Pac-10 Expansion: It's Utah's Turn... right?

So Boise State went to the Mountain West Conference. It sounded like that league would finally be the seventh BCS automatic qualifier. That could be in jeopardy, now that Utah is expected to join the Pac-10. The question is, though, when?

There was this report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal saying Utah to the Pac-10 was basically a done deal:

"Utah is on its way to the Pac-10, a Mountain West Conference source said Tuesday night. The source did not want to be named because an official announcement has not been made.

Comcast SportsNet in the San Francisco Bay Area reported a formal announcement would be made today."

But that was shot down almost immediately by the LA Times:

"[Utah] still reside[s] in the Mountain West Conference, and Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said Utah's athletic director told him Monday that the university had not been contacted by the Pac-10."

But then we got this latest one out of the Coloradoan, citing the Colorado State (MWC team) official who said he was preparing for Utah's departure:

"Utah's been a good partner, and they're certainly a class act within the conference, and I respect and appreciate Chris Hill and his staff and his coaches tremendously," Kowalczyk said. "I really would hate to see them go, but we all understand how this game is played and how things are. In our business, there are no guarantees."

Kowalczyk said CSU never was contacted by any of the conferences looking to expand but did acknowledge that the MWC was looking at partnering with some of the Big 12 schools that would have been left behind had Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech accepted the Pac-10's invitation and formed a 16-team megaconference."

So, is this just an attempt by some sports media to keep the juicy expansion storyline alive a few more days/weeks? Or is this Utah thing real? I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

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