When 2004, 2008 Utah Football Players Knew They Were Going To Have A Special Season

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah football has had two special and historic seasons in their program history in both 2004 and 2008.

The 2004 team went a perfect 12-0 and knocked off Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl to become the first non-BCS school to win a BCS Bowl game. They put Utah football on the college football map.

In 2008, the Utes went undefeated once again and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to win their second BCS Bowl game. That team helped put Utah into the Pac-12.

But, when did the players know that they were going to have a special season.

KSL Sports hosted “The Great Ute Debate: ’04 vs. ’08″with 2004 players Quinton Ganther and Eric Weddle as well as 2008 standouts Brian Johnson and Stevenson Sylvester. They were asked that question.

You can watch the full debate below.

When 2004 Team Knew They Would Have Special Season

In 2004, Weddle was entering his sophomore season with the Utes and was starting at safety alongside Morgan Scalley. It was the second season under head coach Urban Meyer. In his first season as head coach of the Utes, Meyer led the team to a 10-2 record with a win over Southern Miss in the Liberty Bowl.

“Early on from the success we had in 2003, we channeled that into the off-season,” stated Weddle. “Going into that 2004 year, I didn’t think we would lose after the way we finished with the bowl game against Southern Miss. I think that gave everyone the confidence and the idea that we could do something special. We had a lot of guys that played a lot of football.”

Ganther’s first season with the Utes was in 2004 after transferring from junior college in California. He wasn’t too familiar with the team he was joining but knew they would be good.

“For me it was a little different,” said Ganther. “I was just coming in and trying to contribute. I was coming from junior college and didn’t really know what I was looking for and getting myself into. I was too busy worrying about myself and trying to get onto the field. When I came in to training camp, I was the fifth running back on the roster. I wasn’t worried about how special it would be. I was worried about chipping away at how I was going to contribute on this football team. Even when everyone was excited about beating BYU and going to the Fiesta Bowl, I was an inner-city kid who was lost. I didn’t know what the big deal was. I didn’t know that it was a BCS football game.”

When 2008 Players Knew They Would Have Special Season

Quarterback Brian Johnson knew in training camp that the team would be really good. Like the 2004 team, it was off of the success from the previous year. In 2007, Utah finished with a 9-4 record and a win over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl.

“I think we all knew it in training camp. It was really a two-year process,” Johnson said. “Just with the way that we finished the previous year and dealt with a bunch of injuries and lost like seven starters in the 2007 season. Everybody came back and we were healthy, really deep and had a ton of experience back and playmakers. Just in training camp, the battles between our offense and defense was so evenly matched and back and forth every practice. The guys were so competitive. Once we got through training camp, I think everybody expected us to have a really good team. We were fortunate enough to get off to a great start and go beat Michigan in the Big House and in an unbelievable environment. We answered that challenge and then we got the ball rolling.”

What are your favorite memories/plays from the 2004 and 2008 @Utah_Football seasons?#GoUtes #BCSBustershttps://t.co/HZhtoNNDce

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 11, 2020

Sylvester thought it was before training camp. He thought Utah would be special in 2008 because of how the team bonded in the off-season.

“It was in the off-season even before training camp,” Sylvester said. “At the end of the 2007 season we looked at how many guys left and how many coming back and how we were training. During the spring season I knew then that we had an opportunity to be undefeated. That was obviously the goal each and every year. We had that commitment. You saw in training camp how in tuned everyone was.”

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.