Patrick Stevens The Washington Times - January 9, 2009, 12:24AM

I just went through the exercise of comparing Florida and Utah on a game-by-game basis.

The Utes went unbeaten, but the Gators performed better over 14 games despite losing one.

SEE RELATED:

Despite a convoluted system, college football has a correct champion. But will it get No. 2 right?

In one corner are the 13-0 Utes. In the other is 12-1 Texas, which was the real best team in the Big 12.

So let’s line ‘em up, with the advantage taking into account opponent quality, margin of victory and game site:

Game Texas Utah Advantage
1 vs. Oklahoma (45-35) 
vs. Alabama (31-17) 
Even
2 vs. Ohio State (24-21)
 TCU (13-10)
 Even
3 at Texas Tech (33-39)
 Oregon State (31-28)
Utah X2
4 Oklahoma State (28-24)
Brigham Young (48-24) 
Utah
5 Missouri (56-31)
 at Air Force (30-23)
 Texas
6 Rice (52-10)
 Colorado State (49-16)
 Texas
7 at Kansas (35-7)
 at Michigan (25-23)
 Texas
8 at Colorado (38-14)
 UNLV (42-21)
 Texas
9 Arkansas (52-10)
 at New Mexico (13-10)
 Texas
10 Baylor (45-21)
 at Wyoming (40-7)
 Texas
11 Texas A&M (49-9)
 at Utah State (58-10)
 Even
12 Florida Atlantic (52-10)
 Weber State (37-21)
 Texas
13 at UTEP (42-13)
 at San Diego St. (63-14) 
Utah
Total 7
 4 Texas

Because the top of the schedule favors Utah, someone can credibly rank the Utes at No. 2. It’s also plausible for a voter to give Texas the nod there. Either way, it’s a legitimate debate,

—- Patrick Stevens