Utah Utes: The Real 2008 National Champions?

Many college football fans thought that the 2008 Utah Utes were the best in the land. After all they did beat Michigan at The Big House, Oregon State, #12 TCU, #14 BYU, and #4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Even with Michigan's struggles this season, The Big House is The Big House and it was the first game of the season. That's quite the resume. Yet they still finished 4th in the USA Today/Coaches Poll and 2nd in the AP Poll, behind the BCS National Champion Florida Gators.

Millions of people yearn for a playoff. We ain't got one and we ain't gettin' one soon. But does it really matter who the BCS crowns as the National Champion? Actually, no. The NCAA doesn't recognize the BCS as the sole distributor of National Championships. They recognize any reputable person/corporation that is willing to dole them out. According to the NCAA, Penn State has 7 National Championships: 1994, 1986, 1982, 1981, 1969, 1912, and 1911. The University only recognizes those awarded in 1982 and 1986, the only two awarded to the Nittany Lions by the Associated Press.

Why am I bringing any of this up? Because I found this interesting:

So instead of following our usual approach of whining and complaining and ultimately doing nothing about a perceived injustice, we’ve decided to take action.

On Thursday at 2:00 p.m. local time, site co-owner Larry Mazza will present the CFT 2008 National Championship Trophy to Coach Whittingham and the rest of the team at the Dee Glen Smith Center on the campus of the University of Utah.

No, we ain’t kidding. And it’s a real trophy that cost real money — not some retrofitted bowling trophy from 1975.

Whittingham accepted the offer, and we cleared it all through the NCAA.

Wow. Now Mike Florio, of Pro Football Talk fame, is kind of a lightning rod blogger for primarily the NFL. You like him or hate him, but his information is abundant and quickly posted. This second venture of him and his merry band of men, College Football Talk, has only recently taken off. Before the site was kind of a like a smelly step son to PFT. Now that Keith Arnold and John Taylor (plus Florio from time to time) post often the site has risen in popularity.

I like that they are continuing to press the issue of National Championships in the Football Bowl Subdivision. If people just sit there and obey the big boys of the BCS, we'll never see a playoff. Perhaps some prodding from fans and reputable sites can help the push for a playoff. I hope there are pictures and even video of this awards ceremony. And hopefully ESPN or some national media outlet will give it some face time, too.