If BYU had beaten Arizona in 2008, would Utah have been elected no. 1 in the AP Poll?

[myboynoah]

This is an excellent point. The Utes were ranked 7 in the prior poll. They moved from 7 to no. 2 in the final AP poll. Has any team ever moved so far in the top ten between the final two polls? I bet not. Maybe they just had too much territory to cover to get to no. 1. On the other hand, the no. 1 team had a loss, Utah's win over Alabama in THE SUG was better than Florida's SEC championship win, and the Utes got a bunch of no. 1 votes. I have a hunch a strong BYU win over Arizona would have made the difference.

Yet another good reason for Ute antipathy for BYU.

As if you need any more reasons.

Max Hall hates U, he hates everything about U. To add insult to injury, he went 2-1 against U. And to top it off, after playing one holy crapper of a game, on his last play against U, he threw a TD pass to send U packing.

That has got to leave U gutted, entirely gutted.

[Maximus]

T/F, Utah would have moved up a lot faster in the polls throughout the season (before TCU particullary) if they had beaten some of thecrappy teams they played by more than 3-7 points.

[SeattleUte]

T/F, Utah would have moved up a lot faster in the polls throughout the season (before TCU particullary) if they had beaten some of thecrappy teams they played by more than 3-7 points.

Sweet consolation for you, eh? Funnhy you say that when all the computers ranked the Utes no. 1 at season's end.

Do you mean their Tyus Edney dash against a ranked at season's end Oregon State team? Or their dramatic come from behind win against no. 7 at season's end TCU, which annihilated BYU?

Even so, the Utes got dominant in time to slaughter BYU and Alabama (in THE SUG) and achieve a no. 2 AP ranking, the highest available to them in those popularity contests.

[Maximus]

Sweet consolation for you, eh? Funnhy you say that when all the computers ranked the Utes no. 1 at season's end.

Do you mean their Tyus Edney dash against a ranked at season's end Oregon State team? Or their dramatic come from behind win against no. 7 at season's end TCU, which annihilated BYU?

Even so, the Utes got dominant in time to slaughter BYU and Alabama (in THE SUG) and achieve a no. 2 AP ranking, the highest available to them in those popularity contests.

Do you deny that blowing out teams helps you in the polls more than escaping bad teams?

Would Boise be #6 if they had beaten everyone like they did Tulsa?

Fact is, Utah barely beat some bad teams last year. See Michigan, New Mexico, by memory. Would they have finished #1? No. Even if BYU had blown out Arizona and played close to TCU, Utah still would have been 2. If TCU had beaten Oklahoma, then you would have been 1.

[CJF]

Sweet consolation for you, eh? Funnhy you say that when all the computers ranked the Utes no. 1 at season's end.

Do you mean their Tyus Edney dash against a ranked at season's end Oregon State team? Or their dramatic come from behind win against no. 7 at season's end TCU, which annihilated BYU?

Even so, the Utes got dominant in time to slaughter BYU and Alabama (in THE SUG) and achieve a no. 2 AP ranking, the highest available to them in those popularity contests.

That is simply not true. Two of the six BCS computer rankings had Utah third.

[jay santos]

Sweet consolation for you, eh? Funnhy you say that when all the computers ranked the Utes no. 1 at season's end.

http://www.mratings.com/cf/arch/compare2008.htm

SU, you need to review the most well known computer polls and where they had Utah in 2008.

Looks like basically none of them had Utah #1 except for a couple of the crappy BCS polls which exclude the scores as input.

[Moliere]

This seems to me the only logical explanation. A TCU blow out of Boise would have helped, though.

(Not that I care; I'm satisfied with what happened, including Utes no. 1 in all the computer polls.)

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts.......

It is funny this question is being asked now. You won a BCS bowl game. You finished #2, which is fabulous for a Utah team. Congrats on that accomplishment. You didn't finish #1 nor did you win a BCS National Championship. You can play the if/but game all day but it won't change your final ranking to #1.

[SeattleUte]

You won a BCS bowl game. You finished #2, which is fabulous for a Utah team.

LOL!! BYU has one undefeated season in its history, on a lolipop schedule. BYU will never go to a BCS bowl. BYU is too psycho. We've seen the best Bronco can do, with an extraordinary inheritance. Has BYU ever beaten a team that finished in the top 10? I'm usre it hasn't. BYU has never played in a real bowl. You people are deluded. Bring a lawsuit, get an injunction!

[Indy Coug]

Has BYU ever beaten a team that finished in the top 10?

1990 Miami (3rd)
1985 Air Force (8th)
1967 Oregon State (7th)

[Blueintheface]

1990 Miami (3rd)
1985 Air Force (8th)
1967 Oregon State (7th)

Shhhh...he's channeling right now. He's proving to us he's not a hater and that as an attorney he doesn't speak in hyperbole or out of his ass.

[TripletDaddy]

1990 Miami (3rd)
1985 Air Force (8th)
1967 Oregon State (7th)

This is Indy Coug at his best.

Actually, SeattleUte raises an excellent point about top 10 opponents.

Has the U ever beaten a #1 ranked team, regardless of where that top ranked team finished the season? What about a top ranked team that finished in the Top 5? Or Top 3?

In fact, has the U ever even played a #1 ranked team, regardless of W/L result?

I think SeattleUte is onto something with this line of thinking.

[SeattleUte]

This is Indy Coug at his best.

Actually, SeattleUte raises an excellent point about top 10 opponents.

Has the U ever beaten a #1 ranked team, regardless of where that top ranked team finished the season? What about a top ranked team that finished in the Top 5? Or Top 3?

In fact, has the U ever even played a #1 ranked team, regardless of W/L result?

I think SeattleUte is onto something with this line of thinking.

I don't think what they're ranked when you beat them carries a lot of weight, unless it's in a late or post season game. It's especially worthless to beat a team no. 1 in a preseason poll. Where they finished ranked is more interesting and important, unless it's a situation like when TCU beat Clemson this year, i.e., Clemson was unranked and bad (it started the season 2-3 including the loss to TCU); of course, Clemson isn't ranked now.

[Indy Coug]

In fact, has the U ever even played a #1 ranked team, regardless of W/L result?

Here are the highest ranked teams Utah has faced (as of the time the game was played).

1984 BYU (3rd)
1989 Nebraska (4th)
2008 Alabama (4th)
1977 Oklahoma (5th) -- score 62-24
1990 BYU (5th)

As far as where teams ended up being ranked

1984 BYU (1st)
1975 Arizona State (2nd)
2001 Oregon (2nd)
1986 Arizona State (4th) -- score 52-7
1945 Oklahoma State (5th)
1996 BYU (5th)
2006 Boise State (5th) -- score 36-3

[SeattleUte]

http://www.mratings.com/cf/arch/compare2008.htm

SU, you need to review the most well known computer polls and where they had Utah in 2008.

Looks like basically none of them had Utah #1 except for a couple of the crappy BCS polls which exclude the scores as input.

"Crappy BCS bowls"? LOL. That's the gold standard.

You're wrong. Utah was the consensus champ per the computers, which don't have agendas, which don't know how to lie:

http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showth...light=computer

[Indy Coug]

"Crappy BCS bowls"? LOL. That's the gold standard.

You're wrong. Utah was the consensus champ per the computers, which don't have agendas, which don't know how to lie:

http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showth...light=computer

You mean computer polls that where using margin of victory was expressly verboten?

That's like saying you have the fastest car based on a downhill race where the car is out of gas and gravity is the only accelerant.