That's a good question and it will be interesting as hell to see how it plays out: http://www.cbssports.com/#!/collegefootball/story/14976653/ambitious-utes-will-be-served-in-new-pac12 My feeling is that Utah is going to feel the "Penn State" effect. By that I mean when Penn State left the firiendly confines of a tailor made....self-controlled schedule full of patsies in all the right places and started to navigate the rigors of a major conference schedule the Nits found going a little rougher than they had imagined. Same deal here when Utah gets into the PAC 10...... a best record of 8-4 for many seasons to come will be the norm for the Utes IMHO.
Utah has what it takes to be in the Pac12. Now they have membership, that opens up those recruiting roads to LA, the Bay Area and San Diego. They'll be just fine.
Maybe so, but I'll bet other than looking more attractive to Mormon kids on the West Coast now that they are in the PAC10, they will still have to get the kids like they always have...after Pac10 schools get their choice. I think middle of the pack Pac10 is about as good as they are going to do.
We'll see. I'm not calling for them to come in and win the thing. I think they will be a regular bowl team and a competitor in the Pac10 though. The state of Utah is growing and changing a lot. I've got a friend out there now from here on a contract and he can't believe how much it's growing. Utah's always been the option for non-Mormons as well in-state. IMHO, one of the worst losses in that program in the past 10 years was to Notre Dame. That was just a terrible game. Of course, ND fans will just write them off and somehow ignore our ass kicking at the hands of Navy (again) or home losses to Tulsa.. The fact remains that since Urban Meyer left, Utah has beaten outside of conference: -Arizona -Alabama -Georgia Tech -UCLA -Tulsa (we can't say that) -Iowa State -Michigan -Cal -Pitt also in conference wins regularly over BYU and TCU who are considered the other big dog in the MWC. This program is a lot better than people realize. I'll be interested to see what happens with Norm Chow as their OC.
I agree Terry. To stay at the top not only of a major conference full of highly talented teams but at or near the top of the national standings as well when playing that conference schedule is a daunting task achieved by only the consistently best of teams. This past 10 years that list has included Ohio State, Texas, OU, LSU, Florida, USC and in the Saban era Alabama. Did I leave anyone out? And don't give me Boise and TCU until we get the Utah results in after a couple of seasons in the PAC 10. I guess we'll see if it's the conference they were in or it was the program. If it's the program the Utes should be at or near the top of the PAC 10 on many occasions. I don't think so.
And that wasn't to an esp good ND team, it was to a very average ND team with a true freshman at QB. Even given that they had a big game the week before that they lost, ND had a bad loss the week before, was still dealing with the Declan Sullivan death, the Navy loss...lots of bad Karma for ND going on, more so that the 1 bad loss to a highly ranked TCU team for Utah. I can't see Utah being able to recruit well enough to be better on a regular basis than USC, Oregon, Washington, UCLA (if they every get a coach). Whitingham will have to out develope and out coach those schools. I will be surprised if they ever win a Pac10 Championship in Football. But not be surprised if they are a regular bowl participant, they've been that for awhile now. I do think they have a good coach, in the MtnWst he had equal or better talent than his peers, not so in the Pac10.
I think we'll just have to wait and see. Utah's future is not obvious. A lot of things could happen. First of all, it's not true that only Mormons go to Utah, quite the contrary. The Mormon schools out there are BYU and Utah State. Utah had long been a haven for California players who couldn't get into Pac10 schools and it has the reputation as the closest thing to a party school that can be found in that state. I agree with Corey that Utah's entry into the new 12Pac will open up their recruiting to better athletes in both California and Nevada; with many future players choosing the Utes over places like Nevada Las Vegas or Oregon State. I'm also curious about Colorado. They won a national championship when they were able to get their hands on the best football players in this valley, but that was a one-time event. They hired the head coach away from Pomona High School and he brought in nearly that whole team. If the Buffs can reconnect their California pipeline using the Rose Bowl as a lure they will become a power again. Remember, Colorado is the greatest inland party school this side of Madison, Wisconsin and it has always been a destination for California students who wanted to go "out-of-state." It's just my opinion, but Colorado could be the long-term winner in this new situation...
I think Utah has the potential to be a player, but I also believe we'll have to wait and see. I'll say this - If you want your boy to have a shot at some smokin' hot dates, Utah is a target-rich environment. There was a LOT of talent up there when I visited. 8) I think CU has a bigger hill to climb. They do have more history that Utah, but their facilities are horrible (they were being crushed in the Big12 recruiting wars) and then don't seem to be in a hurry to catch up with the rest of the big dogs. Anything can happen, but the have a tough row to hoe.
Not to mention that Colorado doesn't really have a big athletic budget. One of the reasons that Hawkins was kept on was that they couldn't afford to payoff Gary Barnett, Hawkins, and pay a new coach.