How Utah Exposed the Vaunted SEC

With another National Crown and a terrific Bowl season to cap the 2008-09 season, it would seemingly go down as yet another year of SEC dominance.

But before you dub the SEC as the biggest, fastest and strongest in the land, one glaring problem still lingers.

How did no name, non-BCS Utah, with its 2-star recruits, under-sized defensive line and weak schedule expose the mighty Crimson Tide and the SEC as an over-hyped, overrated and over confident prima donna?

The answer will surprise you.

November 6th
Set the stage back to the first week of November. Utah had just beaten 11th-ranked TCU in an ugly, defense oriented (SEC-like) struggle.

The Utes had emerged as one of the few remaining unbeatens in a tough conference, with two particularly impressive wins over top-15 TCU and the current first place team in the Pac-10 (Oregon State).

Yet the nation was still unimpressed. Pundits and BCS fans were dismissive and presumptuous of Utah's success.

Dozens suggested that Utah wouldn't belong on the same field as BCS powerhouse teams like USC, Penn State, Alabama and Texas Tech.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, commenting on the Arkansas victory over then-unbeaten Tulsa, went as far as to say that a bottom tier SEC West team would probably beat Utah. Insightful journalism or just wishful thinking?

So how did CFB nation justify these phantom claims to superiority when on-the-field performance proved otherwise?

Many would argue that larger programs simply had stronger recruiting classes, better depth, richer traditions and more financial resources. All reasonable factors.

Yet none of them seem to have a direct impact on the field of play. Recruiting is a good indicator but far from an exact science. We needn't look further than this year's Notre Dame, Michigan, and Tennessee to gather that.

Why so little emphasis placed on game plan and execution?

Wyoming 13, Tennessee  7

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