Whatever the reason, he said it - and the hearts of Ute fans everywhere must have pounded a little faster when he dared compare the potential of the 2008 team to the 2004 BCS-busting Utes.
If the offense and defense can play to the level the coaches believe they can reach, then . . ."If both are working, it's an '04 year; that is the bottom line, if they are both working together," he said.
Such a statement would have been a good way to motivate the team in the middle of the drudgery of fall camp, but really, Andersen's thoughts aren't all that different from anything anyone else on the team believes.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham calls this team the most talented he has had when he looks at the roster, while quarterback Brian Johnson, the holdover from the 2004 team, senses something special but distantly familiar about his teammates.
"I love the leadership on this team," Johnson said. "The guys are practicing hard every day and things are becoming contagious and everyone is believing in it. It shows in the way we are practicing."
Comparing a team in the preseason to the greatest team in school history is unfair. Even if the Utes run the table and go undefeated, they'll still only be repeating history - not pulling off the near-impossible feat the 2004 team did when it became the first "mid-major" to break through to the BCS.
But Ute fans probably don't want to hear that right now. They are growing impatient after watching their team lose to Brigham Young University in the final minutes during the past two seasons. The games not only were heartbreakers with their last-second dramatics, but also capped undefeated conference seasons for the Cougars.
More troubling than those defeats were others in past recent seasons that should have been wins for the Utes. Losses to San Diego State, Wyoming, New Mexico, and last season's debacle at UNLV lead the list of games that have turned potentially big seasons into unsatisfying ones.
Last year's 27-0 loss to the lowly Rebels was embarrassing enough that it proved the catalyst for a successful second-half run in which Utah won eight of its last nine games.
That loss still bugs Johnson, who mentioned it when he said the Utes are "tired of underachieving."
Still, he liked the way his teammates responded to the upset. Brent Casteel and Matt Asiata were lost for the season to injuries and he was limited by a shoulder injury, but the Utes still managed to win at TCU, shut out Wyoming and win their seventh straight bowl game.
The one misstep in the second half of the season, of course, was the loss to the Cougars in Provo, but even that disappointment couldn't take away from the larger feeling that the Utes had turned what could have been a disastrous season into a successful one. This year, the Utes want to recapture the focus they had in the second half of 2007 - without a humiliating loss to spark them.
"We have to find our motivation in every game, that's the key," Johnson said. "We have to be up for every game."
At this point, no one is questioning the Utes' talent. But, if the mental and physical game can come together much like Andersen expects, well, then maybe his proclamation will prove prophetic.
"We've got the team to do it," Casteel said. "We have to keep our focus and take care of our job and do what we need to do. If we do, we'll be all right."
And they might be better than that.
lwodraska@sltrib.com
