Do the Utes have to win the Rose Bowl game?
A year ago, I said they did, at least that it was important for them to do so. There was work left to get done, a program reputation yet to build, beyond all the fine and fun things that come to the team, the players, the coaches, the fans alongside the winning.
As it turned out, Utah got a lot of the positives that come from the good bounce of victory in its loss to Ohio State. What a game that was — close, competitive, even and balanced in preparation and talent, fantastic sports entertainment, a thrill a minute.
Winning is always better. No duh. For all the reasons listed and more. But this time around, the run-up to the Rose Bowl has a different feel to it. It seems more a celebration of a memorable season and of memorable seasons past than it does any kind of laborious task at hand, any sort of point to prove.
Utah football is top drawer, and everybody knows it.
It’s not at the level of Alabama and Georgia and a smattering of other teams that are college football’s perennials. And for the Utes, that’s a mountain worth targeting to climb. An invitation to the College Football Playoff would be nice — and the expanded version will provide a much greater opportunity in the seasons ahead.
What’s happening in the years ahead is what should have happened years ago, but the slugs who control such matters — and the money that is divided among them — are about as glacial as any group anywhere. This is an issue that’s been discussed thousands of times, in this column space, in other column spaces, on talk shows, around your dining room table. The proper answer is almost here.
As for the 2023 Rose Bowl, this is an exhibition. That’s meant in the best sense, not in the sense that it has no meaning, that it doesn’t matter. It does on both counts.
But the fact that the Utes will in the future get their chances for a title beyond the Pac-12 brings comfort to what they’re doing now — setting themselves up for bigger things ahead, not in any numerical way, winning the league title with the best record will guarantee the opportunities they seek. The reputation parts will affect the playoffs’ at-large spots, and won’t it be both entertaining and exasperating to see all of that unfold.
So Utah’s football quest is far from over. There’s work still to do. The program has not arrived. But much of the heavy lifting has already been done. Its chances to conquer the college game are smiling at the Utes now, if they continue on their upward path.
It’s worth noting that the Pac-12, a league that acted as though it was doing the Utes all kinds of favors by letting them into its exclusive club back in 2011 — and it was — is now more dependent on Utah football than Utah football is dependent on the league. We can argue that point, but as the conference’s champion two years running, having made it to the title game four out of five years, the Utes have more than proved their value. They, along with Oregon and Washington, are on the Pac-12′s marquee, and they deserve to be there based on the results that count the most — on the field, on the scoreboard.
That is made truer than true with USC and UCLA ducking down a back alley toward the Big Ten. Nobody knows what the future holds for the Pac-12, but if the league stays together, the Utes, along with the Ducks and the Huskies, will play large roles. From a purely competitive standpoint, those Beavers at Oregon State moving forward look to be a significant player, as well.
As is, Utah is the king of football in the West.
Penn State will attempt to prove the East is not the least and the West is not the best in Pasadena. There’s always some pride and bragging rights for which to play. Both teams will want to win. Yeah, no duh.
Bottom line here is this: Utah no longer has to play to legitimize its entire program. There’s some fluidity to everything, but its credibility is not up for debate with every outcome. It has already ascended that hill. Now, it wants to simply enjoy the view, and look and work for another peak to mount.
A recent report, if you choose to believe it, listed the Utes as the ninth-most valuable program in all of college football, finding themselves among the blue bloods, ahead of some of them.
Winning on Jan. 2 in the Arroyo Seco would be fine and fun. But it’s more about the aforementioned celebration, a football festival, commemorating not just what the Utes have achieved this season, but in seasons past, putting them in a place where opportunity in the future can now be fulfilled.
Monday, then, brings no nervous threat, it’s a red-letter day that begins with a more than symbolic capital U.
