Utes' flawless season continues despite imperfect offense
By Dennis Dodd | CBSSports.com Senior Writer Follow DennisSALT LAKE CITY -- The defenses you'd take to The Swamp or Tuscaloosa right now. Just to see how they'd match up with the bubbas.
The rest of TCU and Utah? It's a good thing those BCS computers don't have eyes because the Utes and Horned Frogs could have set back the non-BCS movement years.
For a large part of the game, the teams gave non-BCS detractors all the ammo they needed. That's because, with the football, TCU and Utah played like they were out of it.
The Utes moved on in this elimination game because on-again, off-again quarterback Brian Johnson turned it on for one final, miraculous 80-yard drive against the nation's No. 2 defense. When Utah receiver Freddie Brown slanted into the end zone with 48 seconds left, though, it wasn't 2004 anymore.
That year Utah blew away the competition in becoming the first non-BCS school to make it to a BCS bowl. This team won its fifth game by a touchdown or less, 13-10 over a crushed TCU.
It was fun, thrilling and exciting, but you wonder what Ball State and Boise State were thinking? Those two teams will likely be locked out of a BCS bowl if Utah wins out.
How about this from the Broncos and Cardinals: "Damn, we can play with those guys."
In 2004, Utah was special. In 2008, Utah looks like Boise, which looks like Ball State, which looks Tulsa, which looked liked TCU until the Frogs croaked. Johnson has led fourth-quarter drives to win three of those five close games. The fifth-year senior can be brilliant or inconsistent. On Thursday, he was both. In other words, he is no Alex Smith. But these aren't your Urban Meyer Utes either.
On Thursday, Meyer left a message with AD Chris Hill that he'd be decked out in red back in Gainesville rooting for his old team.
"It's different in a magical way," Hill said. "In '04 you had to get so lucky with being in the top 6, which was almost impossible. All the things have to fall in place. We got a taste of the BCS four years ago and it's in the back of your mind, 'We're 10-0, let's be 11-0.'"
The fans probably didn't have full grasp of what they were celebrating. In '04, BYU was humiliated on the road to the Fiesta Bowl. That game was a clincher. Despite the headline in the Salt Lake City Tribune that read "Biggest Game Ever," there are still a few to go this month alone.
Utah still has two games -- Nov. 15 against San Diego State and Nov. 22 against BYU. Then there would be that bowl, most likely the Orange.
If Utah (eighth in the BCS) wins out, it will probably finish ahead of the No. 11 Broncos. If not, then Boise and No. 16 Ball State have a chance to move up. The way the game was played Thursday, both the Broncos and Cardinals were probably ticked.
What, those teams might ask, are the difference between those guys and us? Nothing, really, except that Utah is now a veteran at this sort of poll climbing. They started out unranked with the third-most votes in the preseason AP poll and just kept winning while the teams in front of them didn't. BYU has lost once and is a BCS longshot even if it beats Utah. Fresno State is off the map.
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| Despite an 80-yard, game-winning drive, Brian Johnson and the Utes offense struggle mightily against TCU. (AP) |
This time a more composed Jamie Whittingham, wife of current Utah coach Kyle, talked about the messages she had received after the game.
"Shelley said, 'I'm glad you don't drink,'" Jamie said. "I don't.
"In 2004 for some reason I wasn't as stressed as I am now. I think in 2004, I don't know if we won by more. That was a real special season. These guys are unbelievable. I looked at that scoreboard and said, 'Two minutes, we're going to do it.'
The Whittinghams have been at Utah for 15 years. Johnson has been around five, one of the few Utes left over from the Meyer years. Back then he was backing up for Smith. On Thursday he was responsible for finding his inner Montana, completing seven of nine on the final drive for 65 yards.
Whittingham has built these Utes in his image. The old BYU linebacker brought the nation's No. 7 defense into the game against TCU and its No. 2 defense.
"I've coached Division I football for a lot of years and can't remember a team that has shown this toughness and grit and determination," Whittingham said.
Don't forget hope and change. Johnson wore a Barack Obama T-shirt to the postgame press conference, a gesture that almost screamed cheesy ending.
Yes We Can anyone?
Sure, we all expected a defensive battle but nothing as sloppy as this. The Horned Frogs scored 10 points on their first two drives then spent 54 minutes of agony blowing it. Six trips inside the Utah 24 resulted in only those 10 points. Freshman kicker Ross Evans missed two field goals.
Did the coach feel like one got away?
"Yeah, I do," Gary Patterson said.
This is what it feels like to get your heart ripped out. All-American defensive end-in-the-making Jerry Hughes was stoned. No sacks for the nation's leader in that category (14). Let's just say Utah right tackle Dustin Hensel had a day against Hughes. For the first time in 51 games under Patterson, TCU lost a game after allowing less than 17 points. After playing 11 straight games without a week off in a 70-day stretch, the Frogs were finally gassed. A short week and back-to-back road games didn't look like it was going affect TCU until the final drive.
"With 80 yards to go a lot of times it's hard to have faith," said Utah linebacker Kepa Gaison. "The message we sent is we're here to play, we're for real."
Just not complete.
