Just a matter of time...

All this talk of expansion keeps me busy—anxious, but busy. My mind tends to go back in forth between the Utes joining the PAC-10 and the Utes being stuck in a Mountain West Conference hoping to become an automatic qualifier. In all honesty, I know I’m wasting time by doubting the thought of us making it to the PAC-10—it’s going to happen—it’s just a matter of time.

When will it happen? That’s the question that really bugs me, and I’m sure it bugs most Ute fans and those concerned with the conference expansion discussion that has taken over college football. Whether it be in the next three weeks—yes, it could be that soon—or if it’s at the end of the year, the PAC-10 will announce their plans for conference expansion, said Larry Scott, commissioner of the PAC-10. I’m not worried about the decision of whether to expand or not, I feel the PAC-10 isn’t stupid—they’ll expand. Larry Scott was brought in as the commissioner of the PAC-10 for this reason, the college football landscape is changing.

The PAC-10 needs to expand to keep itself from getting left in the dust of college football. The Big 12, SEC, and ACC all bring in big bucks and large amounts of viewers for having a conference championship game, something that the PAC-10 lacks—and will continue to lack as long as it has less than the 12 required members needed to host a conference game—the PAC-10 currently has 10 teams.

If the PAC-10 were to choose and stay with their traditional conference and not expand, the conference would be missing out on lots of money opportunity. The rumors have already rumbled that the Big Ten plans to extend in order to add a championship game—is the PAC-10 honestly going to allow itself to become the underside of the BCS conferences? Absolutely not, the PAC-10 has hired Creative Artists Agency to explore expansion possibilities.

The PAC-10 has sealed lips about a definite decision, but rumors with legs have made their way into the ears of college football fans across the country. An expiring TV contract looms for the PAC-10, a conference looking to capitalize on a major deal—one with lots of cash. Adding a conference championship game will attract a larger TV deal, bringing in the wanted lump some of money. If the PAC-10 looks to go fishing for a top-of-the-line TV deal without as big of a moneymaking feature such as the conference championship game, it will not be catching anything bigger than goldfish. Birds are telling everyone that walks by that the TV deal is expected to be huge—along the lines of the $3 billion the SEC has with its TV deal—does a deal like this go to a conference who already struggles keeping up with the SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten?—absolutely not.

It’s no longer the question of if the PAC-10 will expand, it’s just a matter of when the conference will expand. The conference will announce its decision on expansion before the year’s end, Scott said. Dec. 31 marks the end of the calendar year, but the PAC-10’s fiscal year ends June 30—possibly Scott is using a play on words. Scott said before the year’s end, that doesn’t necessarily mean on the last day of the year. June 11, the start of the World Cup, often is believed as the day college football’s dominoes will fall—conferences across the country would shift for better or worse if the PAC-10 triggered expansion. If announcement were to not come before the start of the World Cup, the expansion announcement is likely to take place before the last day of the fiscal year, June 30.

If confirmation of expansion does not come before the beginning of July, everyone and anyone interested will have to hold on to their seats for up to six months.

Either way, expansion is going to happen, trust my word—word that comes from talking to people “in the know” of things.

I want to talk about the possibilities for Utah if the PAC-10 chooses against expanding, but I cannot justify doing so—it’s a waste of time due to the stupidity of the idea.

Utah is a good fit for the PAC-10—it’s bound to happen—just give it time. I have my sources that lead me to sit in the camp that Utah is joining the PAC-10—I’m not packing camp any time soon, I’m comfortable here. 

Another Historic Season for the Utes on the Horizon?

As the summer slump begins, so do the minds of anxious college football fans. The upcoming season means a new team, a new season, a new set of leaders, a new possibility, and much more—the question of “how good will we be” comes forth.

The future looks bright for the Utah Utes, and by future I mean everything that happens from this minute forward. Coach Whittingham and the crew recently put together the best recruiting class the Utah football program has ever seen. Prior to this recruiting class, Utah was already stacked in the depth charts, but the addition of the 2009-2010 recruiting class will stuff those depth charts even more.

Utah’s future is different from the past due to the depth at each position—something that was strongly lacking in previous seasons. Five or six years ago if the Utes’ star player went down for the season with a torn ACL, everyone would have rummaged through everything looking for the panic button. Nai Fotu out for season? Wait, we have how many linebackers to fill the void? Exactly. Whittingham has done a great job at piecing together a football team that is deep and talented—something that will show in the next five years, at least.

Enough about the future of the Utah football program, let’s take a look at what our two-time BCS busters may do this season.

With a schedule that favors Utah—home games against Pitt, TCU, and BYU—the Utes have a chance to run the tables for a third time, one-upping Boise State on BCS-busted bowl wins. An undefeated season would include victories over Pitt, TCU, Notre Dame, and BYU—a good chunk to boost our rank throughout the season if the victories fall in line.

Would an undefeated season send Utah to a BCS bowl? Absolutely. Would an undefeated season send Utah to the national championship? It’s possible, but not very likely—even with a Boise loss. Unfortunately, Boise State will start out much higher ranked than Utah and still need things to fall into place in order for the Broncos to go to the national championship—Utah starting off ranked may help, but it would take a lot of cards, all falling in the right places.

Expect an explosive offensive season from the Utes. Jordan Wynn is improving, the run game is nasty, the receivers are more talented, and the offensive line is seasoned. The Utes should have no problem doing whatever they please when the ball is in their possession. With three stud running backs, the Utes will have all the energy needed to run the ball up and down the field—whether it be by powerful Matt Asiata or quick and tough Eddie Wide, don’t forget Shakerin will be in the mix too—like I said, the run game is nasty. The offensive line will open up holes for the backs to get up field, as well as give Wynn time to dissect opponents’ defenses through the air.

An offense that looks to excel could come at no better time. Although Utah never fails to have a stellar defense, Utah has to fill some big holes on the defensive side of the ball—which could give the Utah defense some struggle early on. We have depth—don’t fret now. While Whittingham figures out the defense situation and what works best, the offense will be able to relieve the pressure by lighting up the scoreboards.

By mid-season the Utes should be rolling on all cylinders, on both sides of the ball—which couldn’t be more perfectly in time for tough games against TCU, BYU, and a game on the road against Notre Dame.

If the Utes get past Pitt in the season opener, it gives the Utes nearly two months to figure out all the kinks before hosting TCU in Salt Lake City. With that much time to smooth things out, the Utes should play a good game against TCU—it will be tough to beat TCU if Utah isn’t fully prepared come Nov. 6.

I look at Pitt and TCU as the two roadblocks for Utah this season—it will be difficult to win either of these games, and doing so would lead the Utes to another historic season.

The trip to Notre Dame and the Holy War at Rice-Eccles Stadium are both impressive games for our strength of schedule, but I don’t believe for a second we are dropping a game to an inexperienced Notre Dame—nor do I believe BYU has a chance at beating us. I’m calling it now, Wyoming will beat BYU this year—call me crazy.

A trip to a BCS bowl or even the national championship should be on the minds of Ute fans and athletes as the season approaches—whether you want to believe it or not, Utah football is going to impress again.

Let’s all root for a Boise State loss in their season opener against Virginia Tech, and see what the season has in store for the Utah Utes. If Boise goes undefeated, Utah has no chance of passing them up for an at-large bid or an appearance in the national championship.

During the spring I asked a few players, along with Coach Whittingham, about where the team sits right now compared to the 2008-2009 season—they all shared the same answer—the Utes are right up there with the 2008-2009 season, and if they want it they can get it.

How did I end up a Ute fan?

Many people have their stories of how they became a fan of "xyz" team, well here's mine.

I could count on both hands how many college football games I seriously sat down and watched prior to coming to the University of Utah as a student. Now, I can't count the number of games I've watched--whether it be the Utes or a non-relevant game. Before watching Brian Johnson engineer a come-from-behind victory over Oregon State on a Thursday night, I was convinced professional football is what's cooking in the kitchen--I'd like to take a second to come right out and say I was wrong.

It was that drive that converted me to a full-on college football lover--more specifically a die-hard Ute fan.

One might ask how I can love the Utes as much as I do after only following them for such a short period of time--just trust me, you'll see.

I went from sticking with my South Florida upbringings of being an all-around Miami fan--yes, I was a Miami Hurricanes fan--to crowning the school with the nickname "The U" from my former favorite to the Utah Utes--yes, I still am a Cane fan, but they sit second on my college favorites.

Two drives by Brian Johnson and the Utah Utes changed not only my favorite team, but the way I watch football.

When I moved from South Florida to Utah in 2004, I was immediately aware of the two sides of the fence--one was either a BYU Cougar fan or they were a Utah Utes fan. It took me four years to stop sitting on the fence and finally take a step onto the Utes' side of the fence--trust me, the grass is much greener on this side Cougar fans.

How did I get here? (Intro)

When I was six years old, I dreamed of being a professional football player. When I was 15 years old, I dreamed of being an engineer. After a year of chemistry and at the age of 16, I dreamed of being a lawyer--it hit me that science was not my best friend. When I finished my freshman year of college, my idea of being a lawyer was very present, but took a turn in November of my sophomore year of college--I found what Joshua Bennett, not only loved, but was talented at. That finding was my ability as a writer.

My close friend, Jake Hibbard, got me in at the University of Utah's school paper, The Daily Utah Chronicle, as a part time writer. Prior to being hired I had zero experience within the subject of news writing--nada, nil, zilch, ZERO. Jake, also an aspiring writer, took me under his wing and showed me the ins-and-outs of news writing--making sure I knew exactly what I needed to succeed.

After nearly two months of writing for The Daily Utah Chronicle as a part-time writer, I had improved not only my writing skills, but the awareness of what I truly wanted to chase in life. With those two months of improvement came promotion. I took on the full-time news writer position, with the student life beat. Full-time news writer meant not more money, it did, but more importantly greater responsibility. One or two articles a week as a part-timer, turned into one or more articles each day as a full-timer.

As the semester went on I had my ups and downs with writing--sometimes are just better than others. It wasn't until the end of the semester, around late-March, that I finally found consistency. Once I found that consistency I wanted to become more, so I applied for the soon-to-be vacant assistant news editor position. I knew it was a long shot, as I had only been with The Daily Chronicle for five months, but I still tried anyway--I'm not going to build any suspense, because there shouldn't be anyway. Wait, look what I just did, I dragged it on longer. I received the assistant news editor position.

When I stepped foot onto the University of Utah campus, I never would have thought my education would be paid for by scholarship for doing something I enjoyed--I thought that was only something my six-year-old dreams of being an athlete could do. Here I am, assistant news editor for a great paper--I'm trying to not be too biased here.

When I was told I was a respectable writer, I felt good. I love what I do, and I like to think I do a fine job at it. It makes me really wonder however, because if I am capable of doing fine work writing about the news--something I never paid much attention or interest to--what could I do with my writing if it were focused on something I have spent my whole life paying attention to and showing interest. That focus has been sports.

With the exception of the days I wanted to be an engineer, I always wanted my career to involve sports. Whether it be as an athlete, an agent to one, or writing about a world of them, I have always known I want to surround myself with my one true love--sports and every damn thing about them.

My writing isn't limited to The Daily Utah Chronicle, I am an intern for UteZone.com, a website that covers Utah Utes athletics in-depth. It was through my experience at The Daily Utah Chronicle that I landed the opportunity to have my at-bat with sports writing. To this point, I haven't done too much sports writing--that will change when Ute's football picks back up.

So that is my writing resume, if you will. If all goes as plans, this blog I'm starting will be something I can add to that list.

Where will I go next? I have no idea... Sports are what is on my mind, so that's what the reader gets.