It appears that after the departure of Texas and Oklahoma, the Big 12 has had its fill of members who act like princesses and prima donnas, and that Utah has more than edged in that direction, even after it was rescued by the conference after the Pac-12 blew apart. It’s no secret that the Utes wanted to be embraced by the Big Ten — to their credit, who wouldn’t have wanted that? — but were denied that invitation while schools like USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington were brought aboard. Some of Utah’s less-than-cloaked attitudes regarding their “superiority” leaned up against Big 12 schools have been off-putting. Whittingham has talked openly about the possibility of more league reconfiguration in the not-too-distant future, which was a strange subject to raise upon an entrance into a new league partnership.

Either way, it looks as though Harlan’s statement will end, at least for the time being, this particular chapter of Utah defiance. Utah’s 1-5 league record is tending to its arrogance.

Maybe the administrator has learned his lesson. Maybe his way of thinking runs deeper than just that. Who knows?

But it’s worth noting that, competitively speaking, BYU put Utah in its place on Saturday night, followed by the Big 12 doing likewise administratively on Sunday. And that’s a good thing because Utah is a great university, a great football program that has no need for its coach or, more specifically in this case, its AD embarrassing the school with childish behavior.

Apology or not, the whole of this sorry episode was beneath the University of Utah.