Ranking Utah

[Moliere]

Why would they do this? Utah is doing just fine with the type of kids they are recruiting. I have to say that Utah's team is more athletic that BYU's team. They will need athletes to win in the Pac-10. I don't see Utah starting to recruit the type of players that BYU is recruiting. I also think that you will see less and less missionaries in Utah's program.

I'm thinking they can go out and get kids like the Collies or other LDS kids in California. Utah will be playing in Cali more often than BYU and Utah can offer at least some variation of the BYU experience (granted Utah probably offers a better LDS experience than BYU for most kids). They also could have gone after Jake Heaps seeing as how they will be also playing in Washington every so often.

Utah's recruiting footprint is now solidly in the PAC 12 country and there are a lot of LDS kids in that area that might now consider Utah, whereas before it was either a BCS team or the Lord's team. Utah could now be a consideration.

Edit: TIC on the Lord's team in case you didn't know.

[Mormon Red Death]

Though the location is the same, I think most would agree that the Holliday Bowl is better than the Poinsettia Bowl.

I'd much rather go to the holiday bowl then the poinsettia as the timing of the bowl is better for travel.

[Moliere]

I think Utah will be competitive right from the start and will be a perrenial top 3 in the Pac-10. The reason? I think winners win and losers lose. Utah is a winner who has gotten used to winning. The players believe they are good and the coaches believe they can win. Also, the gap between the AQ conferences and the non-AQ conferences is in the worst teams, not in the best teams. Utah, as one of the best MWC teams, is as good as the top teams from the Pac.

Bingo! Utah can beat top teams and so can BYU. Utah will do well in the PAC 12. They may not end up with a legacy like USC but they will do well.

One thing Utah lacks right now is BCS depth. I personally think they will suffer for a year or two with a more grueling schedule and possibly more injuries (no more resting players in the 4th quarter against Wyoming and SDSU). More injuries might lead to more losses but given a couple years they will probably have better depth.

[SeattleUte]

I think Utah will be competitive right from the start and will be a perrenial top 3 in the Pac-10. The reason? I think winners win and losers lose. Utah is a winner who has gotten used to winning. The players believe they are good and the coaches believe they can win. Also, the gap between the AQ conferences and the non-AQ conferences is in the worst teams, not in the best teams. Utah, as one of the best MWC teams, is as good as the top teams from the Pac.

Agree. Stated a little differently, Utah will do well because Kyle Whittingham is the coach. He's young and appears to be a lifer at Utah. Kyle is absolutely stellar; I would not trade him for any coach in the country all things considered. He's probably the best coach in the Pac 12.

Note to BYU fans: I'm not interested in reading you saying we're going to have to adjust our expectations, yadeeeya. You're in no position to tell us that.

[Surfah]

Agree. Stated a little differently, Utah will do well because Kyle Whittingham is the coach. He's young and appears to be a lifer at Utah. Kyle is absolutely stellar; I would not trade him for any coach in the country all things considered. He's probably the best coach in the Pac 12.

Note to BYU fans: I'm not interested in reading you saying we're going to have to adjust our expectations, yadeeeya. You're in no position to tell us that.

What makes you think Kyle is a lifer? Joining the Pac 10 certainly increased those chances. And he's a great coach don't get me wrong, but the Pac 10 has a number of them. Shoot there are assistant coaches that I think are better than Kyle in the Pac 10.

[Top Ute]

This is an interesting thread, because while everyone is trying to "slot" where Utah would finish in the Pac-10, or how the program rates against the rest of the Pac-10, I find my expectations for the program being the same whether it's in the MWC or the Pac-10.

The only expectation I have is for every HS kid Utah signs and is in the program for five years, that they win one conference championship, shared or outright. Every kid that Utah has signed that fits that prototype since 1992 has done just that.

I've never looked at a division title as being equal to a shared conference title, but knowing that a Pac-10 Utah could win a division, lose the conference title game and (possibly) make it to a BCS bowl game in the right year -- I'd gladly take that trade for our players if it meant not winning an outright conference title.

[Top Ute]

Shoot there are assistant coaches that I think are better than Kyle in the Pac 10.

Name 'em. If you tell me Ed Orgeron is a better coach than Kyle, I'll have to laugh you out of the room.

[Hot Lunch]

What makes you think Kyle is a lifer? Joining the Pac 10 certainly increased those chances. And he's a great coach don't get me wrong, but the Pac 10 has a number of them. Shoot there are assistant coaches that I think are better than Kyle in the Pac 10.

I have to disagree with this. I don't think there are any assistant coaches in the Pac-10 better than Kyle. I would also rank Kyle in the top tier of Head Coaches in the Pac-10. Kyle knows his stuff. He is an incredible coach. Kyle is one of the best defensive minds in all of college football.

I think Kyle is a lifer, he is now in a big time conference and he has proved that even big time money won't take him away from Utah when he turned down 4 million a year to coach the Vols.

[Surfah]

I have to disagree with this. I don't think there are any assistant coaches in the Pac-10 better than Kyle. I would also rank Kyle in the tier of Head Coaches in the Pac-10. Kyle knows his stuff. He is an incredible coach. Kyle is one of the best defensive minds in all of college football.

I think Kyle is a lifer, he is now in a big time conference and he has proved that even big time money won't take him away from Utah when he turned down 4 million a year to coach the Vols.

I would argue Monte Kiffin is arguably the greatest defensive mind in football today period, and not just one of the best in college. Also, he's an assistant coach with USC.

[Hot Lunch]

I would argue Monte Kiffin is arguably the greatest defensive mind in football today period, and not just one of the best in college. Also, he's an assistant coach with USC.

Fine, you win. You named one. I agree Monte Kiffin is one of the greatest defensive minds in all of football and he is an exception as an assistant. His resume is pretty hard to beat by any coach in football. He is probably the best coach in the conference. He didn't come to mind when I posted.

[Surfah]

Fine, you win. You named one. I agree Monte Kiffin is one of the greatest defensive minds in all of football and he is an exception as an assistant. His resume is pretty hard to beat by any coach in football. He is probably the best coach in the conference. He didn't come to mind when I posted.

See that Top Ute? :finger3:

[Top Ute]

I would argue Monte Kiffin is arguably the greatest defensive mind in football today period, and not just one of the best in college. Also, he's an assistant coach with USC.

I'll give you Kiffin, but he's on that list by default, seeing his son hired him and Monte's not looking for any HC jobs in the college ranks. His background is much more NFL-centric than it is the college game.

[Top Ute]

See that Top Ute? :finger3:

You named one. You initially said "coaches", plural.

[Jarid in Cedar]

I have to disagree with this. I don't think there are any assistant coaches in the Pac-10 better than Kyle. I would also rank Kyle in the top tier of Head Coaches in the Pac-10. Kyle knows his stuff. He is an incredible coach. Kyle is one of the best defensive minds in all of college football.

I think Kyle is a lifer, he is now in a big time conference and he has proved that even big time money won't take him away from Utah when he turned down 4 million a year to coach the Vols.

[Mormon Red Death]

I would argue Monte Kiffin is arguably the greatest defensive mind in football today period, and not just one of the best in college. Also, he's an assistant coach with USC.

I would argue that Monte Kiffin is a rich man's Buddy Ryan. A very good defensive assistant coach but an average head coach. As a head coach for NC state his record was 16-17. I say as assistants Kyle when he was DC is on par with him with a slight edge to Monte. As a head coach Kyle is leaps and bounds over him.