By the Book: USU has long history with Broncos
Of all the Utah State games I have watched, whether they were on TV or in person, there is one I remember most: Utah State vs. Boise State Nov. 11, 2000.
I wasn’t raised an Aggie fan since I lived on the East Coast, both my parents are Aggies – one a teacher, the other an engineer.
I was introduced to Utah State by them the summer of 1996 right before seventh grade. Until that time, the only college I knew of in Utah was BYU.
I lived in a suburb of Atlanta and the only Utah team ever mentioned was the Cougars, and even then, not a lot, since their games were only shown on satellite and late at night.
In the football-crazed South, only the good teams mattered and the Aggies were OK in the mid-90s. So I had a slice of hope for some recognition from my friends.
I lost a few dollars when Cincinnati beat Utah State in the Humanitarian Bowl after the 1997 season, but I got it back when I convinced my friends to choose the Aggies over Maryland in the NCAA tournament pool that next spring.
The niche which I had in Georgia came crashing down as my family moved to the Salt Lake valley that summer.
I was then lost in a sea of red and blue, none of which was of the Aggie persuasion.
The first few years of my residency in Utah, the Ags didn’t accomplish a whole lot on the football field.
They managed to take BYU to overtime on a spectacular last-second two-point conversion before missing a field goal to tie in 1999.
Things were a little different in 2000, though. Quarterback Jose Fuentes took the reins in the second half of the Southern Utah game earlier in the season and he didn’t have a problem finding ways to score. Tailback Emmett White tore up opposing defenses rushing and returning kicks and wide receiver Aaron Jones had 233 yards receiving against Idaho to go along with his 100-yard games against Southern Utah and Utah.
No one believed my talk of a bowl game for the Aggies at high school even after Utah State had won four-straight conference games and White had set the NCAA record for all-purpose yards in a game as he rushed for 322 yards and caught seven passes for 134 to almost single-handedly give the Aggies a 44-37 win over New Mexico State.
The season came down to the game against Boise State, who was also undefeated in the conference and had scored at least 30 points in their previous three conference games.
Boise had made the jump from I-AA to Division IA just four years earlier in 1996.
It had only taken them until 1998 to get a win against the Ags and they had won the last two meetings between the teams heading into the winner-take-all game that November.
In Boise, Jones would catch 10 passes for 297 yards against Boise State, but that wouldn’t be enough as the Ags, under then first year coach Mick Dennehy, would lose 63-38 and fall a win short of bowl eligibility and the final Big West Conference championship.
The Ags almost had 600 yards of total offense while Fuentes threw for 509 yards in the losing effort.
Now the Broncos are the closest conference foe the Aggies have in the WAC as far as distance is concerned.
On top of that, three of the last four times Utah State and Boise State have played, Aggie Head Coach Brent Guy was on the opposing sideline as the Bronco defensive coordinator.
Utah State safety coach Jeff Copp played for the Broncos when Guy was defensive coordinator while Mark Johnson was defensive line coach in 1998 and 1999. Utah State Cornerbacks Coach John Rushing was also a graduate assistant for the Broncos during those same two years
A two-year hiatus from on-field confrontation might have taken a little bit of the feel of a rivalry away from the two teams, especially since in that time Boise State had a 22-game win streak before losing to Louisville last year in the Liberty Bowl.
But an upset Saturday would go a long way to restoring a little bit of blood flow into the yearly match-up.
Even a close game will mean something for the Ags after their drubbing at Fresno State last Saturday didn’t put a lot of momentum in the bank for Utah State this Saturday.
Kevin Nielson is a senior majoring in print journalism.
Comments can be sent to
krn@cc.usu.edu