2004 Utah Utes football team

2004 Utah Utes football
Mountain West champion Fiesta Bowl champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 35–7 vs. Pittsburgh
Conference	Mountain West Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 4
Record	12–0 (7–0 MW)
Head coach	Urban Meyer (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Sanford (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread option
Defensive coordinator	Kyle Whittingham (10th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Rice-Eccles Stadium
Seasons ← 2003 2005 →

2004 Mountain West Conference football standings

v t e	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

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.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	5:30 pm	Texas A&M*	No. 20	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City	ESPN	W 41–21	45,419
September 11	8:00 pm	at Arizona*	No. 17	Arizona Stadium Tucson, Arizona	KJZZ	W 23–6	52,790
September 18	5:00 pm	at Utah State*	No. 15	Romney Stadium Logan, Utah (Battle of the Brothers)	KJZZ	W 48–6	24,750
September 25	1:00 pm	Air Force	No. 14	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City	ESPN+	W 49–35	44,043
October 1	6:00 pm	at New Mexico	No. 14	University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico	ESPN2	W 28–7	40,182
October 16	8:00 pm	North Carolina*	No. 11	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City	KJZZ	W 46–16	45,319
October 23	5:00 pm	UNLV	No. 9	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City	KJZZ	W 63–28	40,341
October 30	7:00 pm	at San Diego State	No. 9	Qualcomm Stadium San Diego	KJZZ	W 51–28	32,683
November 6	7:45 pm	Colorado State	No. 7	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City	ESPN2	W 63–31	44,222
November 13	5:00 pm	at Wyoming	No. 7	War Memorial Stadium Laramie, Wyoming	ABC	W 45–28	17,074
November 20	5:00 pm	BYU	No. 5	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City (Holy War) (College GameDay)	ESPN2	W 52–21	45,326
January 1	6:30 pm	vs. No. 19 Pittsburgh*	No. 5	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona (Fiesta Bowl)	ABC	W 35–7	73,519
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[1][2]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	20	20	17	15	14	14	11	11	9	9	7	7	5	5	5	5	4
Coaches	21	19	16	14	14	14	11	10	10	10	8	8	6	6	6	6	5
BCS	Not released								7	6	6	7	6	6	6	6	Not released

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BYU at #5 Utah

1 2 3 4 Total BYU 0 14 7 0 21 • Utah 7 14 17 14 52 Date: November 20 Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah Game start: 7:00 p.m. Source: [1]

Scoring summary 1 0:52 UTAH Steve Savoy 2-yard run (David Carroll kick) UTAH 7-0 2 12:13 BYU Todd Watkins 5-yard pass from John Beck (Matt Payne kick) Tied 7-7 2 9:28 UTAH Marty Johnson 5-yard run (David Carroll kick) UTAH 14-7 2 5:40 BYU Curtis Brown 6-yard run (Matt Payne kick) Tied 14-14 2 1:19 UTAH Alex Smith 2-yard run (David Carroll kick) UTAH 21-14 3 11:43 UTAH David Carroll 30-yard field goal UTAH 24-14 3 10:43 UTAH Bo Nagahi 12-yard fumble return (David Carroll kick) UTAH 31-14 3 8:38 BYU Austin Collie 16-yard pass from John Beck (Matt Payne kick) UTAH 31-21 3 5:59 UTAH Steve Savoy 92-yard run (David Carroll kick) UTAH 38-21 4 10:34 UTAH Steve Savoy 20-yard pass from Alex Smith (David Carroll kick) UTAH 45-21 4 1:03 UTAH Steve Fifta 4-yard run (David Carroll kick) UTAH 52-21

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

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

2004 Official Stats

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]

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]

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

• Urban Meyer: The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Woody Hayes' National Coach of the Year, Maxwell George Munger Award
• Alex Smith: Heisman finalist (fourth place), The Sporting News National Player of the Year, Sports Illustrated National Player of the Year, Cingular Sports/ABC Sports All-American, SI.com All-American (first team), CoSIDA Football Academic All-American of the Year, Davey O'Brien Award finalist, Walter Camp Award finalist
• Chris Kemoeatu: Cingular Sports/ABC Sports All-American, SI.com All-American (first team)
• Morgan Scalley: SI.com All-American (second team), CoSIDA Academic All-American (first team), Anson Mount Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Bronko Nagurski National Player of the Week, Pat Tillman Award (East–West Shrine Game honor)
• Steve Savoy: SI.com All-American (second team), The Sporting News All-American (honorable mention)
• Ryan Smith: The Sporting News Freshman All-American (second team)
• Spencer Toone: CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII first team

• Coach of the Year: Urban Meyer
• Offensive Player of the Year: Alex Smith
• Co-defensive Player of the Year: Morgan Scalley
• All-MWC First team: Alex Smith, Steve Savoy, Chris Kemoeatu, Steve Fifita, Sione Pouha, Morgan Scalley
• All-MWC Second team: Paris Warren, Marty Johnson, Jesse Boone, Eric Weddle
• All-MWC Honorable mention: Makai Aalona, Quinton Ganther, Tommy Hackenbruck, Matt Kovacevich, Spencer Toone

• List of undefeated Division I football teams