Jun 17th, 2010
There is one cool thing about the addition of Utah to the Pac-10.
Well, presumably there are several cool things about Utah pertaining to TV markets and regional composition and the need for a 12th school, or Larry Scott, the Pac-10’s rookie home-run-hitting first baseman and part-time commissioner, would not have invited the Utes to come aboard.
I tell ya I get no respect, no respect at all -- and neither does Utah
However, we here at JakesTakeOnSports, use the word cool only when it relates to producing a nice little discussion, perhaps even an argument if not an all-out feud.
No feuds are on the horizon for this issue, but we like the football-related debate created by Utah’s addition for the 2011 season,
Utah won BCS games in 2004 and 2008, going unbeaten and finishing ranked in the top four both times. To which the BCS schools responded – under their breath, of course – “Yeah, the Utes are pretty good, but there is no way they could go unbeaten in our conference. They play only three or four tough games every season, and when you only have a few games to target it’s a lot easier to play your best in each of those games. In our conference, you have to play at a high level every week to win each game, and that’s almost impossible to do. Sure, the Utes would do all right in our conference, but they wouldn’t finish in the top two or three.”
It’s the same thing Boise State hears when it goes unbeaten. “Yeah, they beat a good team in the BCS game, but one game does not prove much. Purdue beat Ohio State last year, and no one thinks Purdue is better.”
There is a noticeable lack of respect for what Utah and Boise State have accomplished. The 2008 Utes were 12-0 but ranked only No. 7 while six teams with a loss were ranked ahead of them. Click here for an example of what we mean.
Boise State’s move to the Mountain West Conference will not rid the Broncos of that unspoken dismissal, but Utah will now be playing with the big boys all season long. (It’s a bit of a stretch to categorize Washington State as a “big boy” in college football, but you get the idea.)
In the Mountain West, Utah had only to beat BYU and TCU each year to go undefeated in the conference, winning the other games by throwing their helmets out there and watching the opponent fumble and bumble away games – or so goes the theory.
Now the Utes may have to play USC, Oregon, Cal and Oregon State in consecutive weeks – which still doesn’t sound particularly overwhelming, but it’s still closer to a meat-grinder schedule than the Mountain West has. Call it a vegetable-dicer schedule.
How will Utah do? Will it be a perennial contender like it was in the Mountain West? Or does it become Stanford, a team that might challenge occasionally but more often struggles just to get a bowl berth.
A little history lesson. Utah is 7-3 against Pac-10 teams the past seven seasons, and that includes a 2-0 record against Cal, Utah’s victim in last season’s Poinsettia Bowl. The Utes are 6-0 at home or on a neutral field against the Pac-10 teams in that stretch and own wins over five Pac-10 teams – Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, UCLA. You don’t see Washington State in there, do you?
Utah has won bowl games each of the past seven seasons. No Pac-10 team can make that claim; in fact, Cal and USC are the only Pac-10 teams that have even played in bowl games each of the past seven years.
Add in the fact that Utah’s starting quarterback, Jordan Wynn, was a freshman in 2009 who will be a seasoned junior in Utah’s first Pac-12 season.
You might have the makings of a contender. Or so it would seem.
The Utes don’t face any Pac-10 teams during the 2010 regular season, but they do play Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, so conclusions will be drawn.
Maybe playing on the road in the Pac-10 will overwhelm the Utes. Maybe Utah’s spread option that’s so effective in the Mountain West will be neutralized in the Pac-10, which has the athletes to handle it and has seen that offense from Oregon for several years. Maybe Utah’s recent success was an aberration that will wane, sending the Utes to the bottom of the Pac-12.
Or maybe not.
Don't forget that WSU has been to the rose bowl twice in the last twelve years and beat Texas in 2003. A short term memory is not impressive.
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