COLUMN: Football season still feels good in Logan
I went to bed physically sick after Utah State lost Friday.
It was yet another tough loss to swallow as an Aggie, but it got me thinking.
New coach, new facilities, new logo, new uniforms, new conference. This season just feels different.
Despite this weekend’s loss, it all feels great.
In my entire life there’s only one other time I have felt as proud and happy to be an Aggie as I do this season, that being the Big West Tournament in 2005 when Jaycee Carroll and the Aggies upset No. 18 Pacific to earn an NCAA berth.
I was in Anaheim, Calif., at the time and words can’t describe the pure joy I felt seeing Aggie Nation sporting the old number-1 game day shirts all over Disneyland. There was a clear, palpable feeling of confidence and unity among Aggie faithful there and it’s one of my most cherished memories.
That same feeling currently fills campus – and it’s not basketball season.
Aggie football fans believe.
I’ve been a USU fan my entire life and endured countless seasons of disappointment and abysmal football. As crappy as it felt this weekend to lose to those wretched Cougars, I’m not looking ahead to basketball season as I have so many years in the past.
I reflected on the past four seasons I’ve witnessed first-hand as a student at this university and recalled all the heartbreaking and disappointing losses that put me on the brink of depression each time. Every loss to Utah, every loss to BYU, every loss to those “big-name” schools like Auburn, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
In each of the successive seasons, every football disappointment made me more and more excited for basketball season. Basketball was a team I could count on, always had been. Football simply wasn’t. The feelings I’ve had each season of “maybe next year” resounded in my head over and over throughout the year, even last season when Adam Kennedy spear-headed the team to a 7-5 finish and a bowl game.
I still wasn’t sold after the finish last season. I was still looking for that signature win to show me that this was a new program, a better program. I had hope for the season as I do every year, but I wasn’t convinced.
A blowout over SUU to start the season didn’t convince me either. But in the week leading up to the Utah game, it hit me. I finally understood why I had high hopes at the start of each season despite having little reason to.
It’s a new era. There’s a feeling in the air that’s unmistakable.
Andersen has revived our program and put us on the map. We’ve had several signature wins, Beating Utah and BYU each for the first time in 15-plus years definitely qualifies. While all of those losses were tough, each was a stepping stone and has paved the way to success. It took me until this year to understand those thoughts and emotions I’ve had.
I’ve believed all along, and I didn’t even know it.
– Curtis is a proud husband and father, a junior in print journalism and an aspiring sports journalist and referee. He eats, sleeps and breathes sports. His life goal is to bowl a perfect 300. Send comments to curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu or hit him up on Twitter, @curtislundstrom