From the Deseret News:

Utah football: Utes to accept Pac-10 invite Thursday

Utah has scheduled a meeting of the board of trustees at 12:30 in the Rice-Eccles Tower. The board will vote up or down the Pac-10 invitation. (I wonder how the vote will turn out?) A press conference is scheduled to follow at 1:00. The article also says that Pac-10 play will begin in 2011, and not 2012 as some have worried.

Here's the Pac-10 press release:

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- The Pacific-10 has extended an invitation to the University of Utah to join the Conference.  A press conference will take place in the Rice-Eccles Stadium tower at the University of Utah tomorrow at 1 p.m. MT/12 p.m. PT.

Link

Bronco bait. Conference expansion rumors are guaranteed to fly this week in Kansas City and Destin, sites of the annual Big 12 and SEC meetings. But the real smoke will be coming next week from Jackson, Wyo., where Boise media have been invited en masseto cover Mountain West meetings for what figures to be a strong push to bring Boise State into the fold in time to make a run at an automatic BCS bid for the MWC champion in the next round of big-money negotiations in two years. Let the record show that the MWC blog Mountain West Connection, reading the tea leaves, was the first to welcome the Broncos to the family.

Congratulations. Now we'll see if the BSU invite pans out.

I just got back from partying in New Orleans after Utah's victory in the Sugar Bowl.

Back in November I took exception to FSUncensored's blogpoll ballot that had Utah at #23. I promised then that win or lose, I'd come back and eat crow or come back and say I'd told you so.

Yes, I told you so. Utah just beat #4 Alabama convincingly making the Utes the only undefeated team in the nation with a 13-0 record. Maybe Utah can crack FSUncensored's top 20. (I won't hold my breath.) He also predicted that Utah would get shut out by South Carolina. We will never know for sure, but considering Utah just beat SEC #2 and put up 31 points, I would like Utah's chances again the SEC #6 who just lost their bowl game to Iowa.

A few Florida State fans made predictions once the Sugar Bowl matchup was announced. None of these comments came true. FSUStateofMind said Utah was going to lose by 30; that obviously didn't happen. FSUncensored said BJ would have several interception. He had zero, but he did have 1 fumble.

Anyway, it was a great game. I love it, and I will look for the final blogpoll ballot.

Utah has four regular season games remaining. Since it's a Bye week and we don't have a lot to talk about, I feel comfortable speculating a bit about the Utes' remaining games.

Nov. 1 @ New Mexico - Utah's next game is against the Lobos who always seem to bring their best game against the Utes. The last time the two played in Albuquerque, the Utes owned a 24-3 lead late in the second quarter, only to lose 34-31.

As a ranked team, the Utes lost to the Lobos  47-35 in 2003, to give Urban Meyer his only conference loss during his two year tenure at the  U. Also noteworthy is the 1996 game where Utah entered the game 8-0 and ranked #8 in the nation, only to lose to the Lobos.

Nov. 6 vs. TCU - This game is a Thursday night game. The Horned Frogs are now ranked #15 in the nation after thoroughly whipping BYU last Thursday. 

Since TCU joined the Mountain West Conference just over three years ago, Utah has posted a record of 2-1 against the Frogs. This is a home game for the Utes, but TCU fields a quick, hard-hitting defense.

Nov. 15 @ San Diego St. - San Diego is pretty bad this year going 1-6 and 0-3 in the conference. Their lone win is against a pathetic Idaho Vandals team and among their losses is FCS team Cal Poly.

The Utes should be able to handle the Aztecs easily, but this has all the makings of a "Trap Game." It is sandwiched between the TCU and BYU games so the Utes could easily overlook the Aztecs. It's on the road and the Utes could play down to the Aztecs level.

Nov. 22 vs. BYU - So the Cougars were thrashed last week by the Horned Frogs, but BYU is still a winning program and it's still the Holy War. I don't think I need to remind anyone what Kyle Whittingham's record is against Bronco Mendenhall or what the outcome of the last two games was.

If the Utes manage to enter this game undefeated, BYU would like nothing more than to hand Utah their first loss.

As of today, August 20, wide receiver Aiona Key still has not shown up for practice. Supposedly, he is still waiting for a grade to be posted by his junior college, Mount San Antonio College. However, as the days have stretched into weeks, this excuse has started to sound implausible. Many fans are starting to question whether he will ever show up at all.

Coach Whittingham has indicated that if and when he does how up, it will take him a few weeks to learn the offense.

What does everyone think of the Utah-USU series?

The reason I ask is that Utah announced that its series with Utah State will go on hiatus during 2010 and 2011 so that the Utes can play Notre Dame in 2010.

The Utah press release:

To make room for the game, Utah and Utah State agreed to suspend their annual series for two years in 2010 and 2011. The Utes and Aggies plan to resume play in 2012 with a game in Logan.