And it's been a year...
by JazzyUte on Jun 14, 2011 11:38 PM MDT
in Football
Email
Print
A year ago today, the Big 12 was saved and Utah was offered an invitation to join the Pac-10 (which technically came on the 16th - but leaks of it were released on the 15th). It was an invitation they would accept and in less than three weeks, they'll officially be a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
Hard to believe it's been a year since those tense moments in mid-June. If you followed the situation closely back in 2010, you probably took up smoking, maybe even heroin, and lost all your hair and fingernails. It was to Utah as the Cuban Missile Crisis was to the world.
Thankfully, the Utes came out of it with the best possible scenario imaginable - they were sent to the Pac-12 South, they got a fat television deal and pretty much left their rivals, BYU, in the dust.
But it wasn't a sure thing and certainly was a moment that most Ute fans never expected.
Now we're less than a month away from the culmination of that moment.
32 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
what a great achievement!
and well-deserved! Its great to be in the CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS!
GO UTES!
Affectionately known on Over the Monster as "Pete"
Follow me on twitter: @BigBenSportsGuy
by BigBenSportsGuy on Jun 15, 2011 8:18 AM MDT reply actions
It will always be fun to remcall those tense days in June, 2010
I’m not sure where it lands on the cool/pathetic spectrum, but I was one of those who was riveted to my computer, had 20 different browsers open, refreshing them all constantly, and permanently living in UF.N’s chat for what I recall was about a week. My wife just rolled her eyes as I kept that vigil at the computer riding the highs and lows.
The roller coaster was unbearable: we’re in, we’re out, Chip Brown says this, someone’s brother’s wife’s hairdresser’s mailman says that, we’re out, tonight we all sleep fine! That was a wild ride that chewed me up and spit me out.
When it all came down, the day the agreement was signed, I took my then 6 year old son with me to RES just to soak in the moment. He didn’t understand one ounce of the significance, and I don’t even know if one year later he remembers it, but we sat in the stands of RES eating hoagies we bought up at the Union and watched the press conference.
I’ll never forget that, and right after the TCU win and the comeback against Oregon State, Pacmas might be my favorite memory from inside RES.
Speaking of RES memories...
It’ll be tough to top TCU 2008 game with Oregon St a close 2nd.
But also on my list of favorites:
Air Force 1995 – down 2 scores late, half the stadium gone figuring it’s over, TD + onside kick and long TD pass to Kevin Dyson + 2 point conversion with Daffy Duck formation to win the game 22-21. My brother and I jumping for joy on all the empty benches around us.
BYU 2004 – such a fun party atmosphere. The least stressed I’ve been at a BYU game, knowing we’d win for sure.
June 2010
I too was riveted to my computer, going from site to site trying to catch the latest news on the conference realignment. Some vivid moments were:
1) Following the Orangeblood’s Longhorn blog.
2) Larry Scott’s flight plan to B-g-12 country with a planned stop in Kansas (in case Texas A&M went to the SEC.
3) CU getting the invite and getting the conference realignment ball rolling.
4) thinking that no way Texas would turn down a Pac-10 invite.
5) thinking that schools like Texas Tech and Baylor would get an invite instead of Utah.
6) talking with my brother also a U-grad about what was going on.
7) thinking that if there is a Pac-16, maybe the MWC could get the table scraps of the Big-12 like KU, KSU and Mizzou. Though I doubted they would want to join the MWC.
8) thinking that if we could get an invite that we could FINALLY we could dump BYU.
9) then on June 15 late at night, some obscure cable operator in San Jose breaking the news that Utah was going to get an invite.
10) sweating it out that some Utah Legislature with BYU ties would throw a monket wrench into the deal.
June 2010 Part 2
The Pac-12 invite was one of the happiest days of my life!
by Utah-UCLA alum on Jun 15, 2011 1:26 PM MDT up reply actions
Funny the way that perspectives differ...
At BYU, it was certain knowledge that, due to the fact that it is school policy to never play sports on Sunday, the Cougars wouldn’t go to the Pac-12. Even when Utah was welcomed into the Pac-12, BYU doesn’t feel that it has been left behind. Sorry, we may be Cougar fools, but we are anything but jealous.
Not to take away from the success of the Utes. Good job, and congrats! Finally, the great football that is the Utes gets some recognition! Good luck this year; shut the mouths of the doubters by dominating the scoreboard!
Not that you're wrong about why BYU was left behind (although there's a good argument that you are), but you're not jealous that Utah is in the PAC 12 and BYU isn't?
That’s just silly. You’re telling me you prefer independence and the WCC to the PAC 12? Really? REALLLLY?
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Jun 15, 2011 5:33 PM MDT up reply actions
Agreed. I think BYU fans are going to make good with their situation regardless...
But no fan can say, with a straight face, they would rather be independent and not in the Pac-12 – specifically with its BCS affiliation. Especially if the Pac-12 makes good on its subtle promise and expands to sixteen teams, taking the Oklahoma schools, Texas and another program – all but creating a massive western BCS conference that leaves programs like BYU, BSU and others out in the cold.
The independence isn’t a bad spot for the Cougars. But it’s nowhere near as viable or sustainable as being in the Pac-12.
In fact, it would not surprise me if, in five years, BYU is back in the MWC...
by JazzyUte on Jun 15, 2011 9:13 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
i see that scenario playing out too.
Anderson Silva would never fight "Bones". He is too scared to fight the real P4P champion. Nick Diaz, the man who will prove to the MMA world that he is the best WW in the world. Still public enemy #1 and enjoying every minute of it.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Jun 16, 2011 6:58 PM MDT up reply actions
No fan in their right mind would prefer independence... But when have we BYU fans ever been in our right minds?
As an all-Mormon school, with many Mormons (myself included,) growing up as a minority (in my home state of Georgia, we were less than 1%,) we are used to being standout, odd… Many have come to pride themselves as “A Peculiar People.” (Familiar phrase?) After BCS snubs to MWC schools, many came to HATE Pac-10. Many Cougars wouldn’t have wanted it even if we weren’t going to independence.
However, you must admit there are fewer independent schools than there are PAC-12, which would make us “Peculiar.” Makes some of us conservative zoobies feel kinda like rebels. So yeah, honestly, most TDS fans really don’t feel jealousy at Ute’s pac-12 status. Most would rather we be independent.
Beyond just making us different, BYU has its own broadcasting to a worldwide-cable channel, (KBYU) and can broadcast its own games when ESPN doesn’t pick them up. We are free from the confining contract of MWC to show only on “The Mountain.” Most KBYU subscribers are BYU football fans already, this just explodes viewership, therefore advertising revenue. Definite bonus.
No sane human being would rather independence to Pac-12. You’re just mistaken if you think of raving Blue fans as sane human being.
Romebig has the right attitude
towards BYU getting into the Pac 12. It was never going to happen & was a complete non-starter, so Romebig has taken the healthy path of acceptance from beginning to end. how can you get left behind from somewhere you were never going to go to in the first place? I accept that I will never set foot on the moon; it’s the same idea.
by ginfizzbear on Jun 17, 2011 10:20 AM MDT up reply actions
True, but aren't you a little jealous of Neil and Buzz and the rest of them?
The fact that BYU can’t get to the PAC 12 doesn’t mean they and their fans aren’t jealous of Utah and our new conference. Just like the fact that I’m never going to be a rock star doesn’t mean I’m not jealous of their lives.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Jun 17, 2011 12:18 PM MDT up reply actions
rest on the 7th day
The BYU players in the NFL playing on the day after Saturday seem to have short memories.
This double standard along with other shortcomings such as not being a research oriented university went against your school’s ledger.
Finally, I am constantly amused though not surprised by the arrogance of BYU fans like your school had some control of the outcome. The Pac-10 university presidents and the ADs made the call, not your school. Where your team had control, like going undefeated on the football, you guys couldn’t even do that. Frankly the excuses from the BYU fans on why they didn’t get in are really pathetic.
by Utah-UCLA alum on Jun 15, 2011 9:47 PM MDT up reply actions
Arrogance?
I wasn’t saying that was the ONLY reason we weren’t selected. I was saying that even if nothing else, we knew we wouldn’t make it because even if we forget the fact that Utah has a more successful football program, we knew we wouldn’t play on sundays, which makes everything else irrelevant. Even if we met EVERY qualification, I think Utah would still be chosen. If I were on the board, I wouldn’t choose the Y either. I think you are hearing what you would like to hear. I was just saying BYU already knew it was hopeless, not that we made the choice.
As to
This double standard…went against your school’s ledger.Well, BYU has no real say in any player after they leave the school. It’s the player’s call; the school no longer has a say. Why would it be anybody else’s business? I seriously doubt that they had a problem with the BYU NFL players and their Sunday habits, just like I don’t think they took Brandon Davies and Harvey Unga’s infractions of the honor code into BCS consideration. They look more at what the University CAN control.
Finally, I am constantly amused though (although I am actually surprised,) by the dismissal that you give BYU research. I think you mean that we don’t have a med school. We ARE nationally recognized as a research-oriented university. (So say both the “U.S. News & World Report” (2010) and the “Times Higher Education Supplement” (2009) which are unaffiliated with BYU and are used nationally for reference;) We do not have a med-school, but
-One of our professors holds the patent to the fMRI,
-BYU is internationally regarded as leading experts and pioneers in ancient document restoration and preservation; several of our faculty and grad students are called in regularly to assist the Vatican Archives, and were instrumental in imaging the Dead Sea Scrolls.
-Our business school is one of the best-ranked in the nation, and routinely gets recognition for economic research.
-A BYU team last year created an engraved disk that will not corrupt for 500 years.
-In the 1960’s, we even had a friggin nuclear reactor. (http://universe.byu.edu/node/16427)
-Just check out this page: http://fc.byu.edu/jpages/byuhome/research.html Cancer research, DNA sequencing research… What is your definition of “Research?”
According to any reputable national list, both the U AND the Y are recognized as good research-oriented universities.
We are indeed a research university, my friend. WHO were you saying was arrogant?
Research
I took my lunch hour to look at BYU’s Graduate School website. They do offer PhD programs in engineering.
by Utah-UCLA alum on Jun 20, 2011 12:54 PM MDT up reply actions
BYU doesn't qualify for PACX membership.
PacX membership requires, among other things:
No religious affiliation.
That the school be a research university.
At least 7 D1 sports offered.
Obviously, the first requirement stands out in this context.
Fuck you, Juju. We'll do it ourselves.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Jun 17, 2011 5:41 PM MDT up reply actions
BTW, if you hear people talking about Boise State or Fresno State for a "Pac-16," same deal.
They either don’t have the academics, or aren’t research universities, or they don’t offer enough D1 athletics. For example, Boise State has done well for themselves, but they were a community college not long ago.
OTOH Utah was always a logical choice, and had been one of schools talked about every time a discussion of expansion came up for quite a while, long before 2010. Colorado and Tejas. Colorado and Utah. Utah and Tejas. Etc.
Fuck you, Juju. We'll do it ourselves.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Jun 17, 2011 5:51 PM MDT up reply actions
Heh, yeah...
Let’s see… Research university. Check.
DI sports, 21. Check.
Religious…. Aw, fudge.
Academic Freedonm
History of infringing on Academic Freedom…Check
Lowest pay scale for university faculty in the country…Check
There was not a chance Cal and Stanford were going to let a school in that has a controversial history in academic circles for firing professors because of research or papers they had written.
Thanks To Mr Beebee
Dan,
You gave Texas everything they wanted, and convinced all but Colorado and Nebraska to stay put. Keeping the Big X(ii) together, you assured the Utes, the original “Plan A” then Plan B" and then “Plan C.” When the Horns were guaranteed everything from Iowa to Kansas and all roads led to Austin, you put Utah back in “Plan A.” Scott needed a university and Utah needed a new home. Many thanks Dan Beebee. While some in sports media were hoping Texas and ya’ll league would bust, you kept Utah’s dream alive and inadvertently made it a realty. Now if Scott attacks your league again, Utah will be on the inside looking out. GO UTES.
The goal of every Ute fan should be to caffeinate Cosmo's punch and watch him self combust.
Robles?
Sounds like Robles has moved to LB. I expect this is a result of the switch from Spread to Pro-Style? The kid has the build to make it work.
Stanford-Harvard
To me getting invited into the Pac-12 is like getting accepted into Stanford Business School, or admitted to Harvard Medical School. Getting in is the key and while it would be nice to ‘graduate at the top of the class’, just ‘graduating’ (to some extent) is satisfying enough.
Utah is now in the premiere combined athletic and academic conference in the nation. One year ago, we got in and we did it! I had been waiting for the ‘acceptance letter’ all my life. Now we just need ‘study and perform’.
by Utah-UCLA alum on Jun 16, 2011 10:18 AM MDT reply actions 1 recs
We really need to have a 10-3 or 9-4 season with a bowl win.
We will be scrutinized by the national media and if we don’t have success expect some nastry feedback from the likes of mark may and craig james. if we do have a good record going into the pitt game i wonder if mayday will pick pitt again. lou hotlz will pick the Utes.
Anderson Silva would never fight "Bones". He is too scared to fight the real P4P champion. Nick Diaz, the man who will prove to the MMA world that he is the best WW in the world. Still public enemy #1 and enjoying every minute of it.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Jun 16, 2011 7:02 PM MDT up reply actions
Still unbeaten in the big east conference.
Anderson Silva would never fight "Bones". He is too scared to fight the real P4P champion. Nick Diaz, the man who will prove to the MMA world that he is the best WW in the world. Still public enemy #1 and enjoying every minute of it.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Jun 16, 2011 7:02 PM MDT up reply actions
ESPN Puppets
I agree that it would be great if we had a terrific season.
I know all the so-called expert morons like Switzer and May-Day have little respect for our program.
by Utah-UCLA alum on Jun 17, 2011 10:45 AM MDT up reply actions
i still remember what switzer said before the bama game.
“there is not one player on the utah team bama would have recruited”. 45 minutes later it was 21-0. lol.
Anderson Silva would never fight "Bones". He is too scared to fight the real P4P champion. Nick Diaz, the man who will prove to the MMA world that he is the best WW in the world. Still public enemy #1 and enjoying every minute of it.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Jun 17, 2011 5:38 PM MDT up reply actions
You will get some leeway from most of the conference press types.
An adjustment period if you will. OTOH the wider “national” CFB press will haul out the “see, they never belonged” card the minute the Utes lose in a blowout. Which is unfair, because even good teams can get destroyed by a PacX bottom-feeder on any given day.
Fuck you, Juju. We'll do it ourselves.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Jun 17, 2011 5:45 PM MDT up reply actions
To commemorate the year...
Last year on the 16th my kids and I all wore red. This year, we added some bling to the back of the car:
by bbmagic on Jun 17, 2011 10:31 AM MDT reply actions 2 recs
Can't say it's not a possibility...
But that’s why it’s so much more FUN! It’s a gamble. You have the security of being a BCS school. Even if Utah were to bomb their maiden PAC-12 voyage, thy would be given a few more years to “adjust.” We are in much more of a “sink or swim” position. We are loving the suspense. BYU doesn’t value recognition and prestige as much as Utah anyway. We are much happier proving people wrong and getting astonishment from them, rather than admiration. I think most cougars LIKE being the underdog.
I think the U and the Y’s respective statuses are perfect for them and the mindset of their fans; and win-win. From a prestige standpoint, BCS-conference is superior. From a risk and exhilaration standpoint, the Y has a better position.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
- Urban Meyer
"Wow. Wow. Wow."
- Daryl Johnston after Utah took a 21-0 lead on Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl
Related FanPosts on Block U
Related FanShots on Block U
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
