A Perfect Urban Legend?

Utah Coach Urban Meyer didn’t want to hear the word “unbeaten” from the Utes last summer.

Meyer was angry when a few Utes let the word slip when talking about the upcoming season and what the Utes could be in a position to do. But this week, he’s liking the sound of it.

“To think that there’s four or five teams in major football undefeated, I never thought that would happen because teams are too good,” Meyer said.

The Utes are one of four Division I-A unbeatens. At 11-0, they can complete a perfect season today against Pittsburgh (8-3) in the Fiesta Bowl.

The matchup between the Mountain West Conference, which has never had a team in a bowl championship series game, and the Big East may lack the glitz of the other three BCS games, but with a shot at their first perfect season since 1930, the Utes aren’t complaining.

“We’re still going to get our chance on a national stage to go 12-0,” quarterback Alex Smith said. “And when it comes down to that in the next few years, we’ll be able to say we were perfect, we were undefeated, and that’s all we could ask for. We did what we could control and we’re perfect.”

It’s also a matchup of departing coaches. Meyer is leaving Utah to coach Florida. Pitt’s Walt Harris is going to Stanford.

The Utes were defending MWC champions entering the season after going 10-2 in their first year under Meyer. They were preseason favorites to defend the league title and with a nonconference schedule of Texas A&M;, Utah State, Arizona and North Carolina, going unbeaten was a possibility.

And once the Utes opened with a 41-21 win over A&M;, it became a much stronger possibility.

Now it’s here.

“This is pretty dreamlike,” Smith said. “This has been a goal of ours to reach this. It’s January and for us to be here is pretty surreal. Just trying to soak it all in and not let it go by too fast.”

Utah completed the 11-0 run easily, winning every game by at least two touchdowns.

The perfect regular season got the Utes into the BCS but left them out of the running for the national title. That will be decided in the Orange Bowl between top-ranked USC and No. 2 Oklahoma, two other unbeatens from higher profile conferences.

Southeastern Conference champion Auburn also went unbeaten and was left out of the championship mix, facing Atlantic Coast winner Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl on Monday. And Western Athletic Conference champion Boise State was left out of the BCS altogether, finishing 11-1 after a 44-40 loss to Conference USA winner Louisville in the Liberty Bowl on Friday.

So the Utes will have to remain content with being the first team from an unaffiliated conference to crack the BCS.

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TODAY’S GAME

FIESTA BOWL

No. 5 UTAH (11-0) vs. No. 19 PITTSBURGH (8-3)

* Site, time: Tempe, Ariz., 5:30 p.m. (Channel 7).

* Line: Utah by 15 1/2 .

* Series record: First meeting.

* Bowl records: Utah 6-3, Pittsburgh 10-13.

* Last bowl appearance: Utah beat Southern Mississippi, 17-0, in the 2003 Liberty Bowl. Pittsburgh lost to Virginia, 23-16, in the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl.

* What to watch for: Utah would like to prove that it belongs with the BCS big boys. So would Pittsburgh. This is the first time a team from a non-BCS conference has played in one of the four major bowl games the group has monopolized since 1998. The Panthers, who needed some help to win the weak Big East, have the worst record of any BCS team. Utah quarterback Alex Smith was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy thanks to a 28-touchdown, 2,624-yard season that made him the nation’s second-best rated QB (he threw only four interceptions). He also ran for 563 yards and 10 touchdowns, third on the Utes behind running backs Marty Johnson (71.1 yards per game) and Quinton Ganther (56.4 ypg). Panther QB Tyler Palko, meanwhile, recovered from some early struggles, and has averaged 320 yards in his past five games with 16 touchdowns.