I was very disappointed listening to ESPN the other day when one of the commentators (Skip Bayless?) said there was no way Utah was even close to being good enough for a BCS title game and said we really weren't even good enough to be in any of the BCS bowl games.

I realize ESPN doesn't like the MWC, but the most annoying part was when he said if BYU had beaten TCU they would have had a chance at the title game because they have national respect and they've won a national championship in the past.

Why doesn't anyone repect our program like the big-time schools (USC, Texas, BYU, Florida, etc.). We have a pretty good team this year and the media should atleast give us a LITTLE CREDIT!

It all comes down to establishing a national reputation.

As much as some like to belittle BYU's National Championship, the fact is, it put BYU on the map nationally. BYU dominated the WAC, winning 10 WAC championships in a row at one point and annually representing the WAC in bowl games back when only the conference champion went to a bowl.

Ty Detmer winning the Heisman trophy and several other BYU players finishing in the top 5 in Heisman voting, along with numerous other awards -- Outland, Doak Walker, Davey O'Brien, Sammy Baugh -- and frequent Top 20/25 finishes established a pedigree and respect for BYU's football program.

Utah has had a couple of great seasons this decade, but it takes more than a BCS invite to establish a national reputation.

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btw, congrats to Brown on a nice season.

The analysts at ESPN are all morons and still have an axe to grind re: the MWC. You don't see Skip and the group saying the winner of the Big East or ACC don't deserve a BCS game do you? That's because the those conferences still have ESPN contracts. Had the MWC continued to be with ESPN, the Utes, BYU and TCU would be getting plenty of love. Just consider ESPN the jilted lover and all their comments are put into perspective.

all the utes do is beat bcs teams
no one wants to lose to a non bcs team so they avoid the utes
plus, utah and the mwc are on a competitors network
if we can win out maybe we can play an sec team and make a point

The best part is that he has already earned is degree. Congrats Freddie Brown!

As for a national rep, nobody outside the LDS faith gives a rip about byu....they're threat of a lawsuit in 01 has made them more of a national laughing stock.
None of those players who've won awards have gone on to do anything. They're like boise st, a paper tiger.

I'm sick of these wannabe Utah BCS busters being pretenders. Quit playing patsy schedules. That you means you Ball State, Boise State, and BYU.

Be like Utah or TCU. Look at who Utah has played. At the Big House vs Michigan, vs #23 Oregon State (leaders in the Pac-10), vs #16 TCU, at #27 Air force, #17 BYU in 2 weeks, etc.

Thats 3 top 25 teams on the schedule, already beating 2 of them, and if airforce beats byu, thats 4 top 25 teams on the schedule, already beating 3 of them.

TCU has played at #4 Oklahoma, at #7 Utah, vs #17 BYU, etc.

BYU has played 1 team with a winning record, got blown out. They beat the only team in college football without a win this season (washington) by 1, yes ONE, point.

Ball State has only played 3 teams to date with a .500 record or better

Boise has played hapless Oregon and squeaked it out, then a bunch of patsy's like BYU and Ball State have played.

Grow up and schedule a challenge.

Utah Utes 10-0

Go Utes

Utes will get even more respect if we can go to a BCS game and win, just like in 2004. Just win baby, just win.

Would have said BYU is a national power alongside Texas, Florida etc. Regardless of what happened 25 years ago. That was a BYU troll.

BYU is like SMU - a team with a distant, rich history followed by a period of prolonged irrelevance.

Got blasted by TCU because they aren't BCS-worthy - not even close. It's pathetic that 1984 makes everyone feel better about that.

I hope Utah gets to a BCS bowl and gets their 8th consecutive bowl win. They need to prove to the Skip Bayless's of the world that we belong at the big table. When these bozos look at the 10-13 scores of recent games they think the Utes are small and weak. This Utah team reminds me of the Baltimore Ravens team that quietly won the super bowl. This team has provided more drama and excitement than the 2004 team.

Please Utah, shut up all your critics! WIN OUT!

Bury your head in the sand and ignore reality if you want, but, the fact is, BYU is seen nationally as the marquis program in the MWC and the only team with an established national reputation.

Utah and TCU are making some inroads, but they've got to maintain their high level of play for several more years to get there.

Utah disappeared from the rankings after 2004, making them look more like a flash in the pan than a top program.

BYU plays your oh so superior Ute squad in 10 days. We'll find out then who the real pretenders are.

Utah fans need to stop pretending that barely beating the worst Michigan team in 5 decades is a quality win.

I agree with the comments from "Give Utes Respect." I saw Skip Bayless make his comments that Utah wasn't a "worthy" BCS team. It was really annoying that he said Utah doesn't get the kind of talent that BYU does and he said that BYU has earned national respect and that they are likely to be one of the two dominant teams in the west in the future because of their growing recruiting base (he said USC and BYU are almost certain to dominate the west in the future).

I realized we can't always compete with the BIG BOYS (USC, BYU, etc.)but we should get some credit during our best years---Like This Year!!!

Let me say first that I am a Ute fan. But the reason people were saying BYU could have played in the BCS championship is because of how high they were ranked to begin the season - this was based on their previous two years of football. If they had beaten TCU and continued undefeated through the season, I can only imagine they would have been embarrassed in a championship game. They do have a national reputation because of their resume. Utah is working on that, and you can guarantee that there are at least 10 teams right now that respect us. The thing that sucks is that if Meyer had stayed one more year - which would have probably kept Alex Smith and Parris Warren here - the Utes could have had a legitimate shot at a title run the next year. I'm not blaming Whit for not getting us there that year, there was a lot of bad luck with injuries and the aforementioned players leaving.

The lack of ESPN love is probably largely due to their contracts with other conferences - and the fact that our conference had to set up its own crappy network. We're getting national attention and hopefully, when we get to the BCS bowl this year we will get to play someone better than a 21st ranked team (although I did see one projection matching us against Wake Forest, which sucks rocks).
Go Utes!!

Unfortunately a national title at some point does give you credential (although I am so sick of BYU fans always bringing up their championship as if it makes them still good), but it doesn't mean that you are always good. Along with SMU above, there are a dozen other teams (Marshall comes to mind) that were at one point good, but are now jokes. How many games did Washington have to lose this year before people stopped taking them seriously, same with Michigan, same with Utah State (oh wait...)?
I actually saw a show last year or the year before where they plugged in the numbers from previous years and ran them through the BCS computers, almost half of the national championship games had at least one team different from how it actually happened and some games had both teams changed (BYU was one of them).

That's just how the system works, an undefeated season can get you into the BCS and it's easier to do that when you have weak opponents. BSU has it easy because they are in the WAC, unfortunately for BYU they still have to play TCU and Utah (and Air Force will probably surprise them too).
Kudos to Coach Whit for not doing that.

Michigan (3-7) plays Northwestern (7-3) and at Ohio State (8-2) and the Wolverines will probably finish 3-8, tied for 9th in the 11-team Big Ten.

UCLA (3-6) plays at Washington (0-9), at Arizona State (3-6), and USC (8-1) and will probably finish 4-8, possibly 5-7, around 7th or 8th in the 10-team PAC 10.

Utah barely beat Michigan 23-25; Michigan also lost to Toledo (2-7) in the Big House.

BYU destroyed UCLA 59-0, the Bruin's worst loss in almost 80 years.

The only significant difference between BYU's schedule and Utah's schedule is Oregon State vs Washington.

#4 No Iowa (8-2) received 617 points and one first-place vote in this week's FCS Coaches Poll.

#8 Weber St (9-2) received 485 points.

And before you bring up comparative scores, remember that Toledo (2-7) beat Michigan by one point more, 13-10, than Utah beat them. Using the comparative score logic, that would make Utah slightly worse than Toledo.

is a big play maker for Utah. Keep getting him the ball.

I know he hasn't put up rediculous numbers, but his size alone will give him a shot at the NFL. A 6'4" receiver with good speed and good hands will at least get a look.

Thank you for going through all of those mental gymnastics to make a worthless point!

BYU won a national championship by beating a bad Michigan team (not as bad, but bad).

Like I said, nobody OUTSIDE of the LDS Church gives a rip about byu football.
Boise St has a LOT more national respect than byu.
You're clearly a fan of the inferiior program, you're the one with the buried head syndrome. Byu had 4 great years, 80 through 84.
That's it.
4 great years 25 years ago does not equate to national respect.
Byu's bowl record is horrible.
You have one, I said ONE great win, over Miami. Aside from that byu is a paper tiger in the worst way.

actually the worst Michigan team in 5 decades was the Michigan team byu played for the bogus national championship in '84.

how about all you coog fans concentrate on your excuses of why you lost to Air Force this week instead of commenting on a Utah article.

The perceived national reputation you have is just that - it's all in your head. Along with all the fun primary songs you sing at your games. The y did dominate the WAC during the 70's and 80's, but that was a long time ago - nobody but you remembers it. To try and list yourself along with the "big" football programs is rediculous. Those programs have hundreds of thousands of fans that know about football - not book of mormon stories.

Okay, we UTES admit that BYU has a much better national reputation for your academic and athletic programs, however, please give us a little bit of credit.

We know we can't always compete with BYU, however, this year we truly have a pretty darn good team. You guys in Provo may be superior in most things, however, if we can beat you in Salt Lake in a couple of weeks we can finally be proud of our shcool (give us a break).

"The only significant difference between BYU's schedule and Utah's schedule is Oregon St. vs. Washington."

Hi there Zoobie! Just thought I'd pop by to lay down MY comparative scores:

(6-3) Oregon St. 34
(0-8) Washington 13

(6-3) Oregon St. 34
(3-6) UCLA 6

These scores actually MEAN something, as they are direct head-to-head competition.

Whether or not UCLA finishes their season 3-8 or 5-7, it is still immaterial since teams under 0.500 = NO BOWL!

Here's another score for you:

(9-2) TCU 32
(9-1) BYU 7

(9-2) TCU 10
(10-0) Utah 13

Yep...you knew THAT was coming, didn't you?

It's cute how cougar fans are still trying to play the "our 1-AA opponent is better that your 1-AA opponent" as though that actually meant something. Nice "moral victory" there for ya. Hahaha!

Looks like there might be another significant difference difference --> like the number of wins over 1-A opponents over 0.500. Utah has 3. BYU has 0.

As a Ute Fan I am a little embarassed for you. Scheduling is done 6 to 8 years away. BYU placing Wash and UCLA on the schedule was a good move. It is not there fault they suck.

Stregnth of scheulde is a stupid arguement right now. We will show BYU who is THE University of Utah.

Weber St. is undefeated in FCS play. No. Iowa is not.

Weber St. has locked up their conference championship, and haved earned an automatic bid in the FCS Tournament. No. Iowa has not.

Weber St. exhibited a convincing 17-pt win over FCS #5 Montana. No. Iowa dropped one to FCS #9 So. Illinois, and the only top-25 team the panthers beat was a 10-pt victory over #25 North Dakota St.

No. Iowa played only one 1-A team, while Weber St. played two.

No. Iowa was HANDED a preseason FCS top-10 ranking. Weber St. had not. The Wildcats had to EARN their way there by way of their play on the field.

If I were a BYU fan, I wouldn't play the "our 1-AA opponent is better than [Utah's] 1-AA opponent" card, because it may not even be so.

Go Wildcats!

Let's get real people. BYU and Utah are essentially the same. They play the same conference teams, and they both play many BCS schools. In the last 10 years or so they have both played California, Georgia Tech, Tulsa(non-BCS), Oregon, Arizona, and UCLA. Not too mention other BCS teams that they each played and the Webers and No. Iowas both play. Schedule is pretty much equal.

The overall record in the last decade or so is slightly in Utah's favor. Head to head they are even since 1988. Utah won in 1988, got trounced in '89, they split the 90s and have split the '00s so far.

BYU has the '84 Nat. Championship and the top 5 in '96 or so, and Utah has the '04 top 5 ranking. But, let's be real. BYU would have gotten beat by several other teams in 84 had they played. Utah would have gotten beat by several other teams in 04 had they played. Anyone who thinks otherwise is blinded by their love of team. I am a fan of one and can't stand the other, but they are very similar programs.

That's all there is to it.

As Mark Twain once said, "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

For definition of who Mark Twain was talking about, see mirror.

As a Ute fan, I wouldn't mind having BYU's schedule next year. ASU, Florida St. and possibly Oklahoma. I wish we had that kind of schedule every year. I like the fact that both BYU and Utah play Boise State for 3 or 4 years, beginning in 2011. Hopefully all 3 programs will still be in the spot they are in now. As for Freddie Brown, dude's been awesome this year. Glad he's had a chance to shine.

Can somebody please find a way to restrict bogus Boise High commentaries? Yep, they are like the little dog in the neighborhood that you just want to kick in the face because it won't stop its yapping. Bark, bark, bark, look at me. I'm a real dog! And on, and on.

I understand that Steve Ogden's furniture outlet had a sale on smurf blue carpet remnants and that is how they covered the field up there. What serious school would cover their football field, which is generally played on grass, in a blue covering? Go away little blue people.

As for BYU and Utah, if Utah wins on Nov. 22, they deserve a big game against a QUALITY opponent, but if they lose, hats off to BYU for earning a tie for the MWC conference championship. Then they can play that little blue team from up north in the high quality Poinsettia bowl, which might actually be better than another trip to LV to play some 5th place Pacc-10 team. Go Cougars and even Utes.

The winning percentages of BYU's and Utah's opponents in 1984 and 2004.

Utah's 2004 opponents had a whopping 2.5% better winning percentage than BYU's 1984 opponents. BYU, at least had to beat a Utah team with a winning record (6-5-1) on the road. Utah only had to beat a BYU team with a losing record (5-6) at home.

Utah fans continue to blast BYU for not playing anybody in 1984.

Tell me, who did Utah play in 2004?

I love how an article on a person develops into a discussion on what FCS team is better. Good job Freddie on becoming the top receiver. We need more short routes over the middle to get the offense clicking. Bottom line is your current years record. It doens't matter how the wins happened, what the point spread was, who gained more yards or who missed how many field goals. Right now, Utah is one game better than BYU. End of story.

I would actually like to comment on the story as opposed to rehashing every post over the past 2 months.

I was on the field after the TCU game and was standing near Freddie on and off for about 20-30 minutes. He stood there and took pictures with fans and signed autographs the whole time. He was very respectful and kind to the adults and children who were asking for his time. All the players were great, but Freddie really spent a lot of time with the fans.

Great article. Freddie is a great representative of the school.

There are many national college football writers/analysts who believe Utah could have provided a good game/beaten either of the teams in the NC game in 2004. Too bad they couldn't have played the other undefeated team who was left out of the NC game that year, Auburn.

The fact is, Utah has won many, many more games in the history of the program than byu has.
Head to head and overall, Utah's win total surpasses byu's win total by a large margin.
In fact, byu has an overall losing record while Utah has an overall winning record.
Explain to me how that equates to a national reputation outside the minds of members of the LDS Church.
Overall wins: Utah
Most losses: BYU
Head to head: Utah
Bowl record: Utah
BCS Busters: Utah
Better basketball program: Utah
Coach being mentioned for other jobs: Utah

Face it, Utah is has a better national reputation than byu ever will.

Take away the LDS factor and byu couldn't even recruit.

We'll never know until there is a playoff. National football writers/analysts? They get it wrong plenty. I think a game against Auburn would have been competitive and possibly a Ute victory. I believe others would have beaten Utah soundly, but it's all opinion until it is settled on the field. Nat. football writers/analysts are also saying Utah is overrated this year. Would you agree?

Bottom line is hats off to BYU in 84 for beating all who were lined up against them. Hats off to Utah in 04 for the same. I think more than a little luck was involved for both. But, then again, it always is for any good team.

They're both good teams, but you're a little disingenuous to say that Weber State earned their ranking, while No Iowa was simply handed their ranking.

No. Iowa did finish the 2007 regular season undefeated and ranked #1 and only suffered a close 3-point loss in the 1-AA playoff quarter-finals.

This season, No Iowa lost on the road to current #9-ranked So Illinois, 24-27. Their only other loss was to BYU.

Weber St beat current #5-ranked Montana at home. Both Wildcat losses were to 1-A teams, but one of those losses was to a pretty mediocre Hawaii team, 17-36, that lost to Utah St 14-30.

The difference between No Iowa and Weber St comes down to Weber State playing their toughest conference opponent at home and No Iowa playing their toughest conference opponent on the road.

Both teams will be make the playoffs, but if I were Weber State, I would not want to face No Iowa in the first round.

You may have a point about BYU and their national rep or lack of. However, outside of Utah alumni, Utah has very little national rep either. Their basketball rep from the 90s has faded away, and the football program only gets props for 04(and possibly this year if they win out).

How do I know this? I don't live in Utah. And take away the LDS factor from Utah and you don't have much of a university.

clueless, where'd you get your "facts"? out of a box of crackerjacks.

And another thing, leave religion out of this. More than half of the Utah players and coaching staff are LDS. It just shows that you're nothing but a bigot when you repeatedly bring religion into a discussion of football.

I'm surprised that no Utah fans have called you on that.

Nation respect doesn't mean a whole lot anymore. The BCS has seen to that. If a team in a BCS conference that isn't known were to run the table one season, they would have an excellent shot at a national championship (see Texas Tech this year). If Vanderbilt, or Indiana, or even Washington St go undefeated next year, everybody will be saying they deserve to play in the NC, even though they are the usual laughing stock of their conferences. It's not what you've done in the past, it's about what you're doing now, and what conference you play in.

I'm a Utah fan, but when I read truly stupid comments like the one from "national rep" at 1:53 I feel like these blogs are a waste of my time.

As a season ticket holder with the Utes, I can admit that BYU obviously has a better "national" rep than my team, but I think we deserve some credit this year for having a pretty successful team.

We may not be able to compete with the team in Provo every year, but please give us some credit when we do!!!

I love MWC Football. But I will be honest here I can't stand BYU. I will support every other team when they play. A BYU loss always makes a great weekend.

Take away the LDS factor and there is no BYU.

Take away the Catholic factor and there is no Notre Dame.

Take away the Christian factor and there is no TCU.

Take away the Methodist factor and there is no SMU.

Take away the LDS factor and there is no UofU; the U was founded by Brigham Young.

Okay, I admit BYU may be the #1 school in Utah, but we deserve some credit during our GooD YeaRs. If we can beat the COUGS in two weeks we deserve some RESPECT!

You guys in Prove will probably always rule Utah, but I think you should give us a little respect during our best years when we can compete with you BIG BOYS in Provo!

You must be very proud of that FORFEIT over All Hallows or that thrilling 5-0 win over the 9th Cavalry. And who could ever forget that classic 4-6 win over the Collegiate Institute (oops, that was a loss).

Some other memorable losses. That 0-34 loss to City High must have been discouraging. Or how about that 0-20 loss to the YMCA and that 0-22 to Carlisle. But for sheer ineptitude, that 0-4 loss to Crescents takes the cake.

Other exciting opponents in the early days of Utah football (before the 1950's, that is) included:

Ogden High, Fort Douglas, National Guard, 12th Infantry, Oregon Short Line (isn't that a Monopoly game railroad?), Colorado Mines, St. Vincent’s, Denver, Occidental, Fort Warren, and the Honolulu All-Stars.

Here it is:
the only things, BYU fans can do now for this season:
1) try to analyze scores, comparisons, ....
2) talk about 1984, 2006, 2007, etc...
3) make excuses for the TCU loss, and in 2 weeks, make excuses for the Utah loss...
Because there is nothing else to talk about BYU team which is finished for this year, no BCS, no MWC championship, etc

Utah fans can truly look forward to BCS bowl and whether that is Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, or Orange Bowl.

BYU --> 'till next year
Utah --> what BCS bowls will Utah be in?

Maybe, but the second worst Michigan team in the last forty years was the 1984 team.

(re NR 2:22)
Check the facts for yourself. BYU has a losing record, Utah has a winning record. Utah has won many more games than BYU has.
Check and see for yourself, it's not that difficult.

My original point wasn't that Utah's respect is better than byu's (although in the past 10 years it certainly has been), my original point was that outside of the LDS Church or Utah, nobody cares about byu. They do NOT have a national following if you take the religious connection away.
Stanford has a much greater national following than byu, so do about 75 other programs.
Take the religion out of it and nobody would care about byu anymore than they would care about Ball State or Boise St or some other flash-in-the-pan program.

College football needs a lot more players like Brown that put academics first and sports second. It's guys like Brown that give people faith scholarships given athletes aren't wasted. Good job Utes in recruiting a class athlete.