Battle of Backbone Mountain

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2004 Mountain West Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 4 Utah $   7 0     12 0  
New Mexico   5 2     7 5  
BYU   4 3     5 6  
Wyoming   3 4     7 5  
Air Force   3 4     5 6  
Colorado State   3 4     4 7  
San Diego State   2 5     4 7  
UNLV   1 6     2 9  
  • $ – Conference champion and BCS representative as top non-AQ school to meet automatic qualification criteria
Rankings from AP Poll
Utah Utes fans rush the field and carry the goalpost after defeating rival BYU, completing a perfect regular season, and becoming the first BCS Buster by clinching a spot in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl (hence the sombrero).

The 2004 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. This team was the original 'BCS Buster', meaning, this was the first time that a team from a BCS non-AQ conference was invited to play in one of the BCS bowl games. The team, coached by second-year head football coach Urban Meyer, played its home games in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Utah finished the season 12–0, the fourth undefeated and untied season in school history. The Utes were one of three teams in the top-level Division I FBS to finish the season undefeated (the others being the USC Trojans and the Auburn Tigers.)

Utah was the highest-ranked BCS non-AQ team in each poll every week of the season.

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 25:30 pmTexas A&M*No. 20ESPNW 41–2145,419
September 118:00 pmat Arizona*No. 17KJZZW 23–652,790
September 185:00 pmat Utah State*No. 15KJZZW 48–624,750
September 251:00 pmAir ForcedaggerNo. 14
  • Rice-Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City
ESPN+W 49–3544,043
October 16:00 pmat New MexicoNo. 14ESPN2W 28–740,182
October 168:00 pmNorth Carolina*No. 11
  • Rice-Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City
KJZZW 46–1645,319
October 235:00 pmUNLVNo. 9
  • Rice-Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City
KJZZW 63–2840,341
October 307:00 pmat San Diego StateNo. 9KJZZW 51–2832,683
November 67:45 pmColorado StateNo. 7
  • Rice-Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City
ESPN2W 63–3144,222
November 135:00 pmat WyomingNo. 7ABCW 45–2817,074
November 205:00 pmBYUNo. 5
ESPN2W 52–2145,326
January 16:30 pmvs. No. 19 Pittsburgh*No. 5ABCW 35–773,519
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Mountain time

[1][2]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415Final
AP2020171514141111997755554
Coaches211916141414111010108866665
BCSNot released76676666Not released

Game summaries

Texas A&M

1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 0 7 0 14 21
#20 Utes 7 20 7 7 41

Arizona

1 2 3 4 Total
#17 Utes 17 0 6 0 23
Wildcats 3 3 0 0 6

Utah State

1 2 3 4 Total
#15 Utes 20 21 7 0 48
Aggies 0 0 6 0 6

Air Force

1 2 3 4 Total
Falcons 7 7 14 7 35
#14 Utes 0 21 14 14 49

New Mexico

1 2 3 4 Total
#14 Utes 7 0 14 7 28
Lobos 7 0 0 0 7

North Carolina

1 2 3 4 Total
Tar Heels 7 3 6 0 16
#11 Utes 10 20 7 9 46

UNLV

1 2 3 4 Total
Rebels 7 7 7 7 28
#9 Utes 28 14 21 0 63

San Diego State

1 2 3 4 Total
#9 Utes 10 24 7 10 51
Aztecs 0 21 0 7 28

Colorado State

1 2 3 4 Total
Rams 3 7 0 21 31
#7 Utes 21 21 14 7 63

Wyoming

1 2 3 4 Total
#7 Utes 17 14 14 0 45
Cowboys 7 0 7 14 28

BYU

BYU at #5 Utah
1 234Total
BYU 0 1470 21
Utah 7 141714 52

Fiesta Bowl: Utah vs. Pittsburgh

1 2 3 4 Total
#19 Panthers 0 0 7 0 7
#5 Utes 7 7 21 0 35
2005 Fiesta Bowl

Depth chart

Defensive starters
[1]
FS
Morgan Scalley
Antonio Young
OLB MLB OLB
Spencer Toone Tommy Hackenbruck Corey Dodds
Kyle Brady Taylor Miller Malakai Mokofisi
Grady Marshall
SS
Eric Weddle
Casey Evans
CB
Ryan Smith
Eugene Oates
DE NT T LE
Marques Ledbetter Sione Pouha Steve Fifita Jonathan Fanene
Martail Burnett Tevita Kemoeatu Tevita Kemoeatu Reza Williams
Kite Afeaki Kite Afeaki
CB
Bo Nagahi
Eugene Oates
Offensive starters
[1]
WR
Steve Savoy
Derrek Richards
LT LG C RG RT
Tavo Tupola David Dirkmaat Jesse Boone Chris Kemoeatu Makai Aalona
Jason Voss Eric Pettit Andrew Johnson Kyle Gunther David Dirkmaat
Steve Dahl Jason Boone
TE
Blake Burdette
Willie Sao
WR
Travis LaTendresse
Thomas Huff
WR
Paris Warren
Jerome Wright
WR
John Madsen
Jerome Wright
QB
Alex Smith
Brian Johnson
Fano Tagovailoa
RB
Marty Johnson
Quinton Ganther

Season Statistics

2004 Official Stats

Team

Utah Opp
Scoring 544 234
  Points per game 45.3 19.5
First Downs 305 220
  Rushing 145 90
  Passing 136 103
  Penalty 24 27
Rushing yards 2833 1682
  Avg per play 5.4 3.8
  Avg per game 236.1 140.2
  Rushing touchdowns 36 19
Passing yards 3164 2439
  Att-Comp-Int 344-232-5 372-196-16
  Avg per pass 9.2 6.6
  Avg per catch 13.6 12.4
  Avg per game 263.7 203.2
  Passing touchdowns 33 11
Total offense 5997 4121
  Avg per play 6.9 5.1
  Avg per game 499.8 343.2
Fumbles lost 22–9 19–13
Penalties – yards 88-765 80-693
  Avg per game 63.8 57.8
Team Opp
Punts – yards 45-1878 70-2727
  Avg per Punt 41.7 39.0
Time of possession/game 31:14 28:46
3rd down conversions 80-153 62-177
4th down conversions 9–17 15–25
Touchdowns scored 75 32
Field goals – attempts 7–7 4–11
PAT – attempts 71–75 30–30
Attendance 264670 167479
  Games/Avg per game 6-44112 5-33496
  Neutral Site 1-73519

[1]

Individual Leaders

Passing
Player COMP ATT Pct. YDS TD INT QB Rating
Alex Smith 214 317 .675 2952 32 4 176.52
Brian Johnson 14 21 .667 142 1 1 129.66
Fan Tagovailoa 2 2 1.000 24 - - 305.80
Paris Warren 1 2 .500 21 - - 138.20


Rushing
Player ATT YDS YPC TD
Marty Johnson 165 802 4.9 14
Quinton Ganther 109 654 6.0 2
Alex Smith 135 631 4.7 10
Steve Savoy 22 307 14.0 6
Paris Warren 28 157 5.6 2
Brian Johnson 21 92 4.4 1


Receiving
Player REC YDS YPR TD
Paris Warren 80 1076 13.4 12
Steve Savoy 67 961 14.3 11
Travis Latendresse 27 411 15.2 2
John Madsen 27 377 14.0 5
Quinton Ganther 7 49 7.0 1
Marty Johnson 7 46 6.6 1
Jerome Wright 5 64 12.8 1


Tackles
Player Solo Asst Total TFL Sacks
Spencer Toone 40 75 115 4 1
Tommy Hackenbruck 46 45 91 9.5 4.5
Eric Weddle 47 28 75 4.5 1
Morgan Scalley 27 24 51 2.5 2.5
Marquess Ledbetter 15 31 46 9 4.5
Steve Fifita 23 22 45 9 4.5
Ryan Smith 26 18 44 3 2
Bo Nagahi 31 11 42 2.5 0
Corey Dodds 10 27 37 4 2
Sione Pouha 16 20 36 3 2
Jonathan Fanene 12 10 22 5.5 3


Pass defense
Player INT YDS Broken up
Morgan Scalley 6 79 2
Eric Weddle 4 34 5
Jonathan Fanene 1 76 1
Corey Dodds 1 26 1
Ryan Smith 1 0 7
Sione Pouha 1 0 4
Steve Fifita 1 6 2

[1]

After the season

NFL Draft

Utah had five players taken in the 2005 NFL Draft:[3]

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Alex Smith Quarterback 1 1 San Francisco 49ers
Sione Pouha Defensive tackle 3 88 New York Jets
Chris Kemoeatu Offensive guard 6 204 Pittsburgh Steelers
Paris Warren Wide receiver 7 225 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jonathan Fanene Defensive end 7 233 Cincinnati Bengals

Awards

National

Conference

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "2004 Season Year in Review". Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2008.
  2. ^ "Ute Record Book" (PDF). University of Utah. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  3. ^ "NFL Draft History 2005". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 25, 2010.