When Utah was in the MWC or the WAC, I found the worst thing about playing a PAC-10 opponent was that you had to deal with PAC-10 officiating. I can think of several occasions throughout the years where the Utes took a loss on one or more really questionable calls. I am convinced the officiating was, if not outright dirty, at least biased in favor of the PAC-10 team.
In today’s age of reviewing all the big calls I don’t know if that sort of thing is still going on to the same extent. I believe it still happens. There are a lot of subtle ways an official can influence the outcome of games. For example, a holding call will usually stall a drive. Looking the other way on a holding call at a critical time can have a huge impact on the game and most people will be none the wiser.
So yeah, I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist when it comes to PAC-12 officiating. My question is, now that Utah is the conference’s best hope at a playoff berth, does Utah start to reap the benefit of PAC-12 officiating? I think probably not. The small market problem will stop that from happening. I don’t think Utah is considered one of the good ol’ boys. Yet. If there is subtle favoritism by the refs, I expect it would benefit the team with the greater number of TV sets. This is something I will be looking for in the USC game.