Utah gets its day in BCS sun
TEMPE, Ariz. – Utah used an unstoppable offense to break through the walls surrounding college football’s big bowls.
Now the unbeaten Utes are expected to do more than merely win the Fiesta Bowl. They are supposed to win big over Big East champion Pittsburgh tonight.
That’s heady stuff for the Mountain West Conference champs, who will bring a large chunk of Salt Lake City’s population with them for the game at Sun Devil Stadium.
“This has been pretty dreamlike,” quarterback Alex Smith said. “This has been a goal of ours since January, and to finally reach it, it’s pretty surreal. I’m just trying to take it all in and not let it go by too fast.”
Coach Urban Meyer, who brought about Utah’s improbable climb to national prominence, will coach his final game for the Utes, sharing duties with his successor, defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham.
After two years at Bowling Green and two at Utah, Meyer is bound for Florida.
The Utes (11-0) are the first non-BCS team to make it to one of the four elite bowls – automatically qualifying by finishing sixth in the BCS rankings.
They did it with an offense that averaged more than 500 yards and 45 points per game. On 60 trips inside an opponent’s 20-yard line, the Utes scored touchdowns 85 percent of the time. Utah scored fewer than 40 points in a game only twice.
Meyer’s explanation is simple.
“It’s a personnel-based offense,” he said. “Spread the field, and let the good players touch the ball.”
Smith, fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, is the best of those players.
Second in the country in passing efficiency, the junior from La Mesa, Calif., completed 66 percent of his passes for 2,624 yards and 28 touchdowns, with just four interceptions. He also ran for 563 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 4.7 yards per carry.
“They have an extraordinary player at quarterback,” Pitt coach Walt Harris said. “He’s not only a good runner – runs the option well – he’s also an outstanding passer. I think the other quality that separates him from most quarterbacks is he’s tough as nails. He’s the guy that makes it go.”
Smith, who might enter the NFL draft , said it’s an enjoyable offense to run.
“We give a ton of different looks,” the QB said. “It’s pretty amazing when you can run the option and the spread from the same formation.”
The best hope for the Panthers (8-3) is to keep Utah’s offense on the sidelines.
“I’m not real big on talking about all the things that we’re going to do,” Harris said. “I just know that to help our defense, we’ve got to play the kicking game extremely well, and offensively we’ve got to control the ball – and score.”