A team that will be competitive -- even for the PAC-10 title -- so long as USC, UW, and UCLA are floundering around.

When those schools are running well, Utah will be playing for 4th place most years. BTW, the same would be true of BYU.

I don't think Utah has much of a chance of changing the perception of the PAC-1 to anything but still the PAC-1. The PAC-10 will still be USC and everyone else.