The Utah Teapot predates the Stanford Dragon by 20 years, and was already famous in graphics (at Siggraph, for example) and had a cameo in Toy Story before the dragon was made.

Some notable names in computer graphics associated with the University of Utah:

- Ed Catmull

- Raphael Rom

- Henri Gouraud

- Jim Blinn

- Bui Ton Phong

I think they “made their mark” when they essentially invented 3D graphics.

>I guess they want to make their mark like Stanford dragon

I'd say the Utah teapot is much better known in CG circles than the Stanford dragon.