That the Tigers — last year's
biggest surprise with a 12 — 2 record and a No. 4 finish in the AP poll — were anything less than elated
after a
win over a Top 25 team that played in a BCS
bowl last January shows how expectations have dramatically changed at a school that hasn't
won a conference title since 1969.
After Texas and four other
Big 12 schools bailed on a plan that would have transformed the Pac - 10 into a 16 - team superconference, Pac - 10 commissioner Larry Scott plucked Utah, the upstart Mountain West program that has produced two undefeated seasons and BCS
bowl wins over the past six years, to join previous invitee Colorado and form a 12 - team conference.