This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In a discussion that's somewhat related to Thursday's news about the Power 5 conferences gaining autonomy in the NCAA structure, seven head football coaches in the Pac-12 favor a move to exclusive scheduling of other top-tier teams. Part of their rationale - according to ESPN.com, which conducted the survey, is to have more of direct comparison of scheduling strength with conferences that play fewer than nine league games. Coaches in favor of scheduling exclusivity include Arizona State's Todd Graham, Oregon's Mark Helfrich, Oregon State's Mike Riley, Stanford's David Shaw, UCLA's Jim Mora, Washington's Chris Petersen and USC's Steve Sarkisian. Arizona's Rich Rodriguez spoke against the idea and the other four coaches - Cal's Sonny Dykes, Colorado's Mike MacIntyre, Utah's Kyle Whittingham and Washington State's Mike Leach.This is a sensitive topic for MacIntyre and Whittingham, in particular, because such a move would eliminate Colorado's annual rivalry game with Colorado State and Utah's contests with BYU and Utah State. - Kurt Kragthorpe