Utah's greatest years were when they were a big fish in a little pond. They went to two BCS bowls and even beat mighty Alabama. Some random polls even labeled them "true champions".

Ever since they've entered the PAC12, things haven't gone so well. In their arguably greatest season ever, they were relegated to the Alamo bowl where they got embarrassed by a 7-5 team.

But their recruiting and money has improved you might say. But has it improved enough in relation to their competition? This seems like the ceiling for Utah, hoping for the rest of the conference to have down years but still can't overcome the biggest powers in their conference like USC and Oregon. It's hard to see them overcoming those other teams' inherent advantages.

Wouldn't it be more fun for their fans to actually win a conference once in a while and get to a prestigious bowl like a NY6? Remember, they got to the NY6-equivalent bowls (BCS era) twice in just a few years as a member of the MWC. In all their time as a member of a P5, they have yet to reach those lofty heights.

It seems that the Utes may have made a mistake.