Their brilliant collective plan - intentional or not - to leave BYU w/no P5 option let them 1) get great recruits BYU would have gotten AND 2) BYU didn't get them making the UU better and a better draw than BYU. It only took 5-ish years to have enough good players they no longer needed the best Utah recruits (they still got them) but began to pull good recruits nationally. They could then play even with P12 then among the best P12.

They're in a comparable situation now: They know in the B12 that 1) BYU will take only a few years to catch up and recruit evenly or better than the U, and 2) to compete in the B12 and nationally they need recruits who will tend to go to the B2.

They are wisely desperate. They know they won't get in if they don't ask and find out what it will take, if possible. Putting the bug in the B10's ear might get them something they wouldn't have otherwise.

Do I have confidence that getting into the B10 would break up the B10 as it has (coincidentally of course) the previous conferences the UU has been in? The answer may surprise you.