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SALT LAKE CITY — For all the deserved accolades lauded upon Utah this college football season, the truth is the Pac-12 champion was the best of a mediocre conference.
By any measure, the numbers were atrocious. Against the Mountain West, on paper an inferior conference, the Pac-12 was 5-6 and bottomed out at 0-5 vs. BYU.
The conference's record against the Cougars matched its mark in bowl games, as all five teams struck out. Mountain West champion Utah State began its season by beating Washington State and closed with a win over Oregon State in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl, marking the first time since 2014 the program had even one win over a Power Five team.
Even this season's crown jewel of the conference contributed to the collective mess. The Utes, who didn't beat a team outside the Pac-12 except for Weber State, lost to BYU and Mountain West runner-up San Diego State.
Forget about getting any national recognition. The only ranked teams were No. 12 Utah and No. 22 Oregon, which got crushed in three of its lost four games and also lost its coach to Miami.
Statistically, according to first-year commissioner George Kliavkoff, the Pac-12 endured its worst nonconference season since 1983. And that dubious distinction includes Oregon somehow beating eventual Rose Bowl champion Ohio State in Columbus.
Something has got to change to restore national relevance. And it must get done quickly.
"They really need to admit that they need to find a new blueprint in the Pac-12," said Tim Brando, longtime national college football and basketball broadcaster, during an interview on The Zone Sports Network.
To his credit, unlike the prior commissioner, Kliavkoff is willing to acknowledge and address the problems directly. In virtually every media interview, he speaks of them and emphasizes the need to increase the focus on football.
Since its inception, the Pac-12 television network has suffered due to lack of distribution. Kliavkoff has vowed to improve the conference's entire media rights deals, but contracts are in place for another 30 months.
As all Utah fans know well, many games are played late on Saturday nights with some starting times released only six days before. Going forward, the conference wants more of a say with scheduling.
"Right now we have no control," said Kliavkoff in a sweeping 30-minute interview on The Zone Sports Network.
The conference also desperately needs to get teams into the four-team playoff, which hasn't happened since Washington made it in 2016. Acting in behalf of the university leaders, Kliavkoff is a strong advocate for playoff expansion to ensure automatic berths but increasing the number of teams may have to wait four years.
In the meantime, Pac-12 schools can pump more money into football in hopes of attracting more talent. As Utah coach Kyle Whittingham has preached for years, recruiting is the lifeblood of every program. The problem is a significant number of high school players from the west bolt to play in other parts of the country.
"We have so much talent in our footprint," Kliavkoff said. "The starting quarterbacks at the beginning of the season at Alabama and Georgia and Ohio State and Clemson and Oklahoma were all from our footprint. It can't happen.
"There are two ways, I think, to turn the tide in recruiting. One is by taking shortcuts and the other is by investments. Our league is not about taking shortcuts; we just don't do that so we have to focus on investments. I think those investments come in many different forms."
Chief among those forms come in coaching hires and upgrading facilities. Kliavkoff points to the various stadium and practice facility improvement several schools are making along with the coaching hires across the conference, highlighted by traditional power USC prying Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma.
Already, Kliavkoff said, programs have experienced an uptick in recruiting. A second signing day for high school players is still a few weeks away and the transfer portal remains open.
"There are big investments going in football across our footprint," he said. "That's what going to get the kids to want to come."
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