Although he was twice named his league's Offensive Player of the Year at Helix High School, Alex Smith may have been best known as Reggie Bush's quarterback prior to his days at the University of Utah.
 
That narrative changed dramatically over the course of three years in Salt Lake City. From lightly recruited quarterback to Heisman Trophy finalist to the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, Smith's career launched him into rarified air he never thought possible.
 
Smith, the 2005 Fiesta Bowl Co-Offensive Most Valuable Player, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December, becoming the first Utes student-athlete and second-ever inductee.
 
"I had one scholarship offer coming out of high school. I had a dream, as a kid, that I could play college football," Smith said. "Utah saw something in me. I went up there as an unranked, zero-star recruit and that place changed my life."
 
Turns out, Smith changed the Utes' trajectory as well. After playing in only two games as a true freshman in 2002, Smith made his first career start in the third game of the 2003 season and promptly defeated Cal, which started Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Two games later, he engineered an upset of No. 19 Oregon.
 
Smith started every game through the remainder of his Utah career, compiling a 21-1 record as the Utes starter.
 
Finishing the 2003 season ranked No. 21 in the country and 10-2 following a Liberty Bowl victory, Utah – like Smith – elevated to new heights in 2004. The Utes rolled through the regular season, including victories over Texas A&M, Arizona and North Carolina, with an 11-0 record.


 
As undefeated Mountain West Conference champions, the Utes earned a spot in the Fiesta Bowl matched up against Pittsburgh, the Big East co-champion. Utah became known as the original "BCS Buster," as the first team from a non-auto qualifying conference to play in a BCS bowl game.
 
Smith and the Utes proved they were one of the nation's best teams, regardless of their conference, imposing their will on both sides of the ball in a 35-7 victory. Smith set Utah bowl records with 328 passing yards and four passing touchdowns while adding 68 yards on the ground, executing Utah's revolutionary spread offense to perfection. His top pass-catcher, Paris Warren, set a Fiesta Bowl record with 15 receptions and posted the third-highest receiving total (198 yards) in the bowl's history.
 
Defensively, the Utes smothered the Panthers. Future NFL All-Pro Eric Weddle led Utah with 11 tackles and Tommy Hackenbruck was in on three of the Utes' Fiesta Bowl record nine sacks. Pittsburgh closed the game with 17 net rushing yards, tied for the second-lowest single-game total in the Fiesta Bowl's history.
 
"We wanted to break the BCS. They weren't letting us in and our singular focus was breaking the system and showing we were good enough," Smith said. "Urban (Meyer) embodied the kind of team that Utah was. He very much had an underdog mentality, a chip on his shoulder, and all of us at Utah got looked over by the big schools. We all came together and had something to prove."
 
Utah was one of three teams, along with USC and Auburn, to come out of Bowl Season with an unblemished record. The Utes closed the season at No. 4 in the final AP Poll with a school record 12-0 season, but were left without an opportunity to compete for a national championship.
 
"We went undefeated and I felt like we did not get a chance to really find out how good we were," Smith said. "There are a lot of people from 2004 claiming to be the best team in the country and I certainly feel like we were. Unfortunately, the country didn't get to find out."
 
The 2004 season put Utah on the college football map and was the start of an incredible two-decade stretch that has seen the Utes move from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 to the Big 12 under Kyle Whittingham, who served as co-head coach with Urban Meyer in the Fiesta Bowl. Whittingham has led the Utes to 17 winning seasons in 19 years, including a 13-0 season in 2008, and 11 bowl wins.
 
Smith placed fourth in the 2004 Heisman Trophy voting and was a first team All-American, throwing for 2,952 yards and a school-record 32 touchdowns against only four interceptions. He was the face of Meyer's spread offense, which took college football – and the NFL – by storm with zone reads and quarterback runs while maintaining a pass happy attack.
 
"He was the first great spread quarterback, or at least one of the first ones," Meyer said of Smith, who added 631 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, to Yahoo Sports in 2021.
 
Earning Sports Illustrated's National Player of the Year award, Smith entered the 2005 NFL Draft where he was selected No. 1 overall by the San Francisco 49ers.
 
Smith overcame a slow start to his NFL career to spend 16 years as a starting quarterback for the 49ers (2005-12), Kansas City (2013-17) and Washington (2018-20). He led his teams to the playoffs five times and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Smith, the 2020 NFL Comeback Player of Year in his final season, threw for 199 touchdowns and finished his career in the top 30 all-time with 35,650 passing yards.
 
However, all roads lead back to Rice-Eccles Stadium where Smith became the Utes' first inductee into the Utah Football Ring of Honor in the season opener.
 
"I have so much pride for this program," Smith said. "I was surrounded by unbelievable teammates and coaches and got my degree in economics. I'm so proud to have been a small piece of this program and to still be a part of it as an alumnus. To see my name in the stadium as the start of the Ring, it's just crazy."
 
As No. 12 Utah gears up for its Big 12 opener this Saturday at No. 14 Oklahoma State, the Utes' quest for a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff ramps up. Should they win the Big 12 Conference this season, an expectation bestowed on them as the preseason league favorite, the Utes will have an opportunity to play for the national championship – something Utah's 2004 team was shut out from.
 
That postseason journey could likely begin in the first-ever CFP Quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in what would Utah's first appearance in the Fiesta Bowl since Smith's team busted the BCS.
 
"To come back (to the Fiesta Bowl) 20 years later as a member of the Big 12 and play in the new College Football Playoff format, it would be unreal," Smith said. "Obviously they've got a long way to go to take care of business, but that would be insanely cool to think about if that happens."