Here is something to think about. If Utah wins the Pac-12 South again this year, does that mean that they are officially established as the dominant program in the division and that they’ve supplanted USC? Utah would be the 3-time defending South Champs going into 2021, plus they they were Co-Champs of the South in 2015. USC hasn’t won the Pac-12 South since 2017 (in which season they also won the Pac-12 Championship Game). In fact, USC has only won the Pac-12 South technically twice (2015 Co-Champs and 2017), while they would have won the South in 2011 if they were eligible. That would mean Utah actually has more Pac-12 South Championships (and Pac-12 Championship Game appearances) than USC does. Utah already has the same amount of championship game appearances as USC @ two (2018 and 2019). UCLA also has two appearances (2011* and 2012), while ASU (2013), Arizona (2014), and Colorado (2016) each have one. That being said, USC is still the only Pac-12 South team to win a Pac-12 Championship. All of the other ones have been won by either Oregon (2011, 2014, and 2019), Washington (2016 and 2018), or Stanford (2012, 2013, and 2015). Oregon is the best football program in the Pac-12 right now. They’re tied with Stanford for most conference championship game victories, even though Stanford has the most appearances @ four (2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017). The difference is that Oregon has never lost a Pac-12 Championship Game and Stanford did in 2017.
Maybe now, but USC will be back. They will always be planted in the center of some of the most fertile recruiting grounds on earth, and even in their down years they can potentially beat anybody in the conference.
I really want to beat Southern Cal this year. I sure hope the season isn’t cancelled.
That brings up another question in my mind. If the season is cancelled, do we just go to the 2021 season? Do we get hosed out of home games against Southern Cal and Washington?
I haven’t really thought about football much, but we’re supposed to be a really young team this year.
In a normal scenario, I would think we’re due for a bit of a drop off with Huntley & Moss gone, along with so many seniors on defense.
If this season even happens, it will be an asterisk, so with another year in the weight room, I think the dip may not be that substantial.
There is not a dominant team in the P12 South.
So much up in the air, and we’re discussing where Utah as a program is in the PAC-South - with the question being if we’re the dominant program. (That this is even a valid question speaks volumes, though I tend to be tempered on that topic.)
Meanwhile, still within the glow of the 10th anniversary of PAC-mas, I offer this:
(It’s so different than the days when in late June they would normally be starting to come down from a springtime of hallucinations, realizing an actual football season approaches.)
With everything else going on in our world, just take a moment and soak this in.
Happy Friday, Ute fans!
PACMAS just keeps on giving
It’s like the Jelly of the Month Club, but better!
But UCLA is also in that same recruiting area. Why aren’t you claiming that they’re on their way back? Just because you’re physically located in a specific area doesn’t mean you’re always going to be the best. It also has to do with coaching. Plus Utah actually outrecruited USC this year, proving that the program itself is what draws recruits, not the physical location of the schools. Hell, USC only had the 10th best recruiting class in the Pac-12 this past year. UCLA outrecruited them.
On their way back from what? UCLA has never been in a place where they are expected to climb back to. I’m not claiming being in fertile recruiting ground is the end all be all, but it sure gives you a huge advantage, and teams with a strong history just don’t have to recruit quite as hard.
U$C will always have the “favorite’s odds” of winning it all every season. The team has too much top to bottom talent to be discounted. Hate to say it this way, but they have to cancel themselves out of the South discussion before anyone else gets to look at winning it. With that caveat, we will always have the “slugger’s chance” of winning the South. As long as we get the knockout shots rolling, and we beat U$C during the roll, we win the South.
Utah has the best coach in the Pac 12 South, and that is a great way to be the best program