It was a perfect ending to a perfect season.
Sparked by cool-headed junior quarterback Alex Smith, No. 5 Utah proved its BCS worth Saturday with a convincing 35-7 win over No. 19 Pittsburgh in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl before a capacity crowd of 73,519 at Sun Devil Stadium.
The lopsided victory capped an undefeated season for Utah, which went 12-0 for the first time in school history. The Utes likely will finish at least fourth when the final rankings are released next week because of No. 4 California's 45-31 loss against No. 23 Texas Tech in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. They could move even higher if No. 3 Auburn falls to No. 9 Virginia Tech in Monday's Nokia Sugar Bowl.
Smith keyed Utah's high-powered offense, completing 29 of 37 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns and rushing 15 times for 68 yards. Most of his completions went to senior wide receiver Paris Warren, who totaled a Fiesta Bowl-record 15 catches for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
Utah's unheralded defense did its part by sacking Pittsburgh sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko nine times. Four of those sacks came in the first half, when Utah established the tone with heavy pressure up front and stingy coverage in the secondary.
With Smith in control behind center, Utah scored on five of its first seven possessions, pulling ahead 35-7 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter after Warren scored on an 18-yard hook-and-ladder play down the sideline. Smith also completed second-half touchdown passes to senior running back Marty Johnson and Warren, whose 23-yard grab midway through the third quarter gave Utah a 28-0 lead.
"In today's day and age of college football, going undefeated is hard to do," said Utah head coach Urban Meyer, who will replace Ron Zook next season at the University of Florida. "There are a lot of great football teams out there. It's hard to say goodbye, but I'm saying goodbye 12-0."
The backbreaker came on Utah's opening drive of the second half, when Smith completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Johnson to put the Utes ahead 21-0. Pittsburgh (8-4) went three-and-out on the next possession, and then Utah added two more touchdowns to put the finishing touches on its most lopsided bowl win in school history.
"It became pretty obvious pretty quick that Pitt was going to pressure us and that they were going to crowd the line of scrimmage," said Smith, who finished his junior season with 2,952 yards passing and 32 touchdown passes. "When you do that with this offense, you're going to have some big plays, and luckily the guys around me made it easier for us."
Smith said his team practiced the hook-and-ladder play from sophomore wide receiver Steve Savoy to Warren in the couple weeks preceding the Fiesta Bowl, but didn't experience much success. On Saturday, it resulted in perfection, just like Utah's season.
"We tried it every day for the last two weeks, at least twice a day, and it never worked once," Smith said. "We got a lot of criticism, and we still called it, and it worked out."
Pittsburgh head coach Walt Harris showed little emotion in a somber postgame press conference. Meanwhile, Utah students frantically tried to storm the field after the trophy presentation.
"I really don't have a lot of feelings right now," said Harris, whose team managed just 268 yards total offense and was held to 17 yards rushing on 30 carries. "I was hoping that we would play better, but we had trouble. If you have trouble blocking them and trouble stopping them, you're going to have trouble."
The Utes settled for a 14-0 halftime lead, thanks to heavy pressure from a relentless defensive line that sacked Palko four times in the first half. Junior running back Quinton Ganther scored on a 4-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, and Smith hit junior wide receiver John Madsen on a 6-yard touchdown pass.
Pittsburgh drove into Utah territory three times in the first half, only to come away scoreless. Its opening drive stalled after Palko was sacked by Utah junior defensive end Marquess Ledbetter. Early in the second quarter, Pittsburgh junior kicker Josh Cummings' 48-yard field goal attempt was blocked by freshman Martail Burnett. Then Pitt was forced to punt just before halftime when Utah senior defensive end Jonathan Fanene sacked Palko at midfield.
"Our front has been strong all year, and we have won the line-of-scrimmage battle virtually every game this year," said Utah defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham, who will replace Meyer after 11 seasons as an assistant. "We are a high-pressure team, and we got off the bus blitzing. I cannot give enough credit to our defensive personnel. They executed the game plan flawlessly."
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
