No. 1 Team in College Football: Utah Utes? No Doubt About It

When the votes are tallied after the Jan. 8 national title tilt between No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Oklahoma, either the Gators or Sooners will be crowned national champions of college football.

But will they deserve the distinction?

The answer is simple: no.

For eight consecutive weeks, the Alabama Crimson Tide was ranked either first or second in the country. Friday night in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Utah Utes beat Nick Saban's team in every facet en route to a 31-17 victory and a 13-0 season.

When those final polls come out next week, it should be the Utes sitting atop the world of college football, not Florida or Oklahoma.

Regardless of who wins Jan. 8, only one team will have finished with a spotless record against ranked opponents.

Oklahoma lost to Texas. Florida lost to Ole Miss. Utah lost to no one.

Oklahoma and Utah both beat TCU, which ended Boise State's run at perfection. Florida and Utah both beat Alabama. It was the Utes, however, winning by a larger margin. The Gators took down the Tide 31-20 in a neutral-site Georgia Dome in the SEC title game. In a Louisiana Superdome clearly swayed in favor of Alabama, Utah blew out to a 21-0 lead, winning the 2009 Sugar Bowl, 31-17.

If ever there were a reason for a playoff system, this season would be it. Most certainly, Utah will finish ranked second behind the winner of Thursday night's game.

Three coaches broke ranks of BCS voting and voted USC as the national champions, over BCS title game winner LSU, at the end of the 2003-04 season. Are there any coaches out there with the spine to vote Utah over Florida or Oklahoma?

Would it take 32 BCS coaches (the lowest possible majority) to vote Utah atop their poll to give us a legitimate chance at seeing a playoff system installed in major college football?

Unfortunately, we will most likely never have these questions answered. If BCS voters are anything, they are sheep.

No matter their beliefs, they will vote the winner of the Florida-Oklahoma game as national championship, even if neither one of those teams are the deserving national champions.