Giant Killers: The 2008 Utah Utes

This is is another installment in the Giant Killer series here at Bleacher Report, and once again, we didn't have too look too far back to find another gem.

Let's go back to New Years Day, January 1, 2009. The Utah Utes had gone undefeated and jumped through al of the hoops and hurdled all of the hurdles put in their way by the old boy network which is the BCS. The undefeated Utes were now in the Sugar Bowl, taking on SEC Runner Up, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

While some of the Crimson Tide fans are some of the greatest in the sport, there are still some out there ignorant enough to believe the college football world begins and ends with Alabama Football. It is ill conceived thoughts like these which make games like this one all that much more special.

Utah wasn't getting alot of respect in this one, but they didn't seem to mind as they took the field in New Orleans. Nor did they seem intimidated.

The Tide fans had dismissed the game as an afterthought as most spent the weeks leading up to the game talking about how great their coach is and how great their team was going to be next year, even though they had lost to Florida in the SEC Title game and the Gators were returning almost their entire team the following year.

Many thought the Utes had no chance because they were coming from the Mountain West conference, and could never beat an SEC team. How wrong they were.

To cut a long story short, the game was, in fact, a mismatch, but it was the Tide who were undressed on the field in New Orleans. While some Tide fans chose to look for excuses of a player who was suspended, the fact remains, as a team they were thrashed by a Utah team who dominated from whistle-to-whistle.

I wish there was an exciting game or a key play to throw into this story or even a turning point, but there was none; just a team and their fans whose egos were left battered and bruised and who remain a shell of what they were last November.