams especially. BUt up to this point they are far inferior to Utah. They both have 1 victory over ranked opponents but GA-Tech is 2-2 against quality non-ranked opponents while Utah is 3-0.

Joey, do your homework find an ACC, BE or Pac-10 team with a better on-the-field resume.

11/8/08

jenikasdad

Utah is worthy for a BCS Bowl.
1. They beat the "Mighty Wolverines"
2. Oregon State beat USC
3.They just beat TCU.
With "logical" thinking.... you have to give them credit for the Michigan win because it's Michigan. Sure they suck this year, but it's Michigan. Oregon State beat USC and lost to Utah. The ficticious "they beat them who beat them who beat them" scenario is never wrong. Besides, who the hell wants to see USC in any bowl. And Finally. TCU was ranked.

With all of these facts which are not to be disputed and: Penn State hasn't played as tough of a schedule. Texas Tech is in the BIG XII, which obviously is no good, there must be no defense there because of all the offense. I don't want to take the time to do the rundown on Bama's schedule to see if they beat USC as well... So, if Utah wins out they should play for the national title game and since they beat USC , they will be the national champs.