Greg Flugaur talks about potential for Utah to B1G

[MDUte]

Everyone should watch this. I realize during the whole P12 implosion, all of us Utah fans blew this guy off as not being legitimate. But he’s proven to have legitimate inside B1G sources at every step of the way through the latest round of realignment. He was the 1st one to break the story of USC leaving the P12 and he was right on the money about the B12 beating out the P12 and the B12 poaching P12 teams leading to the implosion of the P12.

On tonight’s show, he decided to talk about the whole Utah to the ACC story and explain why he didn’t see it as being anything realistic. But then he talked about how Utah would be in play for the B1G after the B1G goes to the Southeast when FSU/Clemson leave the ACC. He explains that when it came out that USC was leaving the P12 for the B1G, he didn’t know who was going to be coming with USC but just that USC was heading to the B1G. But he said that the one school USC wanted to go to the B1G with was Utah! The B1G wanted Stanford but Fox wanted UCLA, so UCLA was the school that made the pair to the B1G.

But in the podcast, Greg Flugaur talks about a potential scenario where if Notre Dame decided to finally leave Independence and join the B1G, there’s a good possibility that Notre Dame would join with Utah! He shows a clip of one of Coach Whitt’s press conferences where Whitt was saying that he felt Utah would eventually be back in the same place as UCLA and those matchups would happen again in the not too distant future. And Greg Flugaur explained that he could see why Whitt was making those statements. Because of all the teams out West that Flugaur’s sources were talking about he said there was zero chatter around Cal…absolutely nothing at all. And outside of SC/UCLA/Oregon/Washington, the only team that there was chatter about out West was….UTAH!! He, of course, made the point that there’s no guarantees of anything when talking about future realignment. But he validated that if after the B1G goes to the Southeast and is at 22 teams, Utah would definitely be in play at that point for the B1G.

Start at the 49:00 min mark and watch until 1:24:30…awesome stuff!

[MDUte]

One really funny thing about his podcast tonight is he has a bunch of TSPP fans subscribed to his channel. And they were all on to hear him say all of this about Utah. As you can imagine, the talk of Utah being an attractive and viable future candidate to the B1G (wanted by both SC and Notre Dame) was enough to cause the Zoobs’ heads to explode. They immediately started trying to discredit Utah with their comments in the chat and then started desperately trying to talk about how BYU’s brand is greater than Utah’s hahaha!

If/when B1Gmas comes for Utah, the meltdown from TSPP fans is going to be EPIC!!!

[Central Coast Ute]

It’s funny how they have to convince themselves that their brand is better. We have actual people talking about the U outside of Utah but they somehow think they have the better brand.

[Roy Rangum]

This is great. While nothing is guaranteed, it feels like if we can maintain our current trajectory, we should be excellent candidates when the next round of realignment happens.

While I don’t know that it will happen, I kind of hope Whitt sticks around long enough to help us get there. Having a steady hand at the helm has been a huge advantage.

[ProudUte]

I would prefer the BIG to the Big 12 for obvious reasons. That would be great. However, I would really prefer that the PAC 12 had not imploded. I don’t like the travel to the east coast. It will be costly for our “Olympic” sports teams.

[MDUte]

I hear you Proud. But if things work out the way it’s being talked about with Utah to the B1G in the future, Utah would be in western pod with SC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. So it would basically be a PAC Division with all the best former PAC teams for annual matchups plus some cross over games in the Midwest…would be amazing IMO.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

MDute that would be truly amazing!! Tough to win many games but playing a west region schedule with an occasional Michigan or Ohio State home game. Maybe only in our dreams but what a great dream. Go Utes wherever we land.

[MDUte]

Couldn’t agree more Jim! The cool thing to me is, although it’s in all our dreams right now, it was awesome to find out that Whitt truly has been privy to inside info. Many of us have speculated Whitt must know something for him to talk as openly as he has about future realignment and Utah being a part of it. And having Flugaur validate that his B1G sources have heard the same chatter that Whitt and the U of U’s leadership have heard is awesome IMO! No guarantees, but Utah is absolutely in the conversation and not many schools can say the same thing.

These next 5 years are HUGE for Utah! We need to continue the upward trajectory and stay relevant each year. I know there’s a lot of our fans who want to see MBB prioritized and that we should be able to do both MBB and football at the same time. And although I appreciate the passion for MBB, I personally believe Utah’s donors and fans should put every ounce of support and focus on football for the next 3 to 5 years. Because if we can crush it in football, I believe Utah is absolutely going to be in the B1G (or Super League, whatever it’s called at the time). And then there will be so much money flowing through the Athletic Department, Utah will have no problem fixing MBB. I believe in B1Gmas!

[Central Coast Ute]

I just listened to the podcast. I find it interesting that USC wanted to bring us along. Unfortunately, the networks seem to be controlling everything these days. I know USC doesn’t have as much juice in the B1G as they did in the PAC, but it’s nice to know you have friends looking out for you. I just wouldn’t have thought it would be USC. Hopefully, those relationships remain until Utah gets their shot. Either way, it seems the Utes are in a good spot.

[MDUte]

I approve of this message!

For fun of course.
*4 Divisions – 4 CFP AQs
*Stanford (Bay Area #6 market, AAU)
*Utah (SLC #33 market – new territory, AAU)
*Notre Dame (#2 fan base size, AAU)
*FSU (Top 10 viewership, new territory)
*Miami (Miami #16 market, Top 10 brand, AAU)
*GT (Atlanta #8 market, AAU) pic.twitter.com/SY1EkYX51k

— D5 Terps (@DTerps5) May 28, 2024

[BD]

I had forgotten about Whitt’s words about UCLA. This gives me some hope. I didn’t know that USC wanted Utah to come to the B1G – that is significant!

BYU fans are stuck logically (again) in a corner. When Flugaur first started bringing up USC leaving, Y fans were all over it. Now, they would in the very least ignore him on this, and at worst fight him. I haven’t checked CB on this (I don’t need to) but I bet they are trembling in fear over this. Their narrative over and over is how delusional of a fanbase we are and how delusional Michelle Bodkin is as she has talked realignment a lot, etc etc. Their absolute worst fear is Utah getting a B1G invite. Their meltdown would be nuclear.

No, Utah fans are not delusional. The tea leaves and bread crumbs are there. You’d have to be delusional to ignore them.

I am 100% convinced Whitt and the U of U administration sees the possibility of Utah getting an invite and are doing everything possible to make it happen. In the end, it’s possible Utah wouldn’t get an invite – we must always consider that. However I put the probability of Utah getting an invite as rising gradually over time.

[Uteanooga]

Being included in the P2 leagues, whatever they are called, would be an incredible destination and really the ultimate progression. MWC to P2, leapfrogging every PAC10 team other than USC, UCLA, Oregon, Stanford, and Washington, seems almost more than could be hoped.

If I were to be skeptical of this dream, I would point out that a lot of quality programs are being left out. What would be the argument to include Utah over Clemson I wonder- though perhaps Clemson is in the SEC for this realignment. North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, the AZ schools- these are schools with as much or more wealth located in states that have larger populations and arguably more influence than Utah. Leapfrogging them seems somewhat of a pipe dream.

But hey, I’m on board with the dream. Come get us B10!

[MDUte]

Yes, Clemson is projected to move to the SEC. It’s debatable where UNC & FSU end up since the SEC and B1G appear to want both of them. Lots of question marks at this point and where Utah would fit is a ways down the road after a number of other dominos fall first. But it’s very exciting to see how far Utah has come in such a short period of time. As it stands, Utah has passed up all of its PAC12 peers who are currently on the outside, namely: Arizona, ASU, Colorado, Stanford, Cal in the pecking order.

Nobody knows how everything will ultimately shake out as things can obviously change between now and then. That’s why it’s so critical that Utah continues to remain relevant. We’ve come so far and are so very close to making it to the promised land…need to win the B12 this year and have a good showing in the CFP followed by a couple of solid years, which would be ginormous for the program! Go Utes!!

[MDUte]

Interesting. Flugaur said today on his podcast that his sources have told him FSU and Clemson are going to the B1G and the SEC will take UNC and Virginia.

If that ends up being how it plays out I wonder if Miami goes to the B12? With maybe Va Tech, Pitt, and Louisville?Flugaur also said the B1G no longer has the AAU requirement. This makes sense given that Fox is ultimately calling the shots and not the Presidents.

[Sanders]

Utah does not need the ACC, the ACC needs Utah because they’re going to lose four schools…two to the BIG and two to the SEC and they’re trying to entice other branded schools to join.

[J Rocksville]

Ya, maybe, but I’d rather be in the b12 as presently constituted than the ACC minus Clemson, Florida St, Miami, UNC etc. What’s left doesn’t look good.

A much better solution would have the b12 take in Miami, Cal, Stanford…maybe Oregon St and Wazzu and like Louisville or SMU. That would give some nice pods for a big 20-22 team mega conference.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re all surprised at what happens. Who says the ACC and Pac don’t pull something together and bring back some of the teams? Who says UCLA doesn’t bolt for the B12 or ACC? Maybe the big 12 makes a power play and gets a big TV contract for bringing in some of the top ACC teams after the P2 schools waffle about splitting revenue.

[Central Coast Ute]

The best scenario would be for the remaining B12 and ACC schools to disband their conferences and the best of those two leagues form a best of the rest. Unfortunately the B12 in a desperation move jumped the gun and invited the 4 G5’s. Need to cut some dead weight.

[Central Coast Ute]

Yep. Taking a market in SC and FL makes zero sense for the SEC but makes perfect sense for the B1G. Personally, I don’t see Utah getting invited anywhere until the Notre Dame domino falls. Even then, I won’t hold my breath, but at least we’ll be in the discussion.

[MDUte]

I agree with Cowherd wholeheartedly! Love seeing national people talking this way…keep building that ground swell!

"I wish they would've taken Utah!" – @ColinCowherd on the new B1G Conference members

Rumor has it, Lincoln Riley shuddered uncontrollably when he tuned in this morning… 😬😨

In the meantime, Utah is gonna… 😉 pic.twitter.com/bX6wriq4NA

— Utah Football Stats and Analysis (@UtahCFBstats) May 30, 2024

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