outside of last season, if the entire AAC had moved to the PAC, that would have been considered a step down.
USC hasn't done anything meaningful in over a decade. Oregon, what have they done exactly that has been so amazing? Washington is 2 years removed from a 4-8 season. And then there is Utah... the team who couldn't beat a P5 team outside of the PAC in 8 seasons, and needed 4 seasons, I believe, to beat something other than an FCS and a PAC team, and who is a regular 4 loss team every season and won their first conference championship the same year a G5-ish Independent team went 5-0 against the mighty PAC...
Yeah, this is totally a step down.