This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Well I'm not even going to bother breaking down the Utes' grades on that one, let's just make it easy and give TCU an A+.
Not much you can say, except that Utah was beaten soundly, everywhere.
It was a painful loss for the Utes, from the way they felt outplayed by TCU, to getting booed at home to losing many of their goals.
Leaving the MWC with one last title? Gone, if you believe Utah coach Kyle Whittingham who proclaimed TCU wouldn't lose another game this year.
BCS game? No way. The Utes are going to plummet in the rankings tomorrow. A third undefeated season? Trashed too, much like Utah's confidence.
"They just beat us in all aspects of the game," Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn said.
You can read all of our reports on the website as they are posted. My overall impressions I'll add here, starting with the one of Wynn who was shaky, nervous and never calm in the game. That surprised me a little, given the composure he has shown.
I don't agree with Utah fans booing him though. The guy is just a true sophomore after all and TCU's defense is good, very, very, very good. It was the first time in his career that Utah coach Kyle Whittingham felt a team of his was outclassed by as much as the Utes were Saturday. Hard to imagine how out of his league Wynn must have felt.
Utah's defense didn't do him any favors either, allowing TCU to drive 80 yards in nine plays to score on its first possession. That score put even more pressure on Wynn and the offense.
That the Utes lost didn't surprise me, but the gap between the teams did. There just wasn't anything the Utes could do against them.
Whittingham said in watching tape of the Frogs the Utes couldn't spot any weaknesses and that the Utes would have to play a near-perfect game to win. Obviously that didn't happen.
"They handed us a butt kicking," Whittingham said.
What made the loss hurt even more was how perfectly everything was set up for the Utes, with a nation's attention on the game. What they saw won't help the Utes' reputation, Whittingham acknowledged.
"It was a national stage and the national spotlight and we really did zero with it," he said.
"I apologize to our fans," he added. "They deserve better. They were there in full force, supportive and loud. Everything we had hoped for from the fans we got, but we didn't deliver."
So the question now is where do the Utes go from here? Their best hope is the Las Vegas Bowl against the Pac-10's fourth/fifth team, if TCU wins out and goes to the BCS.
That doesn't seem as much fun as the scenarios that existed a few hours ago, does it?
Immediate concerns though are getting themselves together and finishing strong. Notre Dame won't be a pushover at home and San Diego State could be a challenge, while the BYU game is always tough.
The Utes talked about collecting themselves and winning out, but sometimes that is easier said than done, particularly after a loss like Saturday's.
"We have to move forward and play Notre Dame," defensive end Christian Cox said. "We've got conditioning on Monday and practice. We'll find out who the real guys are."