The Pac-12 participation thread.

[Mormon Red Death]

PAC12 enterprises chief interview go 23:30

[TripletDaddy]

All PAC preseason rankings are in.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-...onference-team

SC leads the first team and overall rankings with 9 and 13, respectively.

Oregon is in second with 5 and 11.

Utah is third to last with 2 and 4, ahead of Colorado and Arizona. I am surprised by this, frankly. I thought they had a slew of returning starters.

[Sullyute]

All PAC preseason rankings are in.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-...onference-team

SC leads the first team and overall rankings with 9 and 13, respectively.

Oregon is in second with 5 and 11.

Utah is third to last with 2 and 4, ahead of Colorado and Arizona. I am surprised by this, frankly. I thought they had a slew of returning starters.

It is interesting that we have 2 first teamers and then it falls off the map. I just went thru our list of seniors and I don't see any standouts that I would say should have been on the list. I expect a lot out of DeVonte this year, but he hasn't done enough in the past to be put on the list in preseason. I am also watching for Dave Kruger, Mo Lee, and Kendrick Moeai to have a great year.

[The_Douger]

I haven't seen one thing out of Moeai that makes me think he'll be great.

Nice blocker, but the pass catching has been pretty few and far between.

[Sullyute]

I haven't seen one thing out of Moeai that makes me think he'll be great.

Nice blocker, but the pass catching has been pretty few and far between.

He was very good in 2010, but agree he didn't stand out last year. We can always blame that on playing calling because of our QB problem. We rode White into the ground last year. I think he has potential but it really depends on play calling and whether the QB stays healthy enough to get him the ball.

[The_Douger]

He was very good in 2010, but agree he didn't stand out last year. We can always blame that on playing calling because of our QB problem. We rode White into the ground last year. I think he has potential but it really depends on play calling and whether the QB stays healthy enough to get him the ball.

Ya, I think we all wondered how he was going to last thru the 40 carries per game Utah rode him last year.

Moeai is fine, but his career stats are like 6 games for some guys.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/381385/kendrick-moeai

[LA Ute]

Interesting DNews article on former Ute athletes donating to Utah athletics.

Also shows how much work Utah has to do to close the funding gap.

[Scorcho]

Interesting DNews article on former Ute athletes donating to Utah athletics.

Once these new lucrative contracts kick in you know each of those listed budgets will bump up 10-20%

Also shows how much work Utah has to do to close the funding gap.

Once these new lucrative contracts kick in you know each of those listed budgets will bump up 10-20%

Just more evidence to me that Utah can't afford to dink around with it's non-conference football schedule or risk falling further behind. Utah must have 7 home football games almost every year, because it needs the added revenue.

[The_Douger]

Who are you going to get to play 2/1?

[Scorcho]

Who are you going to get to play 2/1?

I don't know.

I suspect Utah's schedule will have a Big Sky Team ever year, and then maybe a one and done with a MWC, MAC or WAC Team.

[DU Ute]

Who are you going to get to play 2/1?

[The_Douger]

I just don't think D1 schools should play Big Sky teams and stuff like that.

It's not interesting nor compelling. I hate that BYU is playing Weber this year. It was boring when Utah did it in 2009 or whenever. It was boring when Utah played Montana State last year. I watch Utah when I can, but I always hope it's an interesting game.

[The_Douger]

Good luck!

[Top Ute]

I don't know.

I suspect Utah's schedule will have a Big Sky Team ever year, and then maybe a one and done with a MWC, MAC or WAC Team.

As long as our stadium seats 45K, we will never get a school from either of those conferences to do a one-and-done with Utah, when other schools in the Pac-12 can offer significantly larger guarantees.

Washington State and Oregon State can't even pull this off. How is Utah supposed to be different?

[Uncle Ted]

Larry Scott gives his concerns over on the ESPN site about going to a playoff system...

Yeah we only had two or three principles that we kept articulating and said these are things that are of paramount importance to us if we're going to consider a playoff going forward. One is preserving the preeminent division the Rose Bowl holds in the world of college football and in particular amongst the bowls. The second is preserving the regular season. The third is making sure that the Pac 12 is treated fairly given the fact that we play tougher a schedule than the other conferences. In terms of our first principle, it meant that if there was going to be a four team playoff that it was going to have to be a part of the bowl system because we weren't going to let the Rose Bowl be relegated to second tier status and we know fans in Pasadena and Southern California enjoy sometimes seeing the best teams in the country outside the Pac 12 or the Big Ten. If this four team playoff ultimately gets approved by presidents next week what it will mean is every year Pac 12 and Big Ten teams will play in the Rose Bowl but will participate in semi-final games that may be held around the country and from time to time semi-finals will be held in Pasadena so that gives Southern California a chance to see some of the best teams in the country from outside our conference too.

I have to somewhat agree with Larry about the tough schedules. If a PAC team schedules a cupcake OOC game then no one over there on the left coast shows up to watch the game. They don't have programs that can feel up 70,000 to 100,000 seats to watch a PAC team take on a WAC team or something. So the PAC teams have to schedule games worth watching like Oregon did this last season. So which PAC team is coming to cowboys stadium next?