It wasn’t that long ago that Utah was commonly thought of as nothing more than a basketball school. Keith Van Horne, Michael Doleac and Andre Miller were the big men on campus and the Ute faithful dreamed of March Madness, not a New Year’s Day bowl game.
Well, move over Rick Majerus, there’s a new show in Salt Lake City. The boys on the football field are primed to take their act to the big time. Instead of cheering tee-shirt clad 3-point shooters, Utah fans are now turning their attention to a top 25 football team.
The gridiron Utes exploded onto the national scene in their 2004 season opener with a 41-21 romp over Texas A&M. Any questions as to the legitimacy of Utah’s top 25 ranking were quickly erased as the Utes racked up 582 yards of total offense. Junior quarterback Alex Smith led the charge, passing for a career-high 359 yards and three touchdowns, while running for two more scores. In all, Smith recorded 435 yards of total offense.
While the Aggies may be a shell of their once dominant selves, the victory demonstrated that the Mountain West upstarts could compete with the nation’s traditional powers. It also avenged a 28-26 loss the Utes suffered at the hands of the Aggies a season ago.
The resurgence of the Utah football program can be traced back to December of 2002, when Urban Meyer was named head coach, replacing Ron McBride, who had led the Utes to 5-6 record that year. The energetic and intense young coach is no stranger to turnarounds. In 2001 he garnered Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honors after engineering a six-win improvement at his previous stop, Bowling Green State. In two seasons, Meyer’s BGSU teams recorded 8-3 and 9-3 seasons, the school’s first winning seasons since 1994.
“We run a hard program,” Meyer said at the Mountain West’s preseason media day. “It’s hard to go to work every day and train. Our kids, once we start camp, their sole purpose is to survive to get to the next day.”
A former Atlanta Braves farm hand, Meyer played his college ball at Cincinnati. He cut his teeth in the coaching ranks at Ohio State, where he served as a graduate assistant from 1986-87. After a two-year stint at Illinois State, Meyer moved on to become receivers coach at Colorado State. In 1996, he took the same job under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame. His stint as a Golden Domer led to his first head coaching opportunity at Bowling Green.
When given the head coaching opportunity at Utah, Meyer took the ball and ran with it. Implementing his spread offense while maintaining Utah’s traditional defensive prowess, Meyer made an immediate impact in Salt Lake City. He led his new squad to a 10-2 mark, the school’s best finish since 1994, when the Utes also recorded a 10-2 record. After tying the Utah record in wins, Meyer and the Utes capped the season in style, winning the Mountain West championship — the school’s first outright conference title since 1957 — and defeating Southern Mississippi 17-0 in the Liberty Bowl.
Among the Utes’ regular-season victims were non-conference foes California (31-24) and then-No. 19 Oregon, by a tally of 17-13. Utah went on to down traditional league favorites Colorado State, Air Force and BYU.
Utah’s surprising success earned Meyer Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honors. Further praise was heaped on him when he was named the Sporting News National Coach of the Year for 2003. He became just the second coach from a non-BCS program to earn the award.
Meyer and his charges took full advantage of their opportunities to impress a nation-wide audience, going an unblemished 4-0 on national television. At home, the Utes drew an average of 41,478 fans per game. Needless to say, the 40-year-old head coach has the Salt Lake City faithful in a buzz. However, that does not mean he is content with what he accomplished in 2003.
“It’s easy to improve on last season,” Meyer said at media day. “Our offensive line was not very good last season — they have to improve. Record-wise, we don’t concern ourselves with record, we concern ourselves with improvement. That’s our whole focus, to become a better team tomorrow than we were today.”
The 2004 Utes are led by junior signal caller Alex Smith, who currently holds Utah’s career records in completion percentage, passing efficiency and average yards per completion. A talented rusher and passer, Smith was the Mountain West’s Player of the Week three times last season, when he threw for 2,247 yards and ran for another 452. He threw for 15 touchdowns, compared to just three interceptions. Efficiency is the name of the game for Smith, who completed 65-percent of his passes.
After taking over the starting role in the California game, Smith led his team to a 9-1 record. Maybe it’s in his blood. Smith’s uncle is none other than Michigan State head coach John L. Smith.
Oh, Smith’s pretty smart, too. He finished his economics degree in just two years and is currently working on his master’s in econ.
Smith’s main target is former senior Paris Warren. A transfer from Oregon, Warren garnered first team All-Mountain West recognition in 2003, when he set a Utah record with 76 catches. Those receptions went for 809 yards and a quartet of touchdowns. He is joined by sophomore Steve Savoy and seniors Travis LaTendresse and Jerome Wright to give Smith a talented receiving corps. In the backfield, senior Marty Johnson replaces standout Brandon Warfield. An always-solid Utah defense is anchored by safety Morgan Scalley.
In 2004, Utah finds itself in the somewhat unusual situation: being hunted by the Colorado States and New Mexicos of the MWC. Higher expectations are anything but intimidating to Meyer, who now owns a career record of 28-8 as a head coach.
“There’s pressure when you’re picked to not be very good — that means there’s no respect,” Meyer said. “When you’re picked to be good, I don’t think that’s pressure.”
The Utes certainly have not felt the pressure thus far. Instead, they are placing it squarely on the shoulders of their overmatched opponents. Next up for Utah is a showdown with Arizona Saturday.
