Ahh New Orleans. It's one of the best cities in the country to visit for fun, food and late-night revelry. It's a great place to be for a football game too, the Utah Utes say.

After a break for the Christmas holidays the Utes, ranked No. 7 by the Associated Press, converged on New Orleans on Saturday to begin their final preparations to play fourth-ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on Friday.

The game couldn't come soon enough for the Utes, who made a berth in the Bowl Championship Series their goal way back in July and are eager to experience the payoff of their season-long efforts.

"I'm ready to get this thing going," lineman Zane Beadles said. "I'm tired of hitting our own guys."

Utah, which hasn't played a game since beating BYU 48-24 on Nov. 22, is the first team from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to earn a second trip to a Bowl Championship Series game.

The Utes were the original BCS busters in 2004 when they defeated Pitt 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl to finish their season 12-0.

Instead of being the heavy favorite like it was that year, Utah (12-0) is a 10-point underdog to Alabama (12-1), making Utah the biggest underdog in any of the BCS games.

The Utes aren't surprised they are underdogs, in fact they've come to expect it as a non-BCS team.

"We'll just get in there and line up and see what happens," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

While the Utes have never played in the Sugar Bowl, Alabama is making its 13th appearance and first since 1993 when it won the national championship by beating Miami.

The Crimson Tide spent five weeks at No. 1 before losing to Florida on Dec. 6 in the Southeastern Conference title game, an outcome that ended Alabama's hopes of playing for the national title again.

Sensing there was some disappointment surrounding that loss, Alabama coach Nick Saban has been very vocal about pumping up the matchup between the teams. He said this game would be the legacy for this Alabama team and that fans should be in New Orleans to support the Tide.

"We're certainly going to play against a team that's not going to give us anything," he said.

Despite his comments, ticket sales for the game have been slow with both Utah and the Sugar Bowl advertising tickets for sale. When the teams were announced the game was touted as a sellout in anticipation all tickets would be sold.

The Utes think they can prove all the doubters wrong. Utah owns the longest winning streak in the nation at 13 games and has won its last seven bowl games.

"Absolutely we believe in this team," receiver Freddie Brown said. "Each week we've played we've believed in ourselves. We've had no other expectations than going to a BCS bowl game."

The Utes held the first of their final four practices at Tulane University after the team charter arrived this morning. The players won't practice Sunday but will get their first glimpse of the Louisiana Superdome since they are attending the NFL game between New Orleans and Carolina.

In between practices, media commitments and other scheduled events, the Utes will have some free time for sight-seeing, but quarterback Brian Johnson said the captains and coaches are going to make sure the players stay focused on the game and not get distracted by the temptations of Bourbon Street.

"That's a main point of emphasis," Johnson said.