Pac-12 divisions not all-important
In the movin’-on-up department comes this reality check for Utah football: It still may have to come hat in hand to the Pac-12.
Early talk about the Utes was that they would be aligned in a division that included USC, UCLA, the Arizonas and Colorado. Playing USC and UCLA annually is a significant deal, in terms of exposure, for any of the conference schools. That’s because all Pac-10 schools recruit heavily in Southern California.
But now it seems the Utes might end up in a Northern Division with Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State and Colorado.
Nothing will be decided until the conference meetings in October.
While I agree that exposure in Southern California is important (including TV coverage), I’ve never figured it’s life-or-death for the Utes. Utah is pretty well known in SoCal already. It has been recruiting there for decades, and done nicely. (Steve Smith, Sean Smith and Alex Smith, to name three, are from SoCal.) Is playing at UCLA or USC every year (and often losing) really going to help their profile that much?
The big step for exposure is getting in the conference. The Utes did that.
Everything else is gravy.
