Those other guys crown Utah 2008 football champs

Utah wasn’t completely shutout of championship award ceremonies. Collegefootballtalk.com has chosen the Mountain West program as their 2008 college football champions. Sure, it won’t be recognized by the gridiron shot-callers, but it just becomes another trophy unrecognized by the NCAA, the organization with the most importance. It adds another piece of hardware to a trash barrel and marks another crowning body on the NCAA “don’t care” list.

The Utes finished as the only undefeated program in America, capping the season with a Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama. Kyle Whittingham was the only voter in the final coaches’ poll to defy contractual obligation and select his team No. 1.

With the NCAA not recognizing any football champions, for the lack of a playoff system, CFT’s prize appears in a heap that includes the AP and Coaches champs. And with those powerful media outlets staking their claim to recognizable crowning rights, Utah’s award is hardly a call for a sudden ticker tape parade. What makes CFT’s award less credible than the others? Maybe it’s age. The AP and Coaches’ poll (formerly UPI) have been selecting champions for years. Some people mistakenly make reference to the “BCS champion”, but the BCS is a made for TV event, and the eventual champion, working through the tripod of equations, is crowned by the members of the coaches’ poll.

The AP made their final guess, and chose the Florida Gators as their champion. The coaches determined that the system guessed correctly in placing 2 teams in a championship game, and also chose the Gators. Now CFT adds to the guessing game, and they’ve chosen the only unbeaten program, possessing a superb season resume, and made them the king of the hill. Congratulations, Utah, though no one will remember this by August or record it anywhere in the annals of college football history.

BYU-Utah and the Trojan effect

USC’s final destination remains up in the air, and just as each weekend can potentially create a new path, this weekend will offer more road paving results. One annual rivalry that meant nothing to anyone outside of the Beehive State now looms large for programs anticipating at-large BCS bids. Trojan fans will be scoreboard watching, with Oregon State traveling to Tuscon, as a Beavers loss would end all speculation and solidify USC’s appearance in the Rose Bowl. But if the Wildcats falter, a game played in Utah can weigh heavy in deciding USC’s fate.

When BYU and Utah square off in Saturday’s battle of "church versus state", the end result could have a major impact on the BCS landscape. Mid-Majors need only to finish among the BCS top 12 to gain eligibility for an at-large bid. The current standings show two programs among the top 10, undefeated Boise State (9) and Utah (7). The BCS party has never been crashed by two mid-majors in the same season, but never before did we have two programs eligible. As it is, no team outside of a BCS conference has ever played in a BCS bowl game unless they were undefeated, and we are set up to potentially have two with records unblemished.

As much as the thought is unlikely that two bowl committees would select mid-major teams to appear in their games, the possibility remains. The only guarantees in the BCS are the top two spots in the championship game, and automatic entry for BCS conference winners. The rest is open for invitation, which is why we saw a 3-loss Illini team play in last year’s Rose Bowl, as well as Kansas receiving the Orange Bowl bid, though they weren’t represented in the Big 12 championship game and lost to a Missouri team that was snubbed.

BYU has an opportunity to remove this potential thorn in the Trojans’ side by defeating Utah in the in-state “Holy War”. The Cougars, currently sitting at No. 14 in the BCS, may crack the top 12 with a victory, but would more importantly drop Utah below the magic mark. There’s a big difference between BYU being among the 12, in comparison to the Utes, because the Cougars’ lone loss to TCU will cripple them in at-large discussions. Saturday’s outcome will be highly important in the Mountain West Conference and the state of Utah, and equally important to one loss BCS programs vying for a birth.

B-Y-WHO?

As the final seconds ticked from the clock, no smiles were wider than those belonging to members of the BCS committee. The 8th ranked BYU Cougars had fallen 32-7 to the TCU Horned Frogs. For the moment, the intentions of the BCS are preserved, and they could now pull their eyes away from the Mormon school in Provo Utah, and focus more on their upstart neighbors, the 14th ranked Utah Utes. What began as a mid-major scare tactic, with the two Mountain West programs surging upwards in national polls, and perhaps headed towards an undefeated collision to end the regular season, ended with a good old fashion Texas ass kicking, and a quick sigh of relief. TCU had saved the day. Well, at least for now.

Unlike the unbeaten WAC champions of previous years, it would have been difficult to truly justify an undefeated Mountain West champion not qualifying for the BCS Championship game. Reason appears, if we finish with 2 undefeated programs from BCS conferences, but that doesn't seem likely. If you are voters and computer geeks, how could you justify rewarding points to Penn State for a victory over Oregon State, but see Utah's victory over those same Beavers as a lesser accomplishment? How would you ignore BYU's victories over UCLA and Washington, but credit Oklahoma for the blowout in Seattle? How could you possibly explain either BYU or Utah being stripped of championship opportunities, when one would have finished their unblemished season run with a victory over the other, which would have been a top 10 opponent?

The effort of the Horned Frogs enabled a system built with closed doors to deny entry to mid-major programs to hide the key and enforce their wishes. Utah can win out, but just as the WAC Champions, they won't have that final regular season opponent to lift them into discussions. As competitive as the Mountain West conference has been in 2008, TCU's victory was great for the home team on Thursday, but it also put a hurt on the conference that won't be felt until season's end.