2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl
Utah
31 ... Alabama 17
GAME RECAP:
Utah pulls off the shocker of the bowl season
-
Fiu's
Quarter-by-Quarter, Play-by-Play Game Notes
-
2009 CFN Sugar Bowl
Preview
-
2009 Sugar Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
1.
Utah … national champion?! Why
not?
I still don’t believe this is
the best team in America, but
without a playoff, it’s all
about the résumé.
This wasn’t a fluky win and this
wasn’t a case of Alabama coming
out flat. Utah straight-up
whipped the Tide on both sides
of the ball, and remember, this
was against a team that was No.
1 for most of the year and was a
quarter away from playing for
the national title. This was a
great, great Bama team, and Utah
beat it like a drum.
This isn’t 1984 BYU; that Cougar
team didn’t beat anyone as good
as the 2008 Oregon State team,
much less a TCU or an Alabama.
This isn’t 2004 Utah or 1999
Marshall or 1998 Tulane. So
where, really, should Utah be
put in the final rankings? If
you’re going to say No. 1, no
matter what happens in the BCS
Championship, it’s hard to
argue. Utah has to be ranked
ahead of USC (on the deserve
factor, although I still think
USC wins easily on a neutral
field) and I still want to see
the Fiesta Bowl and the national
championship, but even if Texas
does what everyone thinks it’s
going to do, then Utah can’t be
any lower than third behind the
Florida-OU winner and Texas.
However, if Florida wins, then
you could argue that Utah’s win
over Bama was more impressive
than Florida’s win in the SEC
title game (even though Andre
Smith was missing from the Sugar
Bowl), and that the Utes deserve
to be first over the Gators. If
OU wins, then maybe No. 3 … at
worst. At the very least, the
Mountain West needs to be given
more benefit of the doubt from
here on. -
Pete
Fiutak
2.
Brace yourself. Like it or not.
Agree or disagree. It’s coming.
Over the next few days, you’re
going to hear a tidal wave of
debate surrounding Utah’s claim
to a share of the national
championship. I’m not going to
tell you that the Utes are the
best team in the country or that
they’d beat Florida or Oklahoma.
Nor will I suggest that they
can’t beat the Gators or
Sooners. Not after what I saw
tonight. All I’d ask is that you
hear out those making a case for
Utah, the lone unbeaten team of
2008. Don’t dismiss it out of
hand simply because it’s a
Mountain West team that you’ve
only watched once all year. Open
up your mind to the possibility
and listen to both sides of the
debate. If you agree that the
current system is dreadful and
in need of changes down the
road, then pull for Utah to grab
a bunch of No. 1 votes when
polls are released a week from
now. It won’t change the final
result and will fall on deaf
ears to the powers-that-be, but
on some levels, it’ll feel like
a much-needed grassroots
protest. -
Richard Cirminiello
3. While Andre Smith will be an
easy scapegoat for why Alabama
lost, or at least for why the
line couldn't protect John
Parker Wilson, I put this loss
99% on Nick Saban and a coaching
staff that panicked in its
play-calling, didn't adjust for
the problems at left tackle, and
didn't play enough to the
strength. Saban, in his
post-game press conference,
groused about how Utah held the
Bama running game in check.
Well, yeah, a little bit.
Stats-wise Utah was phenomenal
allowing just 31 yards net, but
that was because Wilson was
sacked what seemed like a
bazillion times for -31 yards.
Part of the reason the running
game should've worked, even
without Smith was because of the
lack of size up front for Utah.
Remember the Wisconsin teams
that used to go to the Rose
Bowl. Ron Dayne's first half
stats were mediocre, but they
were legendary in the second
half because the behemoths up
front had chipped away on
smallish defensive fronts
wearing them down. Alabama
should've done the same thing,
but did it run behind its
fantastic center, Antoine
Caldwell, and keep things moving
up the gut? Rarely. The one
drive that Mark Ingram, the
battering ram, got some
significant work, the offense
moved the ball and controlled
the game. That the offense
didn't come away with points on
that drive is immaterial; it was
working, and the coaching staff
should've stuck with it. Glen
Coffee only averaged 2.8 yards
per carry, but that's partly
because Bama was running him
wide and on plays that ended up
playing into Utah's quickness.
Of course, I'm not going to be
moronic enough to suggest that
Saban doesn't know all the ins
and outs of his team, he's too
good a coach to not explore
every option going into a game
like this, but it just seemed
like the staff failed to put the
players in the best position to
win.
-
Pete
Fiutak
4.
I sincerely hope that Andre
Smith feels awful tonight. The
star ‘Bama left tackle, who was
suspended for the Sugar Bowl for
his alleged improper contact
with an agent, was missed far
more than anyone imagined. Utah
feasted on the retooled Tide
offensive line, sacking John
Parker Wilson eight times and
holding the offense to a
season-low for rushing yards.
Does Alabama win with Smith in
the lineup? No one knows that
answer, but it certainly would
have been more competitive.
Where was his head? He knows the
rules. Every kid at this level
knows the rules as they pertain
to agents. His thoughts
obviously weren’t on his
teammates, who he let down with
his selfish behavior. Heck, the
state’s attorney general has
even started sniffing around,
which is exactly the type of
situation this program has tried
to avoid after all of the
off-field problems earlier in
the decade. Smith blew it. Of
course, if he wants to truly say
he’s sorry to the Tide program
and fans, there is a solution.
Put off the NFL and do a year of
community service in Tuscaloosa
as the blindside protector of
the Tide’s next starting
quarterback. -
Richard Cirminiello
5.
This
game, on so many levels,
reminded me of the 2006 Sugar
Bowl (in Atlanta) between West
Virginia and Georgia.
Follow the parallels between one
night three years ago and this
shocking evening in the
Louisiana Superdome. They're
eerily similar.
On one side, you had a team from
a disrespected conference,
playing for a state, a region,
and its very soul. On the other
side stood a heavily-favored SEC
team that, while physically
gifted, had to guard against
complacency.
The underdog maxed out in the
game's first quarter, playing
flawless football at a high
speed. While dominating
physically and mastering the Xs
and Os, the upstart with
everything to prove also used an
up-tempo approach to surprise
its SEC opponent, who was used
to a simpler smashmouth style.
By thinking creatively and
aggressively, the coaching staff
of the underdog embarrassed the
coaching staff of the SEC
favorite by manipulating all
aspects of the game. The SEC
team's staff could not and would
not make fundamental
adjustments, never treating its
opponent with a maximum of
respect.
In both games, the underdog who
traveled to Dixie to take on an
SEC foe accumulated a
multi-touchdown lead in the
early going, inevitably came
down to earth in the middle
quarters, but then found a late
finishing kick to
authoritatively seal the deal.
West Virginia of 2005, meet Utah
of 2008. Georgia of 2005, meet
Alabama of 2008.
Once again, the SEC--for all its
virtues (and there are many of
them)--got exposed tonight as a
league where innovative thinking
is sacrificed at the altar
of manliness and stubborn pride.
Utah played hard and smart.
Alabama played fairly hard, but
very stupidly.
Memo to a middle-tier or
low-rung SEC school looking to
beat the big boys (Mississippi
State, Vandy, Kentucky, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn,
Arkansas): Use a no-huddle
offense. Get your players to
play fast. Emphasize passing in
ways that can blunt the
effectiveness of an opponent's
power-based pass rush. Throw the
ball so well that you don't even
need to run the ball all that
well to win.
Such an approach would enable
you to beat Georgia or Alabama.
Florida? The Gators have already
been doing what Utah did tonight
in New Orleans. After all, Ute
coach Kyle Whittingham worked
for Urban Meyer, didn't he?
-
Matthew
Zemek