I knew this was going to be a difficult game for the Utes to win. Boise State, as I've said the past couple of weeks, is a legitimate national champion contender. I believe they are capable of beating any team on any given Saturday. 

But they proved against Nevada they are not unstoppable. Unfortunately, when you're playing a team who does nothing but shoots itself in the foot over and over again, that is exactly how they looked.

Utah entered this game with about as much passion as I've ever seen. They forced a fumble on the Broncos' first drive and set the tone early that this game was not going to be easily won by Boise State - at least for a quarter, anyway.

Except someone forgot to tell the offense, specifically the receivers, because each time the Utes' defense made a spectacular play, the offense floundered. Oh sure, they had their chances - but for whatever reason, Utah's receivers forgot one of the most crucial points of their position - you've got to catch the freaking ball! 

Dropped passes dictated much of this game from Utah's side and took all the momentum the defense had created and pissed it away in one fell swoop. 

At one point, the Utes had forced a fumble, missed the field goal, forced a three and out, dropped a sure-fire touchdown positioning pass and then turned the ball over. This was repeated on pretty much every possession Utah had in the first quarter and it netted them an amazing three points. 

Instead of the Utes being up 21-0 or even 17-0, they had a meager three point edge. That was a concern because you knew the Bronco offense was going to find its groove sooner or later and that's exactly what happened. After Utah once again blew an opportunity to score on a turnover, the Broncos managed their first touchdown and the game pretty much ended at that point.

The result? A blowout bowl loss - not because the Broncos overpowered Utah, but because the Utes made mistake after mistake and against a great team like Boise State, that will always doom you. 

That is the terrible truth about tonight's game. The Broncos are an extremely talented and well-coached team. It showed, as they kept their composure and made the plays needed to win the game. 

Utah, though, looked completely disorganized out there. Dropped passes aside, this team killed itself with stupid penalties and horrid play calling that goes down as some of the worst I've seen (like on 3rd and goal from the 10, with the game still not lost, the Utes decide to keep it on the ground...WTF?).

Like I said, I knew this was going to be a tough game. I just expected Utah to play better than they did. The mental mistakes all around made this an easy Boise State victory and because of that, I can't help but show my disgust in the coaching staff for not properly preparing this team to fight. Sure, the defense was on its game that first quarter - but they needed some help from the offense. It just wasn't there. 

Now the season ends and for the first time since 1996, Utah loses a bowl game. The streak was going to come to an end sooner or later - I just expected a bigger fight and more solid play than this. Especially from Kyle Whittingham, who has shown over the years he knows how to prep a team for a big bowl game.

Not tonight, though. He was thoroughly out-coached by Chris Petersen and though the Broncos had the talent to easily beat Utah, the lack of any type of consistency on offense and the awful offensive performance tonight was not because of Boise State's talent. That was because our coaches and players were not prepared for this game, at least offensively. 

If they were, the wide-open passes wouldn't have been dropped, the penalties wouldn't have piled up and Utah may have very well won this game. 

But because of those issues and errors, the better coached team did. 

This was not a game that should have been a blowout. Not with how many turnovers the defense created.

Yet it was and that's something the coaches will have to carry with them the remainder of the winter and into spring camp and eventually into the start of the 2011 season. Now hopefully they shore up their offensive problems, or I'm afraid we're in for a great deal more of these games in the new Pac-12 Conference.

Do the unthinkable, Utes! 

Lucky is back and here's to him working his beautiful Irish magic! 

Luck Be a Lady Tonight

Let's hear what you think. Register for a free account here and leave your comments, predictions and other game day chatter below in the comment section. GO UTES! CRUSH THE BRONCOS! 

The fine folk over at OBNUG were gracious enough to answer some questions I had about their Broncos and the upcoming bowl game tomorrow.

This should give you a better idea of their mentality entering a game their team is heavily favored to win. 

Yesterday, I answered some of their questions and you can read what I put here. 

You can read Kevan's answers to my questions after the jump...

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It's no secret - the Utes are big dogs entering Wednesday's bowl game against the Boise St. Broncos. No one is giving them a chance to even make it a game, let alone win it. 

That's just fine. Odds don't dictate the final outcome. They never have.

But they are a creation of the current feelings toward a certain match-up and in that regard, the Vegas odds are exactly right - the Broncos should win and win by a comfortable margin. 

Of course, should is not the same as will and when it comes to Kyle Whittingham and his boys, especially in bowl games, it's never smart to bet against them.

So I won't. I'll never bet against the Utes in a bowl game. I didn't in 2009 as they prepared for their impending slaughter against Alabama and I'm not going to do it today. 

I believe the Vegas oddsmakers are wrong and though I'll stop short of saying I think Utah will win, I do believe they will be in position to win late in the game.

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For how close Boise, Idaho is to Salt Lake City, you'd expect that I would know a bit more about their fair city than I actually do - but I don't. 

Sure, I know it's the capital of Idaho and home to the Boise St. Broncos and Idaho Steeleheads of the ECHL (only because of the Utah Grizzlies) - beyond that, though? Who the hell knows. 

In fact, I didn't even know what a Boise was until literally one minute ago when I Googled the term. It's French, for wood. Or something like that. Hm, Boise is named after a French word. That makes them cheese-eating surrender monkeys in my book. 

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It's perfect, isn't it? Idaho is known for its potato and Utah is known for its fry sauce. 

It's a match made in fat guy heaven. 

via images2.wikia.nocookie.net

But of course, those two things aren't the only thing the University of Utah and Boise State have in common. Both have had a pretty successful run over the last decade or so - winning four BCS bowl games since 2004. That's pretty remarkable when you consider 20 years ago, the Broncos were not a Division 1-A football team and the Utes were hardly playing like one. 

But times have changed. Both teams have had a pretty damn good run as of late and that success has altered the dynamics of college football.

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Did you know that Boise State University is a well-known trucking school?

So when Pat Forde took it upon himself to drive the Boise State National Championship Bus, maybe something along the lines of this would have been more appropriate.

Of course, the real driver of the Boise State Trucker Express is...

Breaker one-nine, we got ourselves a Bronco convoy.