(The season hasnt played out yet, but based on up to post game UW)
We know the candidates.
Right now, based on SOS, I rank them
2019, because Utes consistently win against PAC12
2004, because Alex Smith is still the greatest QB to play at Utah, and the team’s dominating victories.
2008, undefeated but pulling out squeakers. Team got better as the season progressed and seemed to peak in Sugar Bowl, which was arguably the greatest all time win.
After each team melds, at season’s end I think 2019 beats both teams about 6/10 times.
2019 no question. When your OOC games are your soft spot in the schedule, and your team is winning it’s conference games, only having one loss in the Conference of Cannibals is more impressive than ‘04 or ‘08. Those seasons were special, and they set the trend line for the 2019 team getting the shot it’s getting, but 2019 is a better team.
I find it hard to compare teams over the years. I love how this team comes back from adversity. I think Snoop is a true “leads from the front” kind of player.
Really hope we not only win out, but also meet/exceed expectations on the national stage. Very proud of these young men.
Enjoy the break. Go UTES!
Slight edge to 2019 simply because I think the offense is a bit better than that defense was.
I think the overwhelming factor that makes 2019 > 2004 is the culture. Whitt spoke about it yesterday that this team just loves each other and he respects this team immensely.
I don’t know, I still maintain that the 2004 team could have beat anybody in the country, and it’s too bad the landscape at the time didn’t allow us to prove it in a bigger bowl.
2019 team is awesome, and who know what the next month might bring. I’m excited to hear the discussion in our Utes in this first playoff show on Tuesday.
2019 is a special year for us. But 2004 was one of the all time great teams in the history of college football. 2004 wins comfortably. 2008 is in second place, but 2019 has a chance to pass it.
I think this year’s team would do well against that schedule. I mean, we’re talking three of the best seasons in our history - any of them would do well against any of their schedules. Add 1994 to the list as well.
Unfair to this year’s team which has played zero Top 25 teams as opposed to the 2008 team that played four (Oregon State, Zoobs, TCU and Alabama) top 25 teams and won. Not to mention with that more difficult schedule you didn’t lose.
I am not sure this year’s team wins all 4 of those games. I know many love the 2004 team but your 2008 team accomplished more.
Indeed we found out the first few years in the PAC-12 that it was a massively more challenging and more physically demanding schedule than what we had in the MWC.
Don’t bother to compare this season’s start to other completed seasons. At this point in the season 2015 was a great season. Next comparing MWC seasons with Pac 12 seasons is problematic. Goodness, some folks would suggest an undefeated WAC season beats a one loss Pac 10 season back in the day. Until conference champions play each other you have to make wild assumptions about each conference to come up with a substitute for a true champion. Could you imagine HSs naming a champion without a playoff? Or imagine HS administrators simply picking 4 for a playoff with 2 or 3 simply coming from the biggest city in the state? Arrange a playoff for the P5s with every conference champ, do the same for G5s. Then you can have a national champion statement that does not start with ‘I think…’ Too many problems comparing our past with the present.
I think you find no joy in saying it because in your heart you know it’s not true.
There is no logic in the phrase “A played an easier schedule than B, therefore A is a worse team than B”.
There is also no logic in the phrase “the 2012 team struggled as a relatively new member of the Pac-12, so the 2004 would have struggled too.” One of our worst teams of the past 15 years struggled, so one of our best teams surely would have struggled too?
The 2004 team was completely dominant from start to finish. We all wanted a shot at USC because we all know how that game would have ended. Urban wanted that shot because he knew how that game would have ended.
This is a bit of a silly discussion because it’s impossible to play the 1994, 2004, 2008, and 2019 teams against each other. I just get bothered when people speak nonsense like “2004/2008 would have never been successful in the Pac-12.” There just isn’t any evidence for that argument, and it puts down two of our all time great teams. Why would we want to put them down? 2004 was a juggernaut, and nothing about the 2012 team’s struggles can take that away.