Utah defeats Alabama in the Sugar Bowl
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 am by Displaced Cleveland Fan
Tonight in New Orleans, contrary to everyone’s expectations (at least everyone outside of the state of Utah), the Utah Utes beat Alabama 31-17 to finish the season undefeated, 13-0.
This game represents what is so great and what is so bad about college football.
What is so great is that a team like Utah, despite not being from one of the major conferences can put together a great year and take on a team like Alabama. The Crimson Tide had a good team this year. Their only loss before this game was to Florida, one of the teams playing for the national championship. But Utah played a great game and beat a top team from the mighty SEC. Their defense was great. Their offense played pretty well too. Everyone likes rooting for the underdog and this game was a lot of fun to watch.
But this game also represents how bad college football is. With this win, Utah finished the season at 13-0. They are the only undefeated team in Division I (or whatever they call it now). Yet, because they are from a non-BCS conference, they weren’t even considered for the national championship game. The way they played tonight, they proved that they deserved a shot at the title. People continue to talk about a playoff in college football to determine the national champion. I’m sure there will be even more calls for a playoff after this game.
Let’s say there was a playoff in place. Could Utah realistically win 2 or 3 more games (depending on the number of teams in the tournament), and win the national championship? Probably not. After all, winning it all would mean that they would also have to beat teams like Florida, Oklahoma, and USC. Not likely. But shouldn’t they get a shot? After all, who would have thought they’d beat Alabama tonight? But they did.
I believe that one day, there will be some sort of playoff in college football to crown the national champion. And I can’t wait to see that. I think there are probably a lot more people who would prefer a playoff than not. The problem is that those who want to keep the current system are the ones in position to make those decisions. But someday, hopefully.
Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, BCS, football, scores, Utah Utes
