Orange and Blue Hue » Why Bama’s Loss to Utah Shouldn’t Scare You

Why Bama’s Loss to Utah Shouldn’t Scare You

Utah wins Give it up for the Utes of Utah, who stormed the Superdome and whipped Alabama, 31-17. It was an amazing performance from a double-digit ‘dog, playing the games of their lives.

The Utes looked faster, better prepared, and more physical. They were also sky-high for a game that the Crimson Tide viewed as meager consolation for the big prize.

The anti-SEC proponents are using the loss as ammunition for their relentless case against college football’s finest conference. A Mountain West team beat one of the SEC’s elite, they say. And via the transitive property, Florida — who beat the Tide by a similar-but-not-quite-as-impressive tally of 31-20 — must be overrated as well.

It’s just the familiar drumbeat of fans who are jealous and envious of the brand of football which is played perenially in the Southeastern Conference. Make no mistake about it, the loss was embarrassing. As good as Utah looked, a 12-1 SEC squad — even in a down year for the conference — should have found a way to win. And how can a squad which barely posted a winning season in ‘07 find themselves unmotivated to win a BCS bowl?

But if you’re going to tell me that Utah really is that good, and that Bama really was that bad, I’m going to fight you. Hard. Some facts:

1) Utah steamrolled their fair share of non-Top 25 opponents this season, but struggled mightily against Air Force (30-23), New Mexico (13-10) and TCU (13-10). I’ll give the Utes a pass for barely edging a Michgian team which would ultimately win only three games, but it’s hardly a quality win this season. (Hat tip for the balls needed to schedule that game years ago, when Michigan was no patsy.)

2) If you want to play the ‘transitive property’ game, well, TCU was rolled in the mid-season by Oklahoma, losing by 25 points.

3) Bowl games are not always the ultimate measuring stick of a team, or a conference. Every team has its moments. And bowls are a unique experience. Some teams handle it well. Some don’t. Bama, despite saying the right things leading up to the contest, appeared to believe they were entitled to win based on their resume and that pretty cursive ‘A’ on their uniforms. Utah spent all of December seething in a boiling cauldron of public doubt and disdain, and it paid off. (Sound familiar, Gator fans?)

4) Kyle Whittingham is an Urban Meyer disciple and probably bound for grander destinations in the relatively near future. Being that he does things “Urban’s Way”, you can bet that the level of preparation for this game was out of sight. And it showed: Utah’s players seemed to sniff out every offensive play from Bama. They were all over the screens, and totally shut down Bama’s play-action ‘Waggle’ passes. Giving a coach like Whittingham a full month to prepare is like injecting nitrous into a powerful engine.

5) There were times that Utah’s fantastic preparation, player motivation, and excellence in execution weren’t enough to hide the disparity in talent. Fans of Florida football surely recognized the five-yard crossing route, which Utah used only to moderate success because the Alabama LBs and DBs were easily fast enough to chase down the Ute receiver. Insert a Percy Harvin or Julio Jones on that route, and it goes from being a 3-yard gain to a 20-yard gain. But Utah couldn’t pull it off.

6) Nick Saban is a great coach. We here at O&B Hue still think he’s sort of slimy, but pen us in as believers: what he did to get his players to reach their maximum potential in ‘08 was nothing short of amazing. But Saban simply couldn’t resurrect his players’ flagging interest in playing a team like Utah after falling to the Gators. It happens in college football.

7) Bama was down their best lineman before the game started and lost their second-best starter in the first quarter of play due to injury. And from that point on, the patchwork line couldn’t stop Utah’s aggressive defense. Champions find a way to win, and all that jazz, and there are no excuses in football. Alabama’s backups should have been better prepared. Still, it was a tough circumstance to lose two starters on the offensive line.

What it boils down to is this: Utah used perfect execution, player motivation, fantastic coaching and an incredible level of scouting and preparation to win this game. They certainly didn’t win it with talent, although their players played very well. They didn’t do it with athleticism, athough once again the Utes played to the very best of their ability. They simple showed up ready to go and with a chip on their shoulder. Meanwhile, Alabama brought much less than their A-game. The result was what you saw on Friday night.

If you think that the Utes could have handled Florida, dream on. It might not have been an epic beatdown like Georgia or LSU, but I guarantee the Gators would have whipped that team by at least three touchdowns.

How does this apply to Oklahoma? Only in one way: if Florida players were reading their press-clippings and suffering from expandius-cranius — which I don’t believe they are or were, by the way — they have just received a wonderful wake-up call.

Any team can win on any given Saturday. The team that shows up with their homework done and their lunch pail at their side will come home with the victory. Utah proved that in the Sugar Bowl, and now it’s Florida’s turn in Miami.

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Nick Saban is a first class douche bag. Did you see the way he fell apart on the sidelines? His ego is so huge and what he cares about most is him. He will keep plugging away until he wins the big one here and go somewhere else for more loot. IF that ever happens.

Did you see the psycho Alabama fans? It was insane the way they agreed that they were entitled to this win. My heart lept with glee to see the distraught look on their hounds tooth hat wearing faces as they got their teeth kicked in.

Don’t think for minute that Urban didn’t give Kyle all he needed to tee off on these yahoos. I am so happy i could pee my pants.

Another thing to note in this game:

There were at least 3 times where Bama busted out big (20 yard plus) runs that nevertheless didn’t go the distance. Coffee and Ingraham couldn’t put the hammer down and got caught from behind by the Utah defenders.

At the end of some of those drives they punted, and on others they tried and missed FGs.

That would never happen to Florida against that Utah team. If it’s Demps, Rainey, or Harvin, those runs go for TDs.

Those scores alone would have been enough to swing the game in Bama’s favor.

Big plays can be the difference. Speed kills. Florida has it, Bama doesn’t.

With all due respect, GP, I think Utah has more talent than you give them credit for. I have always thought that the MWC deserves a BCS bid, although I also admit that our mid- to lower-tier teams are far and away better than theirs. But that also applies for several conferences that actually do have BCS ties.

Having been a Ute fan for 14 years longer than I’ve been a Gator fan, I’m frankly thrilled to see them do so well. I just wish UU could have made their point against any other conference than the SEC. It was bittersweet for me to welcome Urban to UF, my alma mater, because it meant he’d be leaving my first football love.

I know Meyer and his coaches will be using this as a wake-up call and motivator for the team, to keep them on-track and focused. Go Gators, finish the job!!!!

It helps that Utah still runs Urban’s offense and had a whole game’s worth of current film of the offense being run against Bama plus a month to study it. Utah was prepared, hungry, and angry. Bama looked like Wanderlei Silva after Rampage got through with him.

Take nothing away from the Utes, they won every game they played this year, and are the only team in the NCAA that can say that.

Good article GP. I may have to put your name in to the Orlando-Slantinel to replace that Gator turncoat who’s currently writing for them. Or should I say, trying to write for them.

In your article, you mention that “…Bama’s loss…shouldn’t scare…” us, and I agree completely. In my opinion, the Bama team which took the field in the Sugar Bowl, was only a shadow of the team that roared out to a 12-0 season, only to get knocked off their feet by the gators — something our kids did on a regular basis — just as they were getting ready to roll into Miami as the undisputed, number 1 team in the country. Anybody who thinks that a thing like that doesn’t knock the slats out from under a team, just hasn’t ever been on the field.

Add to that, as you suggest, the likelihood that Meyer fed Whittingham all of Bama’s weak points, that he had learned first hand, and you have a recipe for a cake walk. However, it was getting knocked out in the last half, of the second to the last fight, which did in the Tide.

I wasn’t surprised at the Ute’s win, only by the ease of it. On the other hand, having been nailed between the eyes early in a game myself before, I can understand how it happened!

I am happy for the Utes, however, I was cheering hard for Bama in the Sugar Bowl. I always cheer for fellow SEC teams in bowl games. If we are to claim that we are superior because we win against the toughest competition week in and week out, then we need our conference foes to win during bowl season to provide evidence that the SEC is truly the elite conference in the NCAA. I even cheer for UGA.

The reason the Gators are playing for the championship Thursday night over a USC team with an equal record is because the SEC is perceived as a much tougher conference than the Pac 10. I would like to keep it that way to that every SEC team gets the nod over a team with an identical schedule.

I don’t want to take anything away from Utah, but the MWC conference has too many weak teams. These games provide “breaks” throughout the season for teams like Utah. If UF moved to the MWC, I would expect us to run the table at least every other year.

What I saw was a team that was playing for national respect and had nothing to lose against a team that lost their championship game and their prize was…..Utah. Hard to get all fired up to play the Ute’s and it showed.

It looked like Bama’s athletes held it together in the 3rd and 4th, but by that time it was over.

I think Utah is a lot better than what people think and Alabama gave them little respect. Surely Florida won’t be overlooking Oklahoma. I think the bigger game of the day was Ole Miss nailing Texas Tech.

Hey guys, I know our focus is on the good guys winning the mNC, but when it’s over, can we get some scoop on basketball and recruiting for both bball and football?

Utah really is that good, and that Bama really was that bad!! I said it!! What!

You, Me parking lot after school 3 o’clock!!

I’m ten years old, but I’ll beat your ass!

I’m gonna scissor-kick you in the back of the head!

I’m gonna come at you like a spider monkey!

Lol

We’re hoping our very own VG swoops in with some hoops analysis. The Gators eeked out a victory over a so-so NC State squad a few days ago… they’re not that great, but they are an ACC team, so it was a good victory for this bunch.

Well stated Ski and I totally agree.

I also pull for SEC teams in “the bowls” — and actually, in any game not against us — and was delighted at how Ole Miss took Texas Tech apart, as it added credence to our loss, and strength of schedule in general. Our loss to Ole Miss was very much akin to Bama’s loss to Utah, at least to a degree. The Bama kids just didn’t see it coming (In our case, it was a little more complicated, but the end result was the same), and before they knew what had hit them, the game was out of control, at least psychologically. These things are going to happen when you are fielding a bunch of 18 & 19 year old boys, and that’s why I’ve always maintained that luck plays as important a role in a national championship as talent. We have been “lucky” in both of our NC’s and, quite frankly, in this attempt as well. As the old cliché states; “It’s better to be lucky than good.”

I was also pleased with Kentucky, Georgia, LSU and particularly with Vanderbilt, as they are way overdue, if you know what I mean. The down side, Bama and So. Carolina, were not as I would have preferred, but hell, 5 out of 7 — and counting — “ain’t too shabby.”

I am also impressed with the way these boys have stepped up, not only their playmaking, but their mind sets as well. From half way through the Arkansas game to now, it became blatantly clear that nothing was going to deter them from their goal. And that takes a lot of character to accomplish, with, again, a bunch of young boys, whose ego’s and attention spans, can easily go askew.

In the past, as most of us old timers know all too well, we Gators — and, admittedly, I was one of those on field problems back in the early 60’s — have many times “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory”, and gone home with the ole “Wait until next year” syndrome.

That has all changed now, just as Bama’s Bear Bryant prophesized when he said — and I’m paraphrasing; “Some day Florida is going to find the coach that be able to tap in to all of that talent down there, and when they do the rest of the SEC will forever live in fear.” Well, we found our coach — in fact, we found two of them — and indeed, from the early 90’s on, the rest of the SEC, and a large part of the nation for that matter, has been living in seasonal fear.

Stand tall Gators, we are no longer the SEC’s “Wait until next year” doormat. The SEC is now our doormat, and the “Y’all Come” sign is out!

“It is great [and a privilege] to be a Florida Gator!”

Living in seasonal fear? I can go along with that in football for most of that time period but not in basketball. In fact, I can’t wait till we sweep you guys on the hardwood this year, much fun. But I hope you guys win the title in football since it will mean bragging rights over the big 12.

I am fairly certain you will sweep us this year, Daniel. Our squad just ain’t that good this season. We’ll be happy if we make the NCAAs.

Much more fun to think about football right now, as you can imagine.

I don’t know. The season is young. As for football, I quiet enjoy Tebow on College Football 09. I just got done beating UT. Tebow had like 160 rushing yards and a touchdown pass…I need to get out more. Anyways.

You want your hoops post, GP? You got it.

And Daniel, are you really saying that you pick UF over UK in NCAA Football 09 because you like Tebow?

Oooooooooooohhhhhhhh, I’m so gonna (not) tell!

As I recall Daniel, I prefaced my entire post — and I’m reasonably sure that there is nothing about “entire,” that you cannot comprehend — based upon the “football” season. Did I commit a faux pas?

However, inasmuch as you brought the subject up; need I remind you that Florida is just 1 year removed from pulling off a back-to-back National Championship sweep; a feat that no one envisioned at the on-set of the 2006-2007 season, so to project what has already been proven a misnomer, is, at the very least, short sighted.

Is that cast in stone? Of course not! But then again, neither is your claim.

I think that’s why they play the games.

Vincy, I can’t deny the raw skill of Tebow when you get him out of the pocket. Sad but true. He’s taking me to the title this season. Plus you should see my recruitment list for 2010. I have to simulate the UK game, I can’t make myself play it.
Bull Gator, but you are also just a season removed from the NIT. We can pick this up on Vince’s fresh post but I stick by my overstated comments last year. Billy G is an average coach who recruited five outstanding players that brought him two titles. Like Ricky P, I doubt seriously he ever wins another.

I am surprised to hear you say that about your own coach, Daniel.

You know, you’re absolutely right. Billy G IS an average coach.

But he recruited at least seven outstanding players, not five. And they’ve yet to give him a title of any sort.

I thought he meant five players across his last two teams… Acie Law took him to the Sweet 16, yanno.

I am, Dan, in no way knowledgeable in any phase of the basketball game, other than playing a little in junior high (and good grief…..that was a hundred years ago, or so it sometimes feels) and watching the Gator games, as I could, over the past 20 odd years. Hell, I’m not even cognizant enough to be called a novice.

But I do know this; you can not successfully orchestrate a team of young kids through the physical demands and psychological roadblocks that “the dance” demands, without knowing what you are doing.

You are, as I understand you, saying that our back-to-back national titles,
had very little to do with Billy’s coaching acumens, the above referred credentials notwithstanding, and was almost strictly due to the on court talents of five or seven 19 and 20 year olds.

Well…..it is your privilege, of course, to “stick by my overstated comments,” if you so desire. But between you and me; I don’t think you really believe them either.

Well you are obviously more intelligent than me as I just made fun of my own coach in an ill-fated attempt to make fun of Billy D. Dang it. But I do believe Billy D to be overrated. I think Billy G is coming around and his best coaching is kicking people’s bum in practice.
I say Billy D is overrated because outside the two titles, his teams have been very underachieving. Florida has been getting better recruits on the whole than Kentucky for the past 10 to 12 years. They should be like North Carolina but they are more like, I don’t know, Florida.
In football, you guys get top recruits every year and every year have a top notch team. Why the excuses in basketball?

just wait for this year and see who
‘ll prevail…ROLL TIDE ROLL, baby!

To, Aligator, the person who thinks Coach Nick Saban is a douche bag and he is in it for himself. Shows how much you know retard he gave 1 million dollars to the Alabama scholarship fund as soon as he arrived to Alabama. Also the only other place saban can go to get “more” loot as you say is to the NFL it simply states in his CONTRACT if he quits coaching for Alabama he quits coaching college football. Good job at not having a fucking clue as to what the fuck your talking about douche bag.

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