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Utah to the Pac-11: I'll believe it when I hear a commissioner say it.

There are rumors aplenty that the Utes will be invited to the Pacific 11. As a dedicated Ute fan I'm of course very interested to find out everything there is to know on the subject. I've spent days obsessing, reloading webpage after webpage looking for some tiny sliver of news to either confirm or deny the reports that my beloved Utes will be moving to the 'big time.'

With all that I've read, I've now come to believe one thing about the Pac 11's expansion to 12 teams and Utah's rumored invite, it's never going to happen. Why do I feel this way? Several reasons, first and probably chief of which is this, the Pac 10 schools and fans don't want Utah. Look at their blogs, chat rooms, and editorials and they all inevitably sigh and moan and say that Utah will probably get an invite, and then expound all the reasons why Utah should not be included. None of their reasons have much to do with the school itself, basically boiling down to the fact that Utah is not the 'sexy' pickup that they'd like to have had. We're no Texas, Nebraska, or Oklahoma. They'll give us that we've been successful, but they still don't like us.

Second: All the information coming out indicating that Utah will get an invite gives dubious sources at best to support their supposition. I've spent literally hours backtracking the stories trying to find a credible source and the fact is, the best they've got are unnamed sources in positions that seem unlikely to have credible information. Most trails lead back to the Utezone.com report, which is an extremely poor source for credible info.

Third: Official channels all deny everything. Now you're probably saying to yourself "They always do that even when things are about to happen." True, but the answers they give when things are actually going on tend to be much more illusive than the ones we're currently getting. Also remember that Larry Scott has said that staying at 11 is a viable option. So either A. our media people don't mind lying outright and are doing so, or B. there really is NO INVITE on the table at this time, and probably wont be one in the future.

Fourth: The prolonged silence. Everyone knows that Utah is sitting on their hands waiting for an invite, we also know that the Pac 11 needs one more for a conference championship. If their plan all along was to invite Utah if the other options didn't work out, why didn't they just make the offer immediately upon hearing a 'no' from Texas? They're not on the clock or anything, but there's also no reason for them to wait unless they are considering other options. This tells me that we are in fact the Pac 10's VERY LAST OPTION, and not an attractive addition at that.

Don't get me wrong, I WANT to be wrong about this. I'd love for us to play in the Pac Tweleven, I hope I'm wrong. But when it comes to Utah actually getting an invite, I'll believe it when I hear a commissioner say it. Until then it's just homers and busy bodies puffing out their chests and congratulating themselves on the new conference. Anyone remember how that worked out for Mizzou? Please Larry Scott, prove me wrong, but until then, my advice Ute fans is this, brace yourself for disappointment .

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