SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - You could almost hear Kyle Whittingham and the rest of the University of Utah coaching staff yelling the same message to their players on the sideline of Wednesday's 37 - 27 victory over the Cal Bears.
The players for their part, got the message and responded. The message was simple enough, "Settle down!"
Multiple defensive players from Robert Johnson and Mike Wright, to Poinsettia Bowl Defensive MVP Stevenson Sylvester all told me the same thing after the game, "We didn't make any adjustments."
None? Not when Cal jumped out to a quick 14 - 0 lead? Or when Cal's offense accounted for 100 offensive yards in the first quarter? None, really?
None! Ute Defensive Coordinator Kalani Sitake thought the defensive scheme was sound and it was his players who were allowing the miscues. They were just too excited.
"The first run out of the gate, we had a gap, a missed assignment...but from that point forward we played well," Whittingham said after the game about his defense.
The same message was given to Offensive MVP, freshman quarterback, Jordan Wynn. Although his message seemed to come from himself and in a very odd circumstance.
Wynn wowed his crowd by throwing for 338-yards on 26 for 36 passing with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. It was the interception that was the cause for the message sent to Wynn from himself. You see, Wynn was picked off by Cal defender Eddie Young on a poorly thrown ball into a zone coverage that Wynn did not see. Young took the interception back to the end zone to give the Bears a 14 - 0 lead with 5:55 left in the first half.
"I really just kept thinking that it was early in the game," Wynn said. "There was so much time left, especially with how explosive our offense can be. there was no reason to worry yet. It was early in the game and we knew we had to get back into it, and we did."
That's a good sign for the future for Ute fans. Wynn in the biggest game of his career, started about as bad as he could, and righted the ship and lead his team to a decisive victory.
As the Utes settled down, they made a statement. A statement to all that would listen. The Utes (and the MWC) is for real.
"We're up there with everyone now, especially after last season," Wynn said, "We're just continuing to grow and hopefully it's showing."
Other Utes coupled their victory with BYU's as proof that their conference is on par with the Pac-10 or any other BCS automatic qualifying conference out there.
If the message wasn't received last year after the victory over Alabama, it's beginning to sink in now.
The Sportscenter headline was "The Best in the West." And it compared the Pac-10 to the MWC in the 2 head to head games in this post season. BYU vs Oregon State, and Utah vs Cal. If that is the scoreboard that everyone is going by, it's a good win for BYU, Utah and the MWC.
