The Reason Utah is not in the BCS title game: Harris Voters admit to not watching Utah

In a great insightful article by Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel that had quotes from multiple Harris Poll voters who admitted to not seeing any or very little at all of Utah’s games this year.  Let me remid the readers that the Harris poll makes up one third of the BCS which pits the number one versus number two teams for the mythical national champion for college football.  The AP pulled out because they did not want to make the news, and they were replaced by many former coaches, athletes, and others to vote.  The Harris poll had a diverse group from across the country but that did not stop voters from watching games.

Just ask some of the voters in the Harris Interactive Poll, which helps determine the title-game matchup.

“I did not see them play [in the regular season],” Bobby Aillet said.

“I didn’t see any live games,” Lance McIlhenny said. “I just [saw] highlights.”

“I don’t recall if I saw them play specifically during the regular season,” David Housel said. “I don’t remember a specific game.”

All I can say is WOW! Another excuse was that the Utah games are difficult to find with being on Versus, CBS College Sports and the league owned Mountain West network.   In years past the Mtn. was only available in the great Mountain West region, but this year the league owned channel is available on DirecTv.  The argument that the games are hard to find is some what valid, but the Pac-10 has a crummy tv deal where one would need the same package to see all the games that are on the Fox Sports Net regional channel.

Yes, the Pac-10 has some games on ESPN and ABC, but Versus is in as many households as ESPN and CBS College is widely available.  These voters do not need to watch every game of every league, but one would think that they would watch something  especially with Utah who was undefeated and finished their regular season the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Another great quote from this article is Wetzel’s comment, ‘Whether Utah deserved to be ranked No. 1, 2 or 25 isn’t the point of this argument. The Utes deserved to have voters at least see them.’

The worst offender is broadcaster Don Criqui, didn’t even bother to cast a final ballot.   That vote should be taken away for not caring about this process, but why would he care if the title is not really decided.  Utah has the disadvantages of playing in a league that is 10 years old, and does not have the history of the team they just embarassed on national televison.   If the same players donned the unis of a Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame, or any university with history they would have been in the title game no questions.

Utah may not be as good as Florida, Oklahoma, or USC but they are in the same class as those schools this year and in the past decade.  If history does matter then schools should do their research and know that Utah has been to six consecutive bowls and won them all, and currently have the longest bowl win streak at eight.  The Utes are the only school in the BCS era to finish undefeated twice.  Is that enough history for you?

Also, I am posting a link to ESPN’s video where former Ute Jamal Anderson debates Skip Bayless who is a complete idiot!  Watch the video and he comes off like an idiot.  Bayless big argument that Alabama was defleated for not making the title game and that the loss of Andre Smith.   Those arguments are weak, because just after Bayless says those he                   follows straight in line by saying that the Utes right end, 0r better known as Paul Kruger, ran wild.  So, what does that say about the Alabama back ups, yes having Andre Smith not in the game hurt but he does not play defense and does not throw the balls.

Bayless came out like the typical east coast homer, by saying history does not count but history and tradition is what gave Alabama the benefit of the doubt of being number one, and it gives USC some credit for getting a share of the title.  The same USC team that go handled by Oregon State who was defeated by Utah.

Just go watch the video, it is priceless.

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Rocky Long to Utah, Dennis Pitta out?

An interesting write up at Block U about the Rocky Long who just stepped down as the New Mexico head coach, and if he would become the new defensive coordinator at Utah. This is of course current Utah defensive coordinator Gary Anderson gets a head coaching job. Speculation is that Wyoming, Utah State, and possibly New Mexico are interested in Anderson as their new head coach.

Utah State tried to lure Anderson before they eventually chose Brent Guy who was let go last week, but since Guy was a defensive minded coach so look for the Aggies to possibly look for an offensive coach.

This is all speculation but a possibility because, Long’s father went to BYU to play football and Long lived in Utah for some time. Long does run a different defense with the 4-2-5 scheme, but he has had success at New Mexico.

There also is rumor that Rocky Long turned down the BYU defensive coordinator job, but that is just a rumor.

The Dennis Pitta news comes from ESPN blogger Graham Watson who talks about Pitta who strained his MCL late in the Air Force game last weekend.

“Dennis is one of the biggest weapons that we have on our offense, if not the biggest, and hypothetically speaking, if he were not to play, it would be more weight on my shoulders, on Harvey’s [Unga] shoulders, on Andrew George‘s shoulders, on Michael Reed‘s shoulders, on Max’s [Hall] shoulders, Collie said. “I mean, Dennis is huge in our offense. He’s one of the guys who makes it run. Without him, it would drop a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility, on some of the other guys, including myself.”

Thursday is the earliest that BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall would say if Pitta would play is Thursday.  This is huge if Pitta is unable to play, because Pitta is the teams second leading receiver behind Austin Collie and has came up big in the UNLV and Colorado State games.

Kyle Whittingham to Visit ESPN Studios During Bye Week

With a bye ahead for Utah next week, Ute head football coach Kyle Whittingham has accepted an invitation from ESPN to spend a day in the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn., on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Whittingham will depart Salt Lake City on the morning of Monday, Oct. 21 and return late Tuesday evening after a full day of ESPN interviews. His ESPN schedule is below (information from Utahutes.net)

11:20 a.m. LIVE on ESPN2

12:25 p.m. LIVE on Colin Cowherd Radio/televised on ESPNU (Can be heard locally on 1320 KFAN)

12:45 p.m. College Football Digital

1:25 p.m. LIVE on Mike Tirico/Scott Van Pelt/ESPN Radio (Kirk Herbstreit host) (Can be heard locally on 1230 ESPN Radio)

1:40 p.m. Taping with the PULSE/ESPN Radio

2:00 p.m. Taping with College Football LIVE

2:30 p.m. LIVE on College Football ESPNews Overdrive

Things to look for this fall.

To go along with what ESPN has for their 3 things to watch for the MWC in the fall here is my list to accompany the ESPN list which is below.

Here is my three things to look for:

1. Can anyone dethrone BYU or at least beat them once this year. New Mexico and Utah look to have the best chance to do that. Utah has 10 of their 11 starters back on offense and get Matt Asiata and Brent Casteel back after early injuries. New Mexico always plays BYU close and they do get Rodney Ferguson back after being ineligible for their bowl game last year. BYU has to play at Utah, TCU, and Air Force for conference play.

2. Can Steve Fairchild the new coach at Colorado State do what Troy Calhoun at Air Force did in his first year? Fairchild will have one of the best running attacks in the conference with Kyle Bell fully recovered from his ACL tear, and Gatrell Johnson III and toss in that super stud TE Korey Sperry will be back after an early season knee injury.

3. Will Wyoming ever live up to the hype? The Cowboys have a talented defense that only allowed one player all last year to allow a 100 yard rusher. Also the Pokes need to finish strong instead of faltering like last years team that started 4-1 then did not even qualify for a bowl game. Wyoming has a realistic chance to go 6-1 with home games against a rebuilding Air Force, I-AA North Dakota State, Ohio, San Diego State, and Utah. If Wyoming can go at worst 4-3 at home and some how manage to go 3-2 on their road that would be a great year, but their road schedule is tough with games at BYU, New Mexico, TCU, Tennessee, and UNLV. With a non conference schedule of Ohio, North Dakota State, Bowling Green, and then the tough one at Tennessee the Cowboys have a good chance of bowling.

Rodney Ferguson Suspended

That is right just recently reported on ESPN that RB Rodney Ferguson and RB Mike Love are both ruled academically ineligible and can not play in the New Mexico Bowl. This is a big blow to New Mexico because Ferguson accounts for 74% of the Lobos rushing yards on the year, and his replacement will be Junior Paul Baker who rushed for 298 yards and zero touchdowns.  This may not change the game plan as coach Rocky Long claims but Baker is not near the talent that Ferguson is and this gives a big edge to Nevada.  However New Mexico still has a potent air attack with QB Donovan Porterie, WR’s Travis Brown and Marcus Smith who have combined for 2000 yards receiving and 8 TD’s, so the Lobos still have offense but they will be hurting offensively.

Also these two players are both Juniors but can regain eligibility for next year if they get their grades up, but in my opinion Rodney Ferguson is going to make himself eligible for the NFL draft.  Ferguson is good enough to get drafted as a second day pick, especially with the weak Senior class that is running backs this year that could change depending on the Juniors but if he declares Ferguson should be drafted.

11/24 Basketball Preview

(5-0)  #1 (6-0)

Las Vegas Invite Orleans Arena 7:30PM PT TV:

BYU all ready beat on top 10 team and their reward is another game against the number one team in the land against UNC.  UNC is beatable just look back at their close game against Davidson recently, and BYU has a similar up tempo style game that could cause problems for UNC.  Last night against Louisville the Cougars were lead by the two man team of big man Trent Plaisted and Jonathon Tavernari who combined for 50 points and 19 rebounds.   UNC also likes to run so BYU better be careful what they wish for in this game.  A matchup to watch for is BYU’s big man Trent Plaisted against UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough.  Plaisted does have a slight height advantage, but one trend that I noticed last year when watching Plaisted play against someone who had size he struggled.  This will be a good test to see how Plaisted can matchup against someone with size and who is NBA ready.  UNC should win because they want to score in the 90’s each game and run similar to BYU, but UNC has better athletes.  For BYU to stay close they need to play the inside outside game that was going on last night to be able to keep the defense honest and limit mistakes.  This game will be close for a half, but I think BYU used most of their energy last night and will falter down the stretch to the Tar Heels

(3-2) (5-0)

Hispanic College Fund Classic Spokane, Washington 2:30PM PT TV: NONE

This is the second game of this mini tournament in Spokane. Air Force was able to knock off Mississippi Valley State by 18 points and have a surprisingly great start at 5-0 and have a chance to make it 6-0 against a solid Montana that comes from the Big Sky conference.  Air Force continues to play their grind it out slow it down game and have been successful even with their new coach in Colorado Springs.  The Falcons win came down to their defense which they held Mississippi Valley to 24% shooting and that is what they will have to do defeat Montana who likes to score and they have 70 points in every game so far this season, so something must give tonight.   Look for the defense to take over and look for Air Force to slow it down and pull out the win.   Montana is coming off a pretty good performance where the lost to #9 Washington State by 11, but they were unable to shoot a good percentage because of Wazzu’s defense.  Now against Air Force Montana will need to make their possessions count because Air Force will slow it down, and throw in the fact that the Falcons play pretty good defense.  Look for Air Force to pull this game just as long as the Falcons slow it down because the Grizzlies like to score.