Utah Utes: Don’t look now, but they’re in the BCS picture

October 28, 1:49 PMUtah Sports ExaminerBrian Shaw

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If anyone ever said they thought the Utah Utes would be in the BCS picture at this point during the 2009-10 football season, one would probably find such an individual a tad off.

After losing literally two-thirds of its skill position players--and Matt Asiata to a season-ending injury--nobody in their right mind felt the Utes had a ghost of a chance to talk BCS by Halloween.

But some fortunate happenings, along with their only loss of the season coming at the hands of Oregon, a team still ranked in the Top 10 despite losing to No. 7 Boise State in the LaGarrette Blount title fight, has the Utes thinking they too, might make the BCS with a little help from some friends in the Mountain West and WAC conferences.

The No. 16 Utes can also thank Oklahoma for losing to BYU in their first game of the season, an event so unreal that it literally shut down Provo for an entire weekend, because police were fearful of rioting. If that doesn’t tell you that the BYU faithful need something to do, nothing will.

That Cougar win not only propelled BYU into BCS discussions, but also kept TCU, a team that rightfully belonged in talks last year as well, in them. The Horned Frogs stayed, even as the Cougars ascended below middle Earth or the Top 15 in their horrendous loss to Florida State.

Blame the Versus network for the Cougars misfortunes, but only if you’re an idiot. Also important in that scenario is the fact that the Sooners have dropped out of the BCS talk, and so did the Seminoles, which made BYU’s upset win--if you can call it such--and the FSU blowout inconsequential, keeping the Cougs in the talks but not at the forefront.

Then there’s TCU, the team that walked into Cougar Stadium last Saturday in front of a semi-national TV audience, on Versus--and the College GameDay crew who couldn’t actually cover the game--and bitch-slapped the Cougars right out of the BCS conversation, back to dreaming of Las Vegas.

All of these events, along with the Utes’ ability to somehow win with a quarterback who has nothing on Forrest Gump, frankly, have the Utes talking about the BCS.

Let’s just imagine, for a second, if the Utes win out, defeating Wyoming on Saturday, followed by New Mexico, then upset TCU as well as a much improved San Diego State and dance all over BYU in Provo.

If Oregon were to win out, and with a TCU loss to the Utes and a miraculous Boise State loss, say at Utah State before Thanksgiving, it’s possible the Utes could give thanks to a half-dozen teams and the Utes could at least be looking at a Fiesta Bowl invitation, along with some early Christmas cards to Bob Stoops, Bobby Bowden, Chip Kelly, Chris Petersen and Gary Andersen, as well as Bronco Mendenhall.

If things looked bleak after running back Matt Asiata went down for the season, along with the Utes’ ability to use the Wildcat formation to infinity, a one-loss Utah team may be exactly what sets the BCS on its head, provided the Utes do what they need to on the field and others follow suit.

The BCS rankings may have just started but the fun is just beginning.