Utah Clock Strikes 12-0

The outsiders from Utah left little doubt they belonged in the Fiesta Bowl Saturday.

You couldn’t necessarily say the same for Pittsburgh.

The fifth-ranked Utes completed a perfect season by overwhelming the No. 19 Panthers, 35-7, with an offense that was both efficient and flamboyant and a defense that played far beyond its reputation.

“In today’s day and age of college football, going undefeated is hard to do. There are a lot of great football teams out there,” said Utah Coach Urban Meyer, coaching his final game before taking his spread offense and demanding work ethic to Florida.

“It’s hard to say goodbye, but I’m saying goodbye, 12-0.”

Utah was the first team from outside the six bowl championship series conferences to earn a berth in one of the four BCS bowls.

But the Utes didn’t seem like upstarts, not with the overwhelming dominance of red-clad fans among the crowd of 73,519 at Sun Devil Stadium, and not with the assurance and competence the team displayed on the field.

“They’re a very good, very explosive team,” said Pittsburgh Coach Walt Harris, who coached his final game before taking over at Stanford.

“The physical parts of the game, we did not match up. We had trouble protecting the passer.”

Utah’s defense ranked 45th in the nation and was hardly considered the equal of the offense, but the Utes set a Fiesta Bowl record by sacking Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko nine times.

The Utah offense put on its usual display, fundamental and flashy, breaking Fiesta Bowl records in the process.

Quarterback Alex Smith, a Heisman Trophy finalist who is considering giving up his senior season to jump to the NFL, set a Fiesta Bowl record by completing 78.4% of his passes, connecting on 29 of 37 for 328 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. His completion percentage broke the record of 73.7% set by Arizona State’s Danny White in 1973.

Smith’s most frequent target was Paris Warren, whose 15 receptions broke the Fiesta Bowl record of 11 set by Kellen Winslow Jr. of Miami against Ohio State in 2003. Warren finished with 198 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

The flashiest touchdown was Utah’s final one, when Smith passed to Steve Savoy behind the line of scrimmage before Savoy flipped the ball to Warren, who ran the final 18 yards to score.

“That hook-and-ladder, we tried it every day the last two weeks and it never worked once,” Smith said. “We still called it, and it worked out.”

It seems everything has worked out for Utah.

Three Utah teams finished a season without a loss, all in a distant era, in 1926, ’29 and ’30.

This season, the Utes became the first of at least two teams that will finish with an undefeated record.

Either No. 1 USC or No. 2 Oklahoma will emerge from the Orange Bowl unbeaten after the teams meet for the BCS title Tuesday, and Auburn has an opportunity to complete a perfect season Monday against Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. (Boise State, which finished the regular season undefeated, lost to Louisville in the Liberty Bowl.)

Utah proved unequivocally it was worthy of a major bowl despite coming from the Mountain West Conference, dominating a Pittsburgh team that finished 8-4 and earned its spot by sharing the Big East Conference title.

But Pitt fell behind, 28-0, and didn’t score until 4:28 remained in the third quarter.

Receiver Greg Lee dropped an almost certain touchdown pass in the first half, and a 48-yard field-goal attempt by Josh Cummings was blocked by Utah’s Martail Burnett.

The Panthers gave the Utes their due, particularly the Utah offense.

“Simply put, they are very good,” said nose tackle Vince Crochunis.

“I would say in my five or six years here, they were one of the best offenses I’ve played against.”

The only dim spot of the night for Utah was the farewells, to Meyer and perhaps to Smith, who will continue talking to Meyer today about his decision on whether to declare for the draft.

“In my opinion, first round, you go,” Meyer said. “If not, you stay.

Meyer emphasized Smith’s youth and relative inexperience, but still said, “I think he’s the best quarterback in college football right now.”

It was the end of a special season for Utah, all the more special, Meyer noted, because the players appreciated every step, certainly never complaining about their bowl selection.

“I’ve been to bowl games with teams where you hand them a jacket or a gift and they say, ‘This is it?’ ” said Meyer, whose stops included Ohio State and Notre Dame.

“These guys appreciate everything.”

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Not Quite Perfect

In the last 20 years, 11 teams have had undefeated seasons without finishing No. 1 in the final Associated Press media poll. Auburn could add to the list with a victory in the Sugar Bowl on Monday:

*--* Season Team Record National Champion Record 2004 Utah 12-0 USC or Oklahoma 13-0 1999 Marshall 13-0 Florida State 12-0 1998 Tulane 12-0 Tennessee 13-0 1997 Nebraska* 13-0 Michigan 12-0 1995 Toledo 11-0-1 Nebraska 12-0 1994 Penn State 12-0 Nebraska 13-0 1994 Texas A&M; 10-0-1 Nebraska 13-0 1993 Auburn 11-0 Florida State 12-1 1992 Michigan 9-0-3 Alabama 13-0 1990 Georgia Tech* 11-0-1 Colorado 11-1-1 1987 Syracuse 11-0-1 Miami 12-0

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*winner of the coaches’ poll.