Utah Notes for the Allstate Sugar Bowl

12/10/2008 12:00 AM | Football

Dec. 10, 2008

Complete release in PDF format will be posted on Friday, Dec. 12.

> No. 7 Utah (12-0) will play No. 4 Alabama (12-1) in the 75th Allstate Sugar Bowl on Friday, Jan. 2 in New Orleans. Kickoff is 7:17 p.m. CT (6:17 p.m. MT) in the 72,000-seat Louisiana Superdome. The game will be televised by Fox Sports.

> Utah ended the regular season ranked No. 6 in the BCS Standings and No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches, Associated Press and Harris polls.

> Utah's No. 6 BCS ranking ties its best in school history--which is also the best BCS ranking ever by a team from a non-automatic qualifying conference. The Utes, who have been ranked sixth in the BCS standings for the last three weeks, rose to No. 6 in the final BCS standings of 2004. The 2004 Utes finished with a No. 4 A.P. ranking, which is the best in school history.

> Utah is 12-0 for the second time ever--tying the school mark set in 2004.

> Utah owns the longest win streak in the nation at 13 games. Utah and Alabama were tied at 13 before the Tide's loss to Florida on Dec. 6. Utah has won 20 of its last 21 games.

> With the invitation, Utah becomes the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in two BCS bowl games. Utah was the original BCS Buster in 2004--beating Pittsburgh in the (2005) Fiesta Bowl to complete an undefeated season at 12-0.

> Utah has the second-longest current bowl win streak in the nation at seven games--one behind Boston College. Utah wins during the streak came against Fresno State (1999), USC (2001), Southern Miss (2003), Pittsburgh (2005/2004 season), Georgia Tech (2005), Tulsa (2006) and Navy (2007).

> With two wins over ranked teams this season (then No. 11 TCU and No. 14 BYU), Utah improved to 6-0 all-time in games when both Utah and its opponent were nationally ranked.

UTAH-BAMA SCORECARD
The Sugar Bowl will feature two of the nation's stingiest defensive teams. Alabama ranks sixth in scoring defense (13.0), while Utah is 12th (17.2). On offense, Utah is ranked 15th in scoring (37.42) and Alabama is No. 30 (31.15). See pages 4-5 for complete rankings on the two teams.

BCS BEATERS
Utah has more wins against BCS schools (15) since 2000 than any other non-automatic qualifying BCS school. The Utes are 15-10 against BCS teams since 2000, 10-3 since 2004 and 2-0 this year. Since the BCS began in 1998, Utah is tied for the most wins (16) against BCS teams by a non-BCS team. The top non-BCS teams since 2000: Utah (15), Fresno State (14), Navy (13), TCU (12) and BYU (10). The top non-BCS teams since 1998: Utah (16), Navy (16), TCU (15), BYU (14) and Fresno State (14).

NEW ORLEANS TIES
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has lived in New Orleans twice. His father, Fred, played for the New Orleans Saints from 1967-68 (and part of 1969) during his seven-year NFL career. Kyle Whittingham also played in the Big Easy--spending the 1984 season with the USFL's New Orleans Breakers ... Backup safety RJ Rice (Salt Lake City) spent part of his childhood in New Orleans, where he played in his very first football game, meaning he will start and end his football career in New Orleans.

COACHES' BOX
The Utah coaching staff assignments will remain unchanged for the Allstate Sugar Bowl, even with Gary Andersen accepting the head coaching job at Utah State on Dec. 4. Andersen will continue to serve as Utah's defensive coordinator and defensive line coach through the bowl game. Kalani Sitake, who was announced as Utah's new defensive coordinator at the team's bowl announcement party on Dec. 7, will stay as the linebackers' coach for the bowl.

BOWL BITS
First-time Sugar Bowl invitee Utah will play an Alabama program that has appeared in 13 Sugar Bowls--tied for the most ever with LSU. Alabama last played in the Sugar Bowl in 1993, when it beat Miami for the national title ... Utah is designated as the visiting team in the Allstate Sugar Bowl ... Utah has played an indoor bowl game one other time in its history. The Utes beat West Virginia 32-6 in the 1964 Liberty Bowl in the Atlantic City Convention Center in what was billed as the first indoor major bowl game ...Utah is 10-3 all-time in bowl games and its 77-percent postseason winning percentage is the best in the nation for teams that have played in at least 10 bowl games ... This is only the second time in its 115-year football history that Utah has played on January 2. The Utes beat New Mexico in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 2, 1939.

KING LOUIE
Louie Sakoda, just the second player to be named a finalist for both the Lou Groza (kicker) and Ray Guy (punter) awards in the same year, has also been selected as a first-team All-America kicker by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA. Sakoda becomes the first football player in Utah history to make a major All-America first-team at two positions. He was a 2007 first-team All-America punter by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and CBSSports.com. He is a three-time Special Teams Player of the Year and the league's all-time leader in career player of the week awards, with 12. Sakoda, also a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete, is a finalist for the Draddy, Wuerffel and Lowe's Senior Class awards.

UTES DOMINATE ALL CONFERENCE TEAM
Utah senior quarterback Brian Johnson and senior punter/kicker Louie Sakoda were named the Mountain West Conference Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year, respectively, and Kyle Whittingham was the MWC Coach of the Year by vote of the league's head coaches and media. The undefeated Utes claimed over a third of the 22 first-team positions with a league-high eight selections, including Sakoda as both the punter and the kicker. Johnson, the first-team quarterback, was joined by two of his offensive linemen: junior Zane Beadles and senior Robert Conley. Defensive first-team Utes included sophomore DL Paul Kruger, senior DB Brice McCain and junior DB Sean Smith. Second-team Utes were senior WR Freddie Brown, junior DL Koa Misi and junior LB Stevenson Sylvester. Honorable mention picks were sophomore OL Zane Taylor, junior KR David Reed, senior DL Greg Newman and junior LB Mike Wright.

UTAH COACH Kyle Whittingham
Kyle Whittingham, the 2008 MWC Coach of the Year, is 36-14 in four years as Utah's head coach, including a school-record tying 12-0 record this season. Whittingham, a finalist for the Liberty Mutual National Coach of the Year Award, is 6-3 against BCS schools and 3-0 in bowl games. In his 15 total years on the Utah staff--he served as the defensive coordinator from 1995-2004 and as the defensive line coach in 1994--Utah has won nearly 70-percent of its games (122-55), played in nine bowl games (winning eight) and been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for a total of 52 weeks. Utah's current No. 6 BCS ranking heading into his 10th bowl game matches its best ever--first set by the 2004 team, for which he was the defensive coordinator.

INSIDE THE HUDDLE
Nine current Utes were on the 2004/2005 Fiesta Bowl team: Brent Casteel, WR; Brad Clifford, TE; Robert Conley, OL; Afa Garrigan, LB; Brian Johnson, QB; Paul Kruger, DL; John Peel, WR; Colt Sampson, TE; Ray Stowers, RB. The only one who played that season was Johnson, who saw action in 10 games as a true freshman playing behind Alex Smith. Johnson did not play in the bowl game ... Utah has had 17 different players score a touchdown this season, which is tied for the second-most in the nation behind Miami (18). Here's a breakdown of how Utah has scored its touchdowns: rushing (23), receiving (26), interception returns (3), punt return (1) and fumble return (2) ... Kicker Louie Sakoda leads Utah (and the MWC) in scoring with 115 points, followed by running back Matt Asiata (72), receiver Freddie Brown (42), and a combination of defense and special teams (38) ... Six Utes have completed a pass: quarterbacks Johnson (241-353), Corbin Louks (4-7) and Chad Manis (3-4); running back Asiata (2-3), receiver Jereme Brooks (1-1) and punter/kicker Sakoda (1-2) ... Two true freshmen have played in games: OL Tony Bergstrom and DT Sealver Siliga. Six redshirt freshmen have played, including starting nose tackle Derrick Shelby.

OUTSIDE THE LINES
Utah set a school attendance record this year by averaging 45,542 at its home games. The attendance exceeds the seating capacity of Rice-Eccles Stadium, which is 45,017 ... A decal with the initials JBW will be displayed on the back of Utah's helmets at the bowl game in honor of Joseph B. Wirthlin, who played for Utah in the 1930s, and recently passed away. An Apostle in the Mormon Church, he was a big Ute football supporter his entire life ... The Fox Sports announce team for the game will be Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Charissa Thompson and Chris Myers. The Utes are 0-2 all-time in games televised by Fox Sports.

LAST GAME
Utah won the Mountain West Conference title outright--capping an undefeated regular season with a 48-24 win over No. 14 Brigham Young on Nov. 22. Brian Johnson was brilliant in his final game in Rice-Eccles Stadium, completing 30-of-36 passes for 303 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. The second-largest crowd in school history (46,488) witnessed a close game for three quarters before the defense went on a rampage--intercepting BYU's Heisman hopeful Max Hall five times and stripping him of the ball to stop another drive. The interceptions (two by Joe Dale) put the ball back in Johnson's hands and he steered Utah to 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points. Senior receivers Freddie Brown (97 yards) and Brent Casteel (60 yards, 2 touchdowns) excelled in their home finale, and senior kicker/punter Louie Sakoda was perfect kicking--making both field goals and all six PAT attempts, while averaging 44.2 yards on his punts. Junior running back Matt Asiata ran for a touchdown and passed for another. Paul Kruger demoralized BYU with an interception (which he returned 30 yards to the Cougar 4-yard line), a fumble recovery, two pass breakups and six tackles. Other interceptions came from Robert Johnson and Sean Smith. Mike Wright led Utah with nine tackles.

UTAH VS. THE SEC
Utah is 0-6 all-time against the Southeast Conference, but has not played an SEC team since 1984. Here are the results of Utah's past meetings with the SEC:

Florida (0-1)1977    L     29-38       Nov. 19    A
Louisiana State (0-2)1974    L     10-35       Nov. 30    A1976    L     7-35        Nov. 27    A
Tennessee (0-3)1975    L     7-40        Nov. 8     A1979    L     18-51       Sep. 22    A1984    L     21-27       Sep. 15    A

MATCHING UP

                  Utah Offense    Alabama DefenseRushing           168.4           78.85Passing           236.83          178.08Total Yards       405.25          256.92Scoring           37.42           13.0
                  Alabama Offense Utah DefenseRushing           196.46         104.33Passing           170.69         191.08Total Yards       367.15         295.92Scoring           31.15          17.25