You know football is in the air when television ads begin running for the upcoming season. If you've been watching local TV in Salt Lake, chances are pretty good you've seen, or will see, the new football ads. But for those out of state Utes, or those that for some inexplicable reason lack TV, MisterUTE over on Ute Fans has posted links to the commercias. While they don't get me pumped for the season like the 2005, '04 and '03 ads, they're still pretty damn good.

(BodyPainters) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6809242059853230243

(TrailerGuy) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8129939978737587918

(Cheerleaders) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7417000965261673014

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This is a two part series looking at Utah football over the past 5 years, part 1 focuses on Ron McBride's final two years and Urban Meyer's first year. Part 2 will focus on Meyer's 2nd year and Whittingham's first.

Over the past 5 years Utah has established itself as one of the nation's better programs. Since 2001, Utah has gone 42-17 (.712), won four straight bowl games and two conference championships. This probably has been one of the most success 5 year runs in school history, so let's take a look a it.

The Waning McBride Era

In 1999 the Utes went 9-3, beat WAC co-champion Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl and finished the season unranked. That season was good, but far from great as the Utes lost to Boise State of the old Big West and failed to win an outright conference championship. The Utes followed 1999 up with a 4-7 season in 2000, which was nearly the final nail in McBride's coaching coffin.

Then 2001 came and McBride had one of his better seasons with the Utes. Though they failed to win the Mountain West Conference and they lost to rival BYU (who, after the game, were 12-0), the Utes did finish with 8 wins and a dominate victory over Pete Carroll and his USC Trojans in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Adam Tate ran all over USC's defense that day

With an 8-4 finish and a win over an up and coming Trojan football team, Ron McBride's job security was strengthened. However 2002 would usher in a major change, as the Utes struggled to put it all together.

On the heels of an impressive 2001 season, many preseason publications predicted the Utes to dominate their way to the Mountain West title and a possible BCS bowl berth. It appeared McBride finally had exorcised his demons and that the Utes would achieve the goal of an outright conference championship. With much of the talent returning from the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl winning team, it was not a surprise that the Utes were the preseason favorites heading into the 2002 season.

The Utes started the season 2-0, including a dominate 40-13 win over Indiana in Salt Lake City. However a close loss to Arizona in Tucson a week later, followed by a 3 point loss to Michigan a week after that, and the Utes season began to crumble. Instead of bouncing back at home against Air Force, the Utes blew a hefty halftime lead and the writing began to find its way onto the wall; Utah's season was in ruins and McBride's job was in question. The Utes would continue their skid, dropping 3 more games, while running their record to 2-6. The 6 game losing streak ended any bowl hopes and even a 3 game winning streak (including a win over rival BYU) could not stave off the inevitable.

Though fans rushed the field to show their support and players lifted McBride up onto their shoulders, Utah would fire McBride the week after Utah's 13-6 victory over Brigham Young. In 13 seasons, McBride went 88-63. However a 26-20 record, including two losing seasons, in his final 3 years sealed his fate.

The Urban Meyer Show

Utah football would finally be elevated with the hiring of Urban Meyer in the winter of 2002. Meyer, a relatively young head coach, had guided the Bowling Green Falcons to an impressive 17-6 record in two years. His radical spread offense and blunt speaking style garnered the attention of the Salt Lake community and excitement had returned to Utah football.

Urban Meyer would go an unreal 22-2 in two short years with the Utes; including a 12-0 BCS busting season in 2004

Though there was optimism heading into Meyer's first season at Utah, there were also a lot of unanswered questions. Early on, after a devastating loss to Texas A&M on the road dropped Utah's record to 1-1, those questions remained. The Utes had stumbled out of the gate with a closer than expected win against a terrible Utah State team and even though Utah showed life in a hostile environment against a BCS team, so had McBride's teams over the years, too.

But as overwhelmed as Meyer and Utah looked early on, coupled with the fact they had just lost their starting quarterback for the season, the Utes stayed composed and would play their three biggest games of the season.

With a national audience and the biggest crowd in school history, the Utes pulled out a tight contest with Cal from the Pac 10. The win, on the shoulders of newly designated quarterback Alex Smith, turned the season around and prepped Utah for possibly their toughest test of the season.

Colorado State more recently had been a thorn in Utah's side. Entering the '03 contest, Utah had dropped 5 straight to the Rams and some of those losses cost Utah the outright conference championship they so coveted. If the Utes were going to compete for the Mountain West Conference Championship, it would begin with a victory against the Rams in Fort Collins. A loss would inevitably end any conference hopes, like so many times before.

True to the Colorado State/Utah form, the game became an instant classic. Utah built an early lead of 21-7, only to see it evaporate in the chilly late September air. The Rams clawed their way to a 21-21 tie and were putting together a possible game winning drive before the Utes' Arnold Parker returned a fumble 80 yards for a touch down with only 1:33 left on the clock. Utah would win the game 28-21, ending the 5 game dominance of CSU and keeping alive Utah's outright conference championship hopes.

A week after their emotionally exhausting win over Colorado State, the Utes would surprise top-25 ranked Oregon in Salt Lake City to run their record to 4-1. The close win against Utah State and the heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M were now becoming distant memories to Utah fans as the future began looking much brighter.

Utah would run their winning streak to 5 games, break into the top-25 and nearly guaranteed themselves that the outright conference championship was theirs to lose. And as the Utes seemed destine to finally get that championship, shades of their past showed up. New Mexico entered Salt Lake City and dominated an ill prepared Utah team, giving Urban Meyer one of his most embarrassing losses as a head coach. But the loss was more than just embarrassing for the Utes, it also knocked them into a tie with the Lobos for the conference championship. Like so many years prior, the Utes failed to rise up when everything was on the line. And as much as Utes fans wanted to forget the negatives of McBride's coaching career, they were staring right at them with Utah's performance against the Lobos. Difficult to forget when they're still kicking around on the sidelines.

This was the time, many Ute fans felt, where the other shoe would drop. The one that would end their season, ruin their chances of a conference championship and leave Utah once again without an outright conference championship. Utah fans wanted to trust Urban Meyer and the Utes, but it was difficult when for the past 11 years every fan had been conditioned by mediocrity.

But then, when plagued by doubt, Utah would rise up.

The Game

The season was made in Colorado Springs that year. Air Force and Utah, two teams that put on more shows than Bette Davis, would do just that, as the two teams battled it out with Utah needing a win to keep their conference championship hopes alive.

Much like the Colorado State game a few weeks earlier, the Utes built a pretty big lead. This time, entering the fourth quarter, Utah was up 23-7. However 16 unanswered points by the Falcons forced overtime and a dogfight ensued. After Air Force and Utah traded scores, the Utes forced their way into triple overtime, where they looked for the knockout blow.

Down 43-37, Utah began its overtime drive with a quick 22 yard pass from Alex Smith to Steve Savoy. This set up one of the most memorable plays in Utah football history and showed the true genius of Coach Urban Meyer.

On 4th and goal, Utah needing a TD to tie, Alex Smith handed off to TE Ben Moa, who broke through the defensive line and rushed his way into the endzone for the game tying touch down. Then, for the 2-point conversion, Moa lined up in the shotgun formation for the first time in his career, took the snap and found a streaking Matt Hansen in the endzone for the game winning 2-point conversion. Moa had single handedly won the game for the Utes, and Utah was once again in the driving seat for that desired outright conference championship.

Travis Hansen celebrates his game winning catch

With two games the only thing standing between Utah and an outright conference championship, excitment around the U's campus was palpable. The Utes would dispatch undermatched Wyoming at home by a score of 47-17 and set up an epic Holy War with bitter rival Brigham Young.

The Holy War '03

BYU had already been eliminated from bowl contention, but a win would kill any chance for that outright conference championship. Something the Utes had been pining for since they last won it in 1957.

If the Utes were going to beat BYU, it wasn't going to be easy. A massive snow storm was unleashed from the heavens prior to kickoff, blanketing the field and creating miserable playing conditions. The snow could even the playing field, giving BYU a chance of not only beating their rival, but ending their dreams as well.

And that's exactly what happened, as the conditions hampered both team's offenses and the game came down to the leg of Bryan Borreson, who hit a 41-yard field goal in the 2nd quarter for Utah's only score. A rather uneventful game in play, turned out to be monumental for historical reasons. The 3-0 victory not only assured Utah of its first outright conference championship since the 1957 season, it also ended Brigham Young's 28 consecutive years of not being shut out in a football game - an NCAA record still to this day. While the win wasn't pretty, the historical aspects of it sure were. Finally Utah got the monkey off its back and what better way to do it than against your bitter rival?

BYU fans would like to forget this one

Give Me Liberty

After wrapping up the conference championship, the Utes were on their way to Memphis, Tennessee where they would play the winner of the Conference USA, Southern Mississippi. It was Utah's first trip to the Liberty Bowl since they had played West Virginia there in 1964. Utah was also looking for its first 10 win season in 10 years.

Though Southern Mississippi had a strong record and an experienced team, they were no match for the Utes' defense. Kyle Whittingham and his defense would hold the Golden Eagles scoreless and once again the Utes would dominate a bowl game, much like they did to USC in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl. This game though wasn't even close, as the Utes got a decisive 17-0 victory and grabbed their 3rd straight bowl win.

Ute fans had a lot to cheer about in '03, who would have thought 2004 would be a 1,000 times better?

Urban Meyer's debut was a success and Utah football had finally gotten over the hump. With such a successful debut season, what would Meyer do for an encore? Well only give Utah fans their best season in school history.

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Let's do this...

• Preseason previews are the rage and over at Bruins Nation it's no different as their Utah preview is now up. It's a good read with the expectations of Utah doing better than last year, but not better enough to beat UCLA.

• Finding out where all that NFL talent comes from is a lot of work. Luckily Dawg Sports has done a fantastic job at breaking down the top states in terms of talent by using U.S. Census Bureau numbers. Did you know Louisania produces 1 NFL player per 58,802 people? Yeah, I didn't either, well up until a few minutes ago.

• The regionals are coming to Salt Lake City, well the NCAA Basketball Tournament Regionals that is. The NCAA announced yesterday that the Utes would host the 2010 Sweet 16 and Elite Eight at the Delta Center. Since the Utes will be hosting the event, Utah, if they qualify for the tournament in 2010, would not be eligible to play in the Salt Lake regional. Damn.

• The Deseret News has a great article on how Marquess Ledbetter is trying to get back into football after the NCAA denied him his medical redshirt. Ledbetter played defensive end for the Utes during their 2004 undefeated season and he was an invaluable asset to the Utes while here.

• The Utah Jazz have traded away Keith McLeod, Devin Brown and Andre Owens to the Golden State Warriors for clutch shooter Derek Fisher. You can read Warrior fans opinion on this trade over at Golden State of Mind.
  

• Over at Roll Bama Roll, they have ranked the Utah-UCLA game #3 in their What to Watch of week one.

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My blog post on Utah's chances of getting to the BCS last week has started a nice discussion on which team has the best shot of crashing the BCS this year. Dawg Sports decided to post a poll question on the matter and also spurred a debate with this post, asking his readers to interject their opinion, and some already have.

Over at Pitch Right, Mr. A lists why he thinks Navy has a shot at crashing the BCS by using the formula I devised last week. And the Fresno State Football Blog asks whether the Bulldogs are worthy of crashing the BCS, while his sister blog, MDGCollege Football has a non-BCS top-15 (Utah's #1!).

In 2004 Utah became the first team from a non-BCS conference to make a BCS bowl game. They further solidified their spot in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl with a thrashing of the Big East Champion, Pitt Panthers. Like every year, the inevitable question will circle around the non-BCS and their ability to crash the BCS like Utah did in 2004.

Now it seems since Utah has finally done it, expectations have been set for another team from outside of the BCS to find their way to the party. So who's it going to be? Which team will be the next Utah and how will they do it?

Last year TCU made national waves when they stunned top-10 ranked Oklahoma on the road. The Horned Frogs followed that win up by laying an egg against hated rival SMU. That lost proved to be very costly, as it kept TCU from an undefeated season and a back-to-back appearance for a Mountain West team in a BCS bowl game. How do things shake out this year? Well I've done my best break down the top non-BCS teams and whether they have a realistic shot at crashing the BCS.

Non-BCS teams with the best shot at making a BCS Bowl:

TCU - TCU is the obvious choice based on what they did last year. They have a favorable schedule to do it, especially with how they get Texas Tech at home. However they must go on the road to play Utah, which could ultimately kill their shot at a BCS bowl, especially if Utah goes undefeated. Last season TCU barely got out alive against Utah and BYU, while winning other close games almost solely on turnovers. Their near flawless execution was a big reason for their undefeated conference season. TCU will need a repeat performance, which might be asking too much.

Utah - They did it in 2004, and after a season of transition, the Utes might be ready to do it again. Like TCU, they have a favorable schedule, except they must play UCLA on the road. The opening game against the Bruins will be crucial for the Utes to not only build momentum, but turn national heads much like their victory over A&M did two years ago. The Utes do luck out with Boise State, TCU and BYU all at home.

Boise State - In 2004 they made a lot of noise, but suffered some setbacks last year. The hype surrounding BSU heading into the '05 season was completely lost after a blowout loss to Georgia in the opening game. This year, BSU has a new coach, but a relatively easy schedule. Their toughest game is probably going to be at Utah, though there are two rough road games against Wyoming and Nevada. They do however play Fresno State and Oregon State at home.

Navy - In the last 3 seasons Navy has gone 8-5, 10-2 and 8-4. That's pretty impressive for a program that had struggled mightily prior to Paul Johnson's arrival. Navy has a fairly easy schedule, with their toughest game coming against Notre Dame. With the way the game is positioned on the schedule -- played in the second half of the season -- it's not likely Navy can climb to the 12th spot needed to play in a BCS bowl. So that means they will need an upset win over a Fighting Irish team many are prediciting to play for the national championship. While the odds are stacked, I wouldn't say they're insurmountable. And Navy does, outside of Notre Dame, only play two teams that went to bowl games last year (Tulsa and Rutgers).

BYU - Brigham Young is the original BCS busters. Ok, they've never actually made a BCS bowl game, however they did shake things up with their 1984 national championship. Since then, BYU made noise in 1996 and 2001, yet have not done much since. The Cougars have a pretty difficult schedule to overcome, however, with road games against Arizona, Boston College, TCU and Utah. It's pretty unlikely that they can get through that schedule with fewer than 2 losses.

Fresno State - They constantly rank toward the top as a non-BCS program, but have failed at getting things done when they count the most. Last year Fresno State made national waves with their near upset of then #1 USC. However, that loss would spark a 4-game losing streak, which cost Fresno State another WAC championship. This season Fresno has probably one of their toughest schedules in school history. Road games against Washington, Boise State and LSU and a home game against Oregon does not bode well for the Bulldogs and will most likely kill any hope of making a BCS bowl game.

Non-BCS teams with a small chance of making a BCS Bowl:

UTEP - Mike Price is doing good things at Texas-El Paso, and he may make some noise this season. That said, UTEP still is not a good enough team to sustain the success needed for a BCS bowl berth. They do have a favorable schedule with their toughest game at home against Texas Tech. However road games against New Mexico, Tulsa, UAB and Marshall might do them in.

Tulsa - Tulsa had an amazing season last year which culminated in a Liberty Bowl win against Fresno State. With that momentum, Tulsa will look to continue their success and parlay that into a possible BCS bowl this season. They certainly have the schedule to do it, though their two toughest games are BYU and Navy, both on the road. Tulsa will have no games against BCS opponents, so that might hurt their strength of schedule and kill any chance at a BCS bowl bid.

Nevada - Nevada last year stunned the WAC by winning a share of the conference championship. This year they'll look to do it again, however they have a fairly difficult early schedule. They open up against Fresno State on the road, then travel to Arizona State. Both games are realistic losses and home games against CSU and Northwestern aren't to be taken lightly, either.

Other teams that could make some noise: Miami Ohio, Toledo, UCF.

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I just got home from a night of partying and thought, to unwind a little, I would make a blog post. I'm not fully drunk, but probably a bit tipsy that I may look back at this in the morning and regret what I put. But who knows, sometimes tipsy posting is the best form of expressing your ideas. Why? Well because at this stage I know that no matter what subject it is, I'm right. That means if we talk about the central reasoning behind the fall of the Soviet Union, I will always be right.

Lenin's revolution didn't go quite as planned

But I'm not here to talk about Soviet politics (though it's always an interesting topic), instead I would like to start out by talking college football. Mostly the fact that I have a difficult time getting through the elongated months between February and August. I hate wishing my summer away, but can't help but get giddier than a school girl on crack when thinking about Utah's prospects this season.

Schoolgirls like football, too. Too bad they didn't look like this when I was in high school, or maybe I'd of gone to class more than I did. Oh and a warning to all you google users out there, when searching for schoolgirl photos, make sure safe search is on, or you may get some very unwanted results (or in the case of single nerdy men, much wanted results)

Anyway, going into last season I had my doubts that Kyle Whittingham could keep it rolling (the theme of Utah's football commercials last year) and to an extent, those doubts are still there. Obviously a 7-5 season isn't anything to get excited over, especially after coming off an undefeated season the year before. Maybe under McBride Ute fans would have accepted such results, but I'm sure most were disappointed with how they often struggled throughout the year.

With McBride we accepted mediocrity quicker than Tom DeLay accepted bribes. McBride dangled 7-5 seasons in front of us and we snatched them up like light wands at a rave. But that was then, this is 2006 (last I checked, I know I'm not that f'd up) and we expect more. So it isn't surprising that many Ute fans are excited and even some are claiming a possible repeat of 2004. God knows the parts are there for that kind of run, but having the parts and getting it done are two completely different things.

Which takes us back to Ron McBride. McBride was a good coach who took over a terrible football team and made them good. However Utah had the talent to not only win an outright conference championship (something they failed to do under McBride), but also go undefeated and compete at the national level in a way most Ute fans had been yearning for the past half century.

McBride was good, but not Urban Meyer good

McBride's best season pretty much summed up his career at Utah. Good, but never great. Utah started out 8-0 in 1994, climbing the top-25 polls and kicking up a furor in the Utah football community.

I'm sobering up, not sure if it's the anger over McBride's ineptness at times or the fact I've been typing for 30 minutes.

I liked McBride, as did most Ute fans. He was a great guy with a grandpa attitude. A big teddy bear that you could snuggle up with in bed (ok, that's probably sounding a bit weird). But he couldn't get it done when it counted the most. Turn up the pressure just a tiny bit and McBride's teams collapsed faster than Paris Hilton after 2 shots of Jager. C'mon, she's a stick! You give her two shots and she's on the floor quicker than you can say skank -- which is probably why she's on the floor in the first place.

Paris after one shot of Jager. Give her another and she's out for two days

But for all their underperforming, McBride sure took satisfaction in being the underdog. And that's exactly how McBride won, especially in his later years. Utah had some of its best seasons under McBride in 1999 and 2001. The Utes went 9-3 and then 8-4 after being picked to finish toward the bottom in the Mountain West. Of course it was Utah's inability to sustain that success which hurt McBride the most. They followed the 9-3 1999 season up with a 4-7 2000 season. And the 2001 season was followed by a 5-6 season in 2002, which cost McBride his job.

Of course the rest is history and Urban Meyer came to Utah and won right away. In two years he went 22-2 including a 12-0 BCS busting season. He did this all with the same talent McBride had gone 5-6 with two years prior. Chances are McBride would have finished with 8 or 9 wins in 2003, but the Utes would have inevitably dropped a game that cost them a shot at the outright conference championship every Utah fan had coveted since the inception of the light bulb (ok, maybe not that long, but damn close).

Edison is posthumously a Ute fan

And now we're in the Whittingham era and many Ute fans feel like 2004 was a return trip back to the McBride days. And, on the outside, who could blame that reasoning? Utah was picked to finish at the top of the Mountain West Conference and struggled to a 4-4 conference record with an abysmal loss to San Diego State.  

No one should ever lose to Tom Craft

But McBride never had to replace 90% of his offensive production, either (like McBride's teams had any offense anyway) as well as key players on defense. If you look at the record, Utah's season was mediocre teetering on disaster. However losing what they did, 7-5 isn't all that bad. Especially with how close they came to winning some of those games.

Wow, I really strayed from my original point about preseason excitement. Who would have thought a post about 2006, summer and the Soviet Union would progress into the history of Utah from 1993 on? I surely didn't, but that's the enjoyment of just jotting down your thoughts.  

I can't help but think this year will be successful for Utah. The kinks from last year have worked their way out and it should definitely be a smoother transition for the coaches this season. However I also thought last season would be a decent one with at least 8 wins and an expectation of 10. Ok, so I was 3 games off...sue me.

I guess this is why summer is a double edged sword for me. I like the fact I can relax and not worry about school, but I hate the anticipation for the football season. It's like Christmas on steroids and I'm either going to really like the gift, just be content with the gift or hate the gift altogether.

Man, to be a kid again...when Christmas morning actually had meaning. Now all I get is a gift card, some cash and socks. SOCKS people! Who in their right mind felt socks would make a good Christmas gift? I should knock them out of their socks.

If I get another pair of socks for XMAS, I'm going to hang myself with them

Who knows what this season will bring, but it at least gives me something to talk about. Instead I'm relegated to making posts at 2 in the morning where I'm talking about what I might be talking about come October. Yeesh, if I weren't drunk already, writing this crap very well might have had me opening up a bottle.

That's it, that's all I have to say in my tipsy rant. I guess I'll go search for the Alcoholics Anonoymous number again.

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Let's do this...

• Eric Weddle continues making preseason waves. Weddle has been selected to Rivals 2006 All-American Defensive Second Team.

• Rivals also ranks Utah 29th in their preseason poll. Utah, along with TCU (27th) and Fresno State (28th) are the only non-BCS teams listed.

• The Wizard of Odds talks about possible Pac Ten expansion. Last week I too talked about Pac Ten expansion and how I thought Utah would make a viable candidate.

• Fantastic Fridays is on hiatus this week, so check back next week for our Fantastically Cool Person of the Week.

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The college football community is stunned today at the death of Randy Walker. Walker, the head football coach for the Northwestern Wildcats, died last night from an apparent heart attack. He was only 52 years young.

Walker guided Northwestern to a 37-46 record in 7 years, including bowl appearances in 2000, 2003 and most recently, 2005. Walkers' 37 wins make him the 2nd winningest coach in Wildcat football history.

Block U would like to extend its condolences to the Walker family and Northwestern community. This is truly a difficult time for the Wildcats and their fans.

1954-2006

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Dawg Sports has an interesting poll question concerning the Utes and their BCS bowl possibilities. Our Georgia friends ask which non-BCS team (I hate the term mid-major) has the best shot at crashing the BCS.

Earlier this week I stated why I thought Utah was a legitimate BCS threat, and it will be interesting to see how many college football fans agree or disagree with me.

I'd also like to point out that two of those other teams (TCU and Boise State) listed in the poll play Utah in Salt Lake City. Getting two potential BCS busters at home greatly improves Utah's shot at returning to a BCS bowl game. Of course, that assumes the Utes are good enough to beat both Boise State and TCU.

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Today is the 2006 NBA Draft and since there are no Utes partaking in the events, I've decided to look at Utah players in the NBA.

Last season saw the Utes become the first program in NCAA history to produce both the #1 picks in the NBA and NFL drafts. Andrew Bogut and Alex Smith capped off an undefeated, BCS busting football season and a nearly perfect Sweet 16 basketball season.

Andrew Bogut was chosen #1 by the Milwaukee Bucks and though many lauded the choice, others scrutinized it. It's too early to map Bogut's career, however early indications seem to show that he won't be the big flop some fans and media pundits predicted. What a surprise, the so called experts were proven wrong.

But Bogut isn't the only player from the Utes to be drafted recently. In fact, the Utes have a pretty decent amount of alumni in the league, especially for a non-power conference team.

Currently there are 4 former Utes in the NBA right now, though Britton Johnsen and Hanno Mottola played a couple of seasons in the NBA more recently.

With all that said, here's a quick look at current Utes in the NBA and their success (or lack of success) since joining the association.

Keith Van Horn
Drafted #2 in 1997 by the Philadelphia 76ers, traded to New Jeresey

After guiding the Utah Utes to the 1997 Elite Eight, Keith Van Horn was drafted #2 in the 1997 NBA draft. Van Horn was the first (and only) player in WAC history to be named Conference Player of the Year 3 consecutive times. His  2,542 points make Van Horn the leading career scorer in both Utah and WAC history.

Van Horn was drafted by the Sixers and then traded to New Jersey, where he spent 5 seasons. Ironically, New Jersey would trade Van Horn to Philadelphia, where he would play for one season.

Van Horn's career has been plagued with injury, yet he's still been able to average a respectable 16 points per game. Currently Van Horn plays for the Dallas Mavericks, where he's struggled, only averaging 9 points per game and 4 rebounds per game (below his average of 7). Van Horn played limited time with the Mavs during their NBA Finals series with the Miami Heat.

Van Horn has struggled recently, especially with injury. Rumors out of Dallas point to Van Horn's exit from the Mavs.

Michael Doleac
Drafted #12 in 1998 by the Orland Magic

Michael Doleac was drafted by the Orland Magic in the 1998 NBA draft after leading Utah to the NCAA national championship game. While at Utah, Doleac scored 1,519 points (10th in Utah history) and 886 rebounds (8th in Utah history).

While with the Magic, Doleac had limited success. Though he's never been a terrible player, Doleac has had a fairly average career. He spent 3 seasons with the Magic, averaging 7 points per game and 4 rebounds per game. Currently Doleac plays for the Miami Heat.

With Miami, Doleac has had a limited role and has only averaged 4 points per game and 3 rebounds per game. Though Miami made the 2006 NBA Finals, he only played in one game with the Heat. His best game this season in the playoffs came against Chicago in game 2, where he scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds.

Andre Miller
Drafted #8 in 1999 by the Cleveland Cavaliers

Andre Miller is undoubtedly the most success Ute currently in the NBA. Miller would lead Utah to the 1998 national championship game, then an undefeated WAC season the very next year. After injuring his hand late in the season, the Utes struggled in the 1999 NCAA Tournament before bowing out to the Miami Redhawks in the second round. However Miller's success at Utah is plentiful. In the 1998 Final Four game between North Carolina, Miller had a rare tournament triple double.

Originally Miller spent 3 seasons with the Cavs, where he averaged 14 points per game and 8 assists per game there. He was later traded to the Clippers and then signed with the Nuggets, his current team.

Miller currently starts for Denver and has led the Nuggets to the NBA playoffs. Whether he continues playing for Denver is unknown, as his name has been shopped around the league for the past two seasons. Especially now since his basketball stock has risen since his days in Cleveland. Miller has proven to be a strong, capable point guard, whose success has made him one of the best players ever drafted out of Utah.

Andrew Bogut
Drafted #1 in 2005 by the Milwaukee Bucks

Utah's only Wooden Award Winner and possibly the greatest player in Utah basketball history, Andrew Bogut was drafted #1 by the Milwaukee Bucks in last year's draft.

Bogut, who played 2 seasons with the Utes, guided Utah to their first Sweet 16 appearance since the 1998 season and was a near consensus player of the year award winner.

Bogut averaged 12.5 points and 9.9 rebounds in his rookie season with the Utes and for his efforts, he was named Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year. In his second and final season with Utah, Bogut averaged 20.4 points, 12.2 rebounds and shot 62.0% from the field.

In Bogut's rookie season with the Bucks, he averaged 9.4 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. That success gave Bogut All-Rookie First Team honors and he finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year votes.

It'll be interesting to see if names are added to this list in the coming years. Ray Giacoletti is said to be putting together some of Utah's best recruiting classes, though it's unclear if that talent has NBA potential. Out of the Utes current crop of players, it would seem Luke Nevill is the most NBA ready and it would not surprise me if in a couple of years we add his name to the list.

Future NBA draft pick?

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In 2004 Utah rolled to an undefeated regular season and were rewarded by becoming the first non-BCS team to play in a BCS bowl. The Utes' success culminated in a thrashing of the Big East Champion Pittsburgh Panthers. They also ended the season ranked 4th in the nation and Urban Meyer parlayed that success into a gig with the Florida Gators of the tradition rich SEC.

It's now 2006 and the Utes are looking to replicate that magical 2004 season of two years ago. While the odds are fairly stacked against them, it's definitely not an improbable feat and the Utes are receiving preseason hype much like the 2004 team saw prior to their run.

To understand Utah's shot at the BCS, one needs to look no further than that 2004 season. It wasn't just that Utah went undefeated that got them into the BCS, as in 2001 BYU started the season 12-0, only to essentially be denied by the BCS prior to their late season meltdown. It's about everything coming together at the right moment. Utah benefited from the following in 2004:

• Preseason hype. The Utes entered 2004 on the heels of an impressive 10-2 campaign the year before. That hype gave Utah a preseason ranking of 20th in the AP Poll, while a ranking of 19th in the Coaches. This was essential, as the Utes already started in the top-25 as opposed to working their way up into it, like BYU had to do in 2001.

• Texas A&M. Granted the Aggies were coming off an abysmal 4 win season, however Texas A&M's name alone established Utah's early dominance when the Utes dispatched them with ease. It also didn't hurt that the Utes played this game on ESPN.

• Dominance. The Utes' closest game was a 14 point win against Air Force early on in the season. Outside of that, the Utes had little difficulty with any of their opponents and even took North Carolina -- the same Carolina team that a week later would stun Miami -- behind the woodshed for their worst beating of the season. The Utes had a relatively easy schedule (in the eyes of the BCS) and made the best of it by dominating every team on it. To contrast, Boise State lost a lot of brownie points when they were taken to OT by a San Jose State team that finished 2-9 that season.

• Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer is a fantastic coach and probably an even better salesman. The local and national media loved Urban Meyer and his spread offense were the talk of the football community all season long. That talk would almost always revolve around the Utes and their chances of crashing the BCS. Urban Meyer created a buzz never before seen with a Utah team and it often overshadowed other programs like Fresno State, Boise State and even Louisville.
  

Now there is a good chance you can take one or two off the above list and Utah might have made the BCS. However the way everything came together made the improbable run probable. You take out the preseason hype and chances are Utah is no different than Boise State. You substitute Texas A&M with the Ohio Bobcats and Utah's not playing on ESPN. You have an OT game against Utah State and there is a chance Utah drops in the rankings. None of these were factors, but they very well could have been. Utah won and won big against three BCS opponents (Texas A&M, Arizona and North Carolina), while also dominating every conference team on their schedule. That eased some doubt that the Utes weren't for real, of course it didn't change the minds of some detractors.  

The above list is something Utah needs to follow, though they should have an easier time crashing the BCS with the new BCS rules in place. Looking at the list, let's compare it to this year's Utes.

• Preseason hype. Stassen's preseason magazine's 2006 consensus has Utah ranked 21st in the nation. The 2004 consensus had Utah ranked 20th in the nation. Now these rankings are preliminary, so Utah might rise or fall depending on the other published preseason magazines. Utah is almost exactly ranked where they were heading into the 2004 season. Now there is a catch, however. It's no guarantee that Utah will even be ranked in the AP or Coaches Poll preseason top-25. It will be interesting to see where Utah starts the season come September.

• Texas A&M. Texas A&M is not on Utah's schedule in 2006, but the Utes do open up against UCLA in Pasadena. That's Utah's Texas A&M this year and the win might be received better by college football fans and media alike since the Bruins are coming off a 10 win season. Couple that with the game being on the road and Utah has a decent shot of cracking the top-25 with a win, of course that's assuming they are not there to begin with. This game, like the Aggies game, will be on national tevelision. Instead of ESPN, the game will be on FOX Sports.

• Dominance. This is an incomplete category since Utah hasn't dominated anyone yet. In 2004 the Utes needed to crack the top-6 to guarantee a BCS berth, now it's 12. Not only does this mean Utah can back its way into a BCS bowl even without starting the season in the top-25, Utah can do it with a few close calls as well.

• Urban Meyer. He's gone, so now it's up to Whittingham to step in and become the Utes salesman. So far he seems to be doing a good job at it, since I can never recall the Utes ever receiving so much preseason praise following a 7-5 campaign. Will Whittingham be able to step into the national spotlight if the Utes start the season 6-0?
  

There are a lot of similarities between the Utes of '06 and the Utes of '04. Whether the end result remains the same, I can't say. The Utes have a favorable schedule with Texas Christian, Colorado State and Brigham Young all coming to Salt Lake City. They also get a break with playing Boise State here this season as well. Their toughest road games will be against UCLA, New Mexico, Air Force and Wyoming. All winnable in my mind.

Utah is a legitimate BCS threat because it has the schedule, talent and preseason hype needed to make that type of run. Now we'll see if they can actually do it.

Sometime soon, not exactly sure when, I'll rebut my own argument by saying why Utah is not a legitimate BCS threat. How's that for not being biased?

Will the Utes be hoisting up another Fiesta Bowl trophy in January?

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