ESPN article explains why it’s important for USC to be good

[ProudUte]

Quote from the article:

The Pete Carroll-era Trojans are the prime example, of course, and as exciting as Oregon’s Chip Kelly teams were and as well as Mario Cristobal has recruited recently, it’s just different when it’s happening in Los Angeles. A dominant USC has the potential to increase the value of the conference’s media rights deals. It adds a layer of credibility to the conference that doesn’t currently exist. If USC reaches its potential, it will force other schools to make investments to try to keep up.

LA is our big-market area in the PAC12.  USC has a national reputation.  If the conference ever wants to regain football prominence, they need some teams to step it up.  USC needs to be one of those teams.  I think we also need Stanford and UW to get back on track.

I want Utah to build a strong rivalry with the Trojans and get some of that national attention.  Teams have done this in smaller markets like Oklahoma, Nebraska in the 90s, etc.

The bad news about USC being good is that it will possibly hurt some of our California recruiting.  But, USC can only recruit so many players per year.

Yes, I want the Utes to beat USC.  However, it’s much more meaningful if we beat a good Trojan team.

[Tednab]

Makes Friday’s game that much more important. Utes need to get it done this time

[Utesbyfive]

I can see Riley turning around USC pretty quickly. The Utes need to make it happen right now.

[Mule]

The article makes some good points. That said, Utah’s goal shouldn’t be to beat a good USC team. It’s to get to the playoff. Getting to the playoff does more for Utah than USC and the conference being perceived as a better conference.

[Charlie]

The Utes always pick after USC. Currently, too many of the top west coast recruits are going back east before USC picks, leaving Utah down the line. Hopefully, USC can keep more of the top recruits giving Utah a chance to move up behind USC. USC’s improvement can pull Utah with them.

[UteFanatic]

100% agree. I want a strong and nationally relevant USC. USC still has to play at RES every other year, and I like our chances at home against even elite teams. Utah is going to gain a lot more credibility and attention for beating elite teams like a Lincoln-coached USC team. We WANT those opportunities.

This is not a zero sum situation. USC’s successes does not mean Utah will suffer. If USC truly does rise to the level where it’s a regular CFP contender, then the Rose Bowl is open to the 2nd place team in the conference. There is no reason why Utah can’t continue to compete for the Rose Bowl and other at-large NY6 games.

Also, if the CFP ends up expanding to 12 teams, then the conference rack-and-stack becomes irrelevant. Just have to be ranked #12 or better to get in. Utah is a team that can absolutely be ranked in the top 12 occasionally. We’ve spent a lot of time in the top 10 near the end of the season over the years. Yeah, we had some late season meltdowns but that may not always be the case as Utah continues to recruit well and builds more depth.

 

 

[MDUte]

This ^^^^^ 100%! Well said UteFanatic