I was able to go to the game (I live in San Francisco) and it was...well, I worry about the Oregon game.  I don't know if it was apparent on TV, but it seemed like a third of the crowd was supporting Utah, which was a) a lot more than I would have expected, b) pretty fun. 

What happened on the field was...not so much fun.

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I'm still a little buzzed from last night--I got up this morning at 7 because I couldn't sleep from the leftover adrenalin jag.

What an amazing game.  I can't believe how good the Utes looked in the first quarter.  Could somebody tell me when we turned into Texas Tech?  Did we run a rushing play in the whole first quarter?  Whoever it was who decided the short passing game was the way to beat Alabama is a genius and was thinking waaaayyy outside the box; I don't think anyone not on the Ute sideline expected that wrinkle.  And they executed to perfection.  The only problem I had for the rest of the game was the "It's too good to be true!" feeling I always get when my underdog team starts thrashing an opponent--with the fear of a coming backlash when the other team finally wakes up.  (The example that comes to mind was in the 2002 World Cup when the U.S. went up on Portugal 3-0 in something like 30 minutes, then barely held back Portugal's surge for a 3-2 win.)  After that it was just a matter of slow strangulation--hard work, but not all that dangerous.

Because Alabama never really woke up.  They got the punt return for a touchdown and managed the short TD drive to open the second half, but their offense just looked super-flat and dispirited--nothing like the team that played Florida--and I never felt like the Tide was really about to assert themselves and take control of the game.  Was it just that Andre Smith was gone?  Letdown after missing out on the national championship game?  Whatever it was, Bama let themselves get run off the field.

Just about all the Bama fans who I've seen comment here and on rollbamaroll have been really classy, which is hard when you lose to an underdog, and I'd like to tip my hat to you and your team.  I'd also like to say the Tide has to rise pretty darn high before it can swamp Utah!  GO UTES!