It's just that simple.
If they're ever going to win the South, winning at RES is going to be vital. Too many seasons now the Utes have dropped a winnable HOME game and it's meant they have to make it up on the road somewhere, which is difficult to do in this conference.
Of the South champions, only UCLA in 2012 and USC in 2015 finished with more than one home conference loss in a season (both had two, respectively). Utah has only had one season where they had fewer than two home conference losses - 2015, the year, of course, they won a *share of the South title.
Had they knocked off UCLA at home in their second to last game of the season that year, though, they would have won the South. No sharing a division.
But each year, there's an inexplicable, if not inexcusable, home loss that unravels things a bit.
2016 was Oregon
2015 was UCLA
2014 was Wazzu
2013 was Oregon State
2012 was Arizona
2011 was Colorado
Even if those losses didn't directly cost Utah the South - it cost 'em either bowl eligibility or an even greater season.
Had Utah beat 3-10 Colorado in RES back in 2011, they would've won the South.
Had Utah beat 8-5 Arizona in RES in 2012, they would've been bowl eligible.
Had Utah beat 7-6 Oregon State in RES in 2013, they would've been bowl eligible.
Had Utah beat 3-9 Wazzu in RES in 2014, they win nine regular season games, and probably go to the Holiday Bowl over SC instead of Vegas.
Had Utah beat 8-5 UCLA in RES in 2015, they win ten regular season games, the South, go to the conference title game and probably end up in the Alamo or, at worst, Holiday Bowl again instead of getting stuck playing BYU in the Vegas Bowl.
Had Utah beat 4-8 Oregon in RES in 2016, they're actually playing for a South title against Colorado, potentially win ten games again, maybe that Colorado game goes a bit differently for the Utes with it actually meaning something beyond the spoiler role, and Utah gets Wazzu's spot, maybe, in the Holiday Bowl instead of playing a sparsely attended Foster Farms Bowl against a pretty damn mediocre Indiana team.
Those differences don't seem like a lot. But one extra home win during that stretch for Utah and since joining the conference, the Utes likely would have...
2 South titles
14 straight bowl appearances
14 straight regular-seasons of .500 or better
3 straight ten-win seasons heading into this season
Potentially top15 or top10 finishes during 2014-2016
And, who knows, maybe a Rose Bowl if things broke their way. Doubtful, especially with how beat up we were at the end of all these seasons but you ain't getting to the Rose Bowl without getting to Levi Stadium first.
And this doesn't even count the games Utah could have won against decent, but hardly unbeatable, teams like Arizona in 2014, UCLA or ASU in 2013, two games Utah lost by a combined 8 points, or USC in 2012 - a game Utah led 14-0 early.
That's a big difference from where we're at as a program right now and where we could be. That's kinda the same 'what if' crap that followed McBride around after the 1994 season. What if we could figure out how to beat Colorado? What if we didn't cough up a lead late against Air Force? What if we didn't get blown out, at home, to a mediocre Wyoming team in 1999?
I feel like the program has done a remarkable job of staying relevant in Pac-12 play. But the margins here are so small between good and great in this conference that these games become so much more important in the bigger scheme of things.
Those home games I mentioned? The combined record of those teams is 33-43. Those were, for the most part, bad losses.
Now I'm not suggesting Stanford is a bad loss. But the problem that Utah often runs into is that they're not winning enough of those good games, the games like they have against Stanford, to make up for the bad losses.
Above all, it just shows how important these games are. Every game. Whether it's a ranked USC or a three-win Oregon team. But if Utah is going to move from being consistently competitive in the Pac-12, to actually contending for the Pac-12 title, they're gonna have to take the step Colorado did last year (won every home Pac-12 game) or Wazzu is doing this year or what we saw the Arizona schools do the years they made the leap. Granted, those teams, outside Wazzu, have slipped in the wake of their South glory - but for that season, they threaded the needle.
Utah, under Whitt, is just 13-15 at home in Pac-12 play. Not even a winning record.
Utah has yet to do that. It's probably not coming this year. I hope, by next year, it'll finally come and we'll be a team on a mission because I look at Wazzu right now as a team doing exactly that.
If they're ever going to win the South, winning at RES is going to be vital. Too many seasons now the Utes have dropped a winnable HOME game and it's meant they have to make it up on the road somewhere, which is difficult to do in this conference.
Of the South champions, only UCLA in 2012 and USC in 2015 finished with more than one home conference loss in a season (both had two, respectively). Utah has only had one season where they had fewer than two home conference losses - 2015, the year, of course, they won a *share of the South title.
Had they knocked off UCLA at home in their second to last game of the season that year, though, they would have won the South. No sharing a division.
But each year, there's an inexplicable, if not inexcusable, home loss that unravels things a bit.
2016 was Oregon
2015 was UCLA
2014 was Wazzu
2013 was Oregon State
2012 was Arizona
2011 was Colorado
Even if those losses didn't directly cost Utah the South - it cost 'em either bowl eligibility or an even greater season.
Had Utah beat 3-10 Colorado in RES back in 2011, they would've won the South.
Had Utah beat 8-5 Arizona in RES in 2012, they would've been bowl eligible.
Had Utah beat 7-6 Oregon State in RES in 2013, they would've been bowl eligible.
Had Utah beat 3-9 Wazzu in RES in 2014, they win nine regular season games, and probably go to the Holiday Bowl over SC instead of Vegas.
Had Utah beat 8-5 UCLA in RES in 2015, they win ten regular season games, the South, go to the conference title game and probably end up in the Alamo or, at worst, Holiday Bowl again instead of getting stuck playing BYU in the Vegas Bowl.
Had Utah beat 4-8 Oregon in RES in 2016, they're actually playing for a South title against Colorado, potentially win ten games again, maybe that Colorado game goes a bit differently for the Utes with it actually meaning something beyond the spoiler role, and Utah gets Wazzu's spot, maybe, in the Holiday Bowl instead of playing a sparsely attended Foster Farms Bowl against a pretty damn mediocre Indiana team.
Those differences don't seem like a lot. But one extra home win during that stretch for Utah and since joining the conference, the Utes likely would have...
2 South titles
14 straight bowl appearances
14 straight regular-seasons of .500 or better
3 straight ten-win seasons heading into this season
Potentially top15 or top10 finishes during 2014-2016
And, who knows, maybe a Rose Bowl if things broke their way. Doubtful, especially with how beat up we were at the end of all these seasons but you ain't getting to the Rose Bowl without getting to Levi Stadium first.
And this doesn't even count the games Utah could have won against decent, but hardly unbeatable, teams like Arizona in 2014, UCLA or ASU in 2013, two games Utah lost by a combined 8 points, or USC in 2012 - a game Utah led 14-0 early.
That's a big difference from where we're at as a program right now and where we could be. That's kinda the same 'what if' crap that followed McBride around after the 1994 season. What if we could figure out how to beat Colorado? What if we didn't cough up a lead late against Air Force? What if we didn't get blown out, at home, to a mediocre Wyoming team in 1999?
I feel like the program has done a remarkable job of staying relevant in Pac-12 play. But the margins here are so small between good and great in this conference that these games become so much more important in the bigger scheme of things.
Those home games I mentioned? The combined record of those teams is 33-43. Those were, for the most part, bad losses.
Now I'm not suggesting Stanford is a bad loss. But the problem that Utah often runs into is that they're not winning enough of those good games, the games like they have against Stanford, to make up for the bad losses.
Above all, it just shows how important these games are. Every game. Whether it's a ranked USC or a three-win Oregon team. But if Utah is going to move from being consistently competitive in the Pac-12, to actually contending for the Pac-12 title, they're gonna have to take the step Colorado did last year (won every home Pac-12 game) or Wazzu is doing this year or what we saw the Arizona schools do the years they made the leap. Granted, those teams, outside Wazzu, have slipped in the wake of their South glory - but for that season, they threaded the needle.
Utah, under Whitt, is just 13-15 at home in Pac-12 play. Not even a winning record.
Utah has yet to do that. It's probably not coming this year. I hope, by next year, it'll finally come and we'll be a team on a mission because I look at Wazzu right now as a team doing exactly that.
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