It does 3 things:

1) It gives us a top-10 game against a team that is more credible than UW.
2) It prevents us from the risk of a really bad scenario of being replaced in our game last minute by the Utes, AFTER we've gone through the expense of the PAC12 testing protocols, AFTER we've made all our players change their holiday plans last minute, and AFTER committing a ton of money to getting prepped for the game.
3) It forces the PAC12 to wallow in it's own stench. UW will either have to sit out the week when they can ill-afford to, OR they will have to play a BAD Utah team, BOTH of which are consequences of the already really poor decisions that have put them in this scenario.

Screw the PAC12. Our field, with a guaranteed game, or forget about trying to leverage our good season for your gain.