November 9, 2004 in Sports

Despite lopsided victory, Utah takes a hit in BCS

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A perfect record probably isn’t going to be enough to get Utah into the Bowl Championship Series.

The unbeaten Utes slipped one spot to seventh in the BCS standings Monday, a drop that could cost them a berth in one of the four big-money bowl games.

The top five in the BCS stayed the same with Southern California, Oklahoma and Auburn leading the way, followed by California and Wisconsin.

The top two teams in the final standings will play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 for the BCS national title.

Utah is trying to become the first team from a non-BCS conference (Mountain West) to play in a BCS game. The Utes can guarantee a spot in what probably would be the Fiesta Bowl — which delivers a payout of about $14 million — by finishing in the top six. A top-12 finish makes the Utes eligible for consideration, but guarantees nothing.

Texas jumped over Utah this week into sixth place.

Just like two weeks ago when Utah moved up to sixth, Utes coach Urban Meyer found out from his wife that the team had dropped.

“She had a little reaction. I won’t use the language she did,” he said. “In three weeks we’ll have a reaction. There’s too much football to be played yet.”

Meyer tried to be diplomatic, but asked if the BCS system should be changed, he said. “… Is the sky blue? Absolutely. And it will happen. Logical thinking will eventually take over.”

Texas’ 56-35 comeback victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday boosted its BCS grade to .7904.

The Utes aren’t getting enough bounce in the polls and computer rankings out of their lopsided victories over conference opponents. Their grade (.7511) went up slightly after a 63-31 win over Colorado State.

Utah maintained its positions in both the Associated Press Top 25 (seventh) and coaches poll (eighth) this week, but the Utes dropped in the computer rankings from sixth to eighth, while the Longhorns moved up to No. 5 in that category.

Utah finishes its season with games at Wyoming on Saturday and at home against BYU the next week. Two wins would ensure a second straight MWC title. The league champ gets a Liberty Bowl berth, which pays $1.35 million.

But how the races play out in the Big 12, Pac-10, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten will have as much to do with where the Utes play in the postseason as their own games.

And with Georgia and Michigan right behind Utah, the Utes may be in danger of getting caught again.

Utah is one of six unbeaten teams in Division I-A, along with USC, Oklahoma, Auburn, Wisconsin and Boise State.

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