U of U joins the Pac-12: “A trail to Mediocrity?”

When the decision was made, I was in Kansas City, sitting in a hotel. I had no access to KSL radio, BYU internet, or anything of that matter. All I had was a text from KSL, that said. Utah joins Pac-10 live coverage on 102.7 FM, 1160 AM. . . I was shocked, and I have to admit being a huge cougar fan I was pretty upset; actually I was furious. And although it took me a few days to regain my sense of logic on the issue I eventually applied my rational faculty to the matter and came to the conclusion that the Utes are actually inadvertently stepping down a trail to mediocrity. Let me explain.


Now, with this new invitation to the Pac-10 I’m sure that the Utes have reason to celebrate, after all they are moving into a higher class Conference; more elite than any they have ever been apart of.. . . But that’s actually the biggest down side to this situation. Can the Utes even survive in a Conference as big as the Pac-10? History would argue against the Utes.

Let’s take a nice even number—“50”—and look at the Utes success over the last fifty years: They have 2 BCS titles, 11 bowl wins, and 6 Conference Championships: 2 Coming from the WAC and 4 Coming from the MWC, (on a side note, 3 of the 6 were shared conference titles.) Now try to understand that MWC and the WAC are and have been Conferences, that well, haven’t exactly been crowned among the more prestigious and elite conferences in the nation.…but still, from these conferences the Utes only earned 6 titles in 50 years. ––Now as they move on to an elite conference competing against teams like USC and UCLA on a yearly basis, how do they expect to be more successful than 6 titles in 50 years, coming from lower class conferences, in which ½ of their championships were ties? My answer is…Ute fans… don’t hold your breath, because your team may just become the ‘Butler’ of the Pac-12.

Now in contrast, in the last 50 years BYU has won 23 Conference championships (From the same conferences as Utah), 17 Bowl game wins, 1 National Championship, 17 top 25 finishing seasons, and 1 Heisman winner. Now shouldn’t a team like this be the one that is up for consideration when talking about which teams deserve to move into better conferences? I guess we will find out, but until we do, BYU along with TCU and now Boise will have a great time Ruling the MWC without the Utes. BYU may be in a smaller pond, but we are the big fish, and quite frankly the more deserving Team, more the more experienced Team, and historically proven the better team altogether.