Utes finish 2nd in the nation, highest ranking ever

by JazzyUte on Jan 9, 2009 12:19 AM MST in Football Comment 9 comments

It's not first, but it's still damn good!

Utah received 16 first place votes, USC only one and Florida with the rest.

Who would have thought the Utes would finish 2nd when the season started? Seriously?

Awesome!

GO UTES!

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS	LAST
1	Florida (48)	13-1	1606	1
2	Utah (16)	13-0	1519	7
3	Southern Cal (1)	12-1	1481	5
4	Texas	12-1	1478	3
5	Oklahoma	12-2	1391	2
6	Alabama	12-2	1264	4
7	TCU	11-2	1193	11
8	Penn St.	11-2	1153	6
9	Ohio St.	10-3	1013	10
10	Oregon	10-3	997	15
11	Boise St.	12-1	938	9
12	Texas Tech	11-2	916	8
13	Georgia	10-3	903	16
14	Mississippi	9-4	857	20
15	Virginia Tech	10-4	713	21
16	Oklahoma St.	9-4	534	13
17	Cincinnati	11-3	506	12
18	Oregon St.	9-4	467	24
19	Missouri	10-4	435	25
20	Iowa	9-4	317	NR
21	Florida St.	9-4	246	NR
22	Georgia Tech	9-4	223	14
23	West Virginia	9-4	144	NR
24	Michigan St.	9-4	138	19
25	BYU	10-3	137	17

Others receiving votes: California 128, Pittsburgh 106, LSU 95, Nebraska 64, Tulsa 61, Northwestern 53, Ball St. 13, Boston College 11, Rutgers 11, Rice 8, Arizona 4, Kansas 2. First-place votes in parentheses

The Coaches Poll has also been released and it isn't nearly as kind to Utah. The Utes are ranked 4th there and you will see that they received one first place vote. I'm assuming that is from Kyle Whittingham.

Now what will happen to him? Not sure. But screw it, I bet it was the sweetest vote of his life. Also, how much do you want to bet some other BCS coaches pushed Utah down their list?

Oh well, we all know it's the AP that matters anyway. ;)

Rank	Team (first-place votes)	Record	Points	Last week
1.	Florida (60)	13-1	1,524	2
2.	Southern California	12-1	1,393	T4
3.	Texas	12-1	1,389	3
4.	Utah (1)	13-0	1,375	7
5.	Oklahoma	12-2	1,333	1
6.	Alabama	12-2	1,157	T4
7.	TCU	11-2	1,114	11
8.	Penn State	11-2	1,091	6
9.	Oregon	10-3	1,011	13
10.	Georgia	10-3	904	17
11.	Ohio State	10-3	874	10
12.	Texas Tech	11-2	867	8
13.	Boise State	12-1	809	9
14.	Virginia Tech	10-4	740	19
15.	Mississippi	9-4	620	24
16.	Missouri	10-4	549	24
17.	Cincinnati	11-3	493	12
18.	Oklahoma State	9-4	480	14
19.	Oregon State	9-4	407	25
20.	Iowa	9-4	250	NR
21.	Brigham Young	10-3	248	16
22.	Georgia Tech	9-4	219	15
23.	Florida State	9-4	217	NR
24.	Michigan State	9-4	179	18
25.	California	9-4	116	NR

Dropped out
No. 20 Northwestern (9-4, lost to then-No. 23 Missouri 30-23 OT in Alamo Bowl), No. 21 Pittsburgh (9-4, lost to then-No. 25 Oregon State 3-0 in Sun Bowl), No. 22 Ball State (12-2, lost to Tulsa 45-13 in GMAC Bowl).
Others receiving votes
West Virginia (9-4) 101; Tulsa (11-3) 68; LSU (8-5) 65; Northwestern (9-4) 63; Nebraska (9-4) 62; Pittsburgh (9-4) 38; Arizona (8-5) 21; Ball State (12-2) 14; Rice (10-3) 14; Boston College (9-5) 6; Rutgers (8-5) 5; Kansas (8-5) 3; Kentucky (7-6) 3; Connecticut (8-5) 2; Houston (8-5) 1.

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Comments

What an amazing year

With the current system in place, this is the best we could ever finish. We all know where we should be, but this #2 ranking rocks! Thank you Utes for an amazing season! Can’t wait for next season!

by Riddy on Jan 9, 2009 12:47 AM MST reply actions

Thank you Utes for a great season.

You deserve all the accolades you have and more.

by Ute in DC on Jan 9, 2009 12:48 AM MST reply actions

Congratulations to the National Champion

…Utah Utes.

I’m a lifelong, diehard Longhorn fan – and Utah is the team that should be the National Champs. I love my ‘horns, but since you guys beat Alabama (rather handily) even if the ’horns would have beaten OSU by fifty – I’d still be saying it – you guys are the uncrowned champs.

Congrats on a great season. Hopefully your despair in being screwed out of a title share will contribute to big changes in the system one day.

www.HoustonDiehards.com

by HoustonDiehards on Jan 9, 2009 2:05 AM MST reply actions

My reaction

Thanks, pal.

My despair at not being voted #1 by a rotted literati is dwarfed by my pride for our team and the way it played all season.

We had some harrowing games (Oregon State, TCU) and our guys always made a drive or got a play when we needed it most. It was a fun ride, and this team did us proud.

by Rhino95 on Jan 9, 2009 8:22 AM MST up reply actions

Notice the gaps.

Between Utah and USC in the AP poll is 38 points. Between USC and Texas in the Coaches poll is only 4 points, and only 14 between Texas and Utah. That’s a close vote.

Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.

by displacedute on Jan 9, 2009 7:42 AM MST reply actions