Performance, timing and the base built by others.

Had it not been for others that went before them, Utah would not have had access to the BCS games. That base was built largely by BYU. It was BYU's National Championship in 1984 that started the wheels turning that ultimately led to the Bowl Coalition, which was intended to increase the probability of matching up the #1 and #2 teams in a "championship game" at the end of the season. It was short-lived, as it had a number of inherent flaws----the largest being that the Pac 10 and the Big 10 were obligated to send their champions to the Rose Bowl and there wasn't flexibility to extract one of them if they were ranked #1 or #2. Teams outside of the big conferences (B10, SWC, B8, P10, SEC, ACC and BE) were basically excluded from this as the bowls included in the Bowl Coalition had agreements with the big conferences to host their teams only. Fortunately, the Bowl Coalition's had a short shelf life and ended following the 1994 season.

Next came the Bowl Alliance. Pretty similar set up to the Bowl Coalition, but it was formed right at the time of the demise of the Southwest conference and the formation of the Big 12 (sorry Rice and SMU). This was where BYU came into play again. In 1996, despite 18 conference championships in 23 years, one of the winningest records in college football and a #5 ranking in the AP poll, BYU was excluded from a Bowl Alliance bowl and was relegated to the Cotton Bowl beating Kansas State to finish the season 14–1. The Bowl Coalition was also at risk of anti-trust because of the monopoly on the bowls. LaVell Edwards, BYU's Head Coach, testified in Congress at that time about the inherent unfairness in recruiting for teams who were excluded from bowls simply because of conference affiliation. With the pressure of potential Congressional action, the Bowl Alliance reformed into the Bowl Championship Series that not only included the Big Ten and the Pac-10 conference but also cracked open the door to allow the possibility of a "mid-major" team's participation.

Eventually, a window was opened up for teams from the lesser conferences to get a token shot at one of the big bowls. This is where Utah did their part. Utah football had been very mediocre for the better part of 20 years. However, they started to put things together by hiring an up and coming coach (Urban Meyer) and putting together a magical season that landed them in the Fiesta Bowl to play Pitt. While this was a pretty uninteresting game---Pitt was the worst auto qualifier from the big conferences, Utah did their part and won the game in pretty convincing fashion 35-7.

Four years later, in 2009, Utah did it again, with another perfect regular season and won the ticket for the kids place at the big boys table. This time, they beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and looked pretty good doing it.

With 2 appearances at the "Big Boys Table" and a couple of perfect seasons, they were perfectly positioned when there was an opening in the expanding P10. However, even at that, it only happened because Texas and Oklahoma decided not to join the Pac. Had they taken that option, who knows where Utah would be today.

So, once again, Utah's entry into the Pac12 is a combination of work done by others (largely BYU) to lay some basic foundation, a pretty impressive run for a few years with 2 "Big Boy Bowls" and 2 perfect seasons, and frankly, being in the right place at the right time.

I think what annoys me so much about Utah being where they are is not that they are in the P12, because they really did have an impressive run and probably deserve it. But because they have been so smug about the whole thing. If it wasn't for the foundation that BYU laid, they wouldn't be where they are at today. If it wasn't for the timing of conference realignment, they wouldn't be where they are at today. There were 3 variables at play, they took care of the 1 they had control over (on the field), but were in the right place at the right time for the other 2. Would love it if they would simply acknowledge that. They should have sent BYU a big old thank you card when they were invited to the Pac 12. Instead they put bumper stickers on their cars and shouted that they were now officially better than their rival---the very rival that played a key role in their entrance into the Pac 12.