18s across the board it looks like. The final blogpoll is out and the Utes are ranked right where they were in the coaches' and media poll.
Not bad, I guess.
Some interesting results...
- The Utes surged seven spots, the greatest rise of any team in the poll (second best was six by Ole Miss)
- Boise State matches Utah's finish last year for the highest non-BCS team (second)
- TCU finished sixth
- BYU 13th
- Cal somehow received votes
- I voted Utah 15th and you can see my final ballot here
That 15th place vote gained me the Coulter/Krugman Award, given to the blogger who has the highest bias rating. I take great pleasure in this, even though I wasn't entirely off (15 and 18 is a minimal difference).
For about the first time all year, the CK Award just plain failed. Block U was the last poll's winner and thus drew the whammy for its Poinsettia Bowl matchup against Cal. Utah covered a three point spread by seven. Last time's runner up was West Virginia, though, so there's that.
Block U wins here again, but the foul award has demonstrated no power to punish foes across season. Also there will be a preseason poll that supersedes this one when opening week 2010 rolls around. Congratulations, Utah. We would have gotten away with it without you meddling Samoans.
For the record, the CK Award finished the year 10-5 against the spread and 9-6 straight up. Some of those covers were beyond painful, though. They include Iowa's three-point win against Arkansas State and Nebraska's heart-crushing defeat in the Big 12 championship game. Sometimes the horror this thing doles out is not captured by numbers.
I beat those bastards!