South Division Champs

[TexanUte]

Still sick to my stomach over this:
2011: UCLA
2012: UCLA
2013: Arizona State
2014: Arizona
2015: USC
2016: Colorado

Wow – make any excuses you want or talk about how close we were but by definition we just cant seem to get it done. If the goal really is to win a division, play in the championship game and perhaps even a Rose Bowl or playoff then we are not progressing whatsoever towards that. If the goal is to have a “nice” program that piles up 8 or 9 wins a season and plays a 4th or 5th place team from the Big 10 then well done. What is particularly frustrating from my perspective is that coming into the league in 2011 Utah was arguably better positioned than any of the South teams in terms of the program the preceding 5 to 7 years so one would have predicted we would have won in the first half decade. Instead we see some of the other South teams turn it around on a dime and win the division. It appears that any thought of a slow progression simply isn’t showing itself in the end result. Ok I am depressed again so I guess I will just take a dose of hopium and get all excited about the 2017 Utes.

[Anonymous]

Get used to it. ESPN’s PAC 12 Power Rankings nail it:

6. Utah 8-4, 5-4 (No. 6 last week)

If the trend holds of a new South team winning every year, the Utes can look forward to a division crown in 2017. But first they’ll have to learn to win in November. Utah is 5-7 in November over the past three seasons.

[UTE98]

What is particularly frustrating from my perspective is that coming into the league in 2011 Utah was arguably better positioned than any of the South teams in terms of the program the preceding 5 to 7 years so one would have predicted we would have won in the first half decade.

Sure we had better years, but we didn’t play a Pac12 schedule, and didn’t have to grind it out, we had the UNMs, Wyomings, CSUs, to ease up on the grind. The vast amount of injuries we had this year in our first three years of the Pac 12 we would have been lucky to win 2-3 Pac12 games.