would've set the conference back even further.

The only reason the Pac wasn't playing was the liability concern. They tried hard to convince parents it was safe to play. The players resisted. I believe is purely attributed to the west coast leftist bias that led parents and influencers to believe COVID was a pure death sentence. So the players demanded excessive compensation to make up for the invented risk.

The other conferences helped mitigate that and started a more organic drive from the players wanting to play.

Utah doesn't have that sway....but Utah is also very well liked in the P12. The thought the P12 would part with Utah quickly isn't accurate.

It's a great match. And they'd never leave the P12 for the Big 12. That wouldn't even be on the table...although trust me, the Big 12 would take Utah in a heartbeat. In fact, that would probably be the strong accompany BYU would need to join with.