Well... This just sucks.

It's Official. Utah's star defensive end Paul Kruger has declared he will enter the NFL draft and forgo his two remaining years of elligibility.

It's not like I didn't see this coming. This is what happens when you have a fantastic season. You lose all your great players and half your coaches. This obviously is a big blow to the Utes. Especially since our best corner, Sean Smith (a junior) is also expected to go pro.

Before this news, I was (perhaps unrealistically) hoping for a Top 20 preseason ranking for next year. Most of our graduating players are on offense, and we have very capable players stepping into those vacancies. But now with two of our defensive play makers likely gone, I will be very surprised if we are even ranked to start next season. Which means that even if we repeat what we did this year, the best we can hope for (once again) is #2. Had we started the season ranked # 20 or better and gone undefeated, there would be a very remote chance of getting a BCS National Championship bid. (only if NO ONE from a BCS conference went undefeated of course.)

Oh well, such is college football. You gotta feel for Max Hall though. With Collie and Kruger both going pro, who is he going to throw to next year?

I'm FAMOUS!!

Check me out here.

I should say this... the quote she used was preceeded by "I really believed that the Utes would win, but..."

I just didn't want it to come across as though I didn't think the Utes could do it.

Victory.

To ESPN "experts" and all other doubters: Have you got the message yet?

Utah is the best college football team in the country. What and amazing game. Utah came out with a fury and burried Alabam early. The Tide spent the rest of the game trying to dig themselves out of the hole we put them in. No one gave the Utes any respect, so they went out there and demanded it. There is no reason why Utah shouldn't be # 1 in the final polls, though unfortunately that won't ever happen under the current system.

No matter, the Utes are the National Champions in my book. They earned it.

I must also address the fact that I am deeply disappointed in the total lack of class some BYU fans are already showing. I came home from SkyBox where we watched the game, and found that several BYU fans were commenting on the stories in the Tribune online, discounting Utah's success this season. Some said the Utes were lucky. Others quite intelligently (sarcasm) said the Utes "suck". Some were bringing up the 1984 BYU "National Championship", saying that it's something the Utes will never have. To you sore losers and poor sports, I simply say this:

Grow up and pull your heads out.

Here are some pictures from last night's game. GO UTES!!

Photos via.