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"USC football gets what USC football wants."

That not only was a declaration made during a quiet conversation I once had in an L.A. airport with a highly paid former employee at Southern Cal, it is also the answer to the question about why University of Utah football ticket prices are boring through the roof faster than Gene Chizik's paychecks at Auburn.

Nothing deep or complex here, just two simple truths:

Football is important. Winning is expensive.

If Utah really wants to be, as athletics director Chris Hill said, "a formidable member of the Pac-12," it will have to beat programs with big berths, big budgets, and big appetites for winning.

Just like USC.

The former Trojan who underscored the point?

Norm Chow, who now leads the Ute offense.

The new Pac-12 may not be the exact equivalent of Major League Baseball and its unbalanced strata of financial wherewithal, but if Utah finds itself floating at the level of the Pittsburgh Pirates, it's not going to regularly handle the Philadelphia Phillies.

It won't matter how brilliant Kyle Whittingham is if his football realm receives a fraction of what competitive conference programs get. There's a place for a combo-pack of prudence and innovation, but without the dollars to back the effort, it will eventually settle somewhere south of formidable.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, an 18th century British statesman and distinguished man of letters, said: "Nothing is so secure that money will not defeat it."

Phil knew nothing of college football, except for the most important thing.

Cha-ching.

Anybody who doesn't think Oregon's rise on the field is directly tied to another iconic Phil who knows well-organized money is pretty much undefeated in power and prowess, is flat-out Looney Tunes.

Have you seen the posh facilities Nike titan Phil Knight has built in Eugene? No wonder Chip Kelly is 22-4 over his first two seasons.

Coaches, of course, are the first to benefit from the spoils of successful investment, and Whittingham, if he goes on winning, may have that to look forward to.

Chizik just doubled his salary — thanks to Auburn's recent BCS championship — to a heady $3.5 million, with incentives that could boost it another million. And that raise only places him third in the SEC. Alabama's Nick Saban and LSU's Les Miles make more. Mack Brown at Texas gets $5 million, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops gets $4.3 million, and Kirk Ferentz at Iowa $3.7 million. USC's Lane Kiffin is thought to be in that same range.

In a statement, Chizik said: "The success that we've accomplished in the past two seasons has been possible because of the collective efforts of the football coaches and staff, players, our administration, and the entire Auburn Family."

But Chizik is the biggest winner.

The cash outlay is part of the cost of doing big business — and college football is exactly that, even if it comes on the backs of amateur athletes. If you want to win, facilities have to be great, resources have to be ample, the lead dog has to get his, and somebody has to bankroll it.

Booster dollars have to increase, eventual TV money must be properly shepherded, and Joe and Jill Sixpack have to be willing to give at the turnstile. Some don't want to give. For some, it's painful. For some, the significance of sports at an academic institution is blown all out of proportion. No matter, the reality of winning has its demands: higher ticket prices and rising student fees.

Utah has a smaller stadium than all but two schools in the Pac-12, so the Utes won't make up ground on gross numbers. They'll take what they can from fans who, at least right now, are willing to dig deeper to watch a winner in the Pac-12.

If the Utes don't win?

That's the question — the dark specter — that shadows an otherwise sunshiny mood at Utah. Investors who get no gain usually don't keep investing.

"You might as well put all your chips on the table, and get after it, and see what happens," Hill said a few months ago.

Somebody has to pay for the chips. And keep paying.

Football is important. Winning is expensive.

And there's that other thing, too.

Acumen.

Too many schools bring in and pay out a lot of money and only win now and again. As a genuine suitor, apparently, you have to have cash to consistently reel in the prize, but the cash doesn't guarantee it.

Someone with a bigger brain than mine once said: "Money is a vehicle. It can take you wherever you want to go, but it will not replace you as the driver."

So, the Utes have to be smart and rich.

Being smart, alone, is no longer enough.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Gordon Monson Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 104.7 FM/1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com.