COLUMN: It’s time to make a Spectrum out of Romney
It’s been a long decade to be a fan of Aggie football. The last time USU had anything resembling a winning season was in 1997.
Back then, the Big West was still a football conference and John L. Smith was head coach of the Aggies.
Utah State finished 6-6, earning a trip to the inaugural Humanitarian Bowl. The Ags lost that game to the Cincinnati Bearcats, 35-19, and haven’t had a winning season since.
There have been a lot of changes in the Aggie football program since then, and not just at the head coaching position.
After wandering around as an independent for a couple of years, the Ags joined the Sun Belt Conference, and then finally joined the WAC in 2005.
Romney Stadium has also seen changes with the addition of chairback seats, new ticket and concession stands and the newly completed north end zone complex.
One thing hasn’t changed, however, and that is the steady decline of the football team’s winning percentage. USU hasn’t been able to win more than three games in a season since 2002.
What is the reason for this seemingly constant decline? Is it the coaching? Recruiting? Scheduling? All of these reasons play a role, but I would like to propose another problem.
Us.
When asked to say the first thing that came to mind when they thought of the football program here at USU, almost every student I talked to saw the program in a negative light.
Freshmen Kara Pardle and Hannah McLean said they heard a lot of negative things about the football team when they first arrived on campus. Despite the struggles of the program, they believe that the team has just been given a bad reputation.
When asked to explain her negative outlook on the football team, Natalie Perkes, senior majoring in management and human resources said, “Because of our losing record for so many years in a row, nothing seems to get better.”
These were just a few of the individuals I asked, but the general outlook was overwhelmingly unanimous. One individual even suggested bagging the program all together and putting the funds to better use.
With an attitude like this, it’s amazing the football team gets any wins at all.
Now, I’m not saying the blame is all on the student body, because it most definitely is not. I take pride in being a Utah State Aggie because I believe we have the best fans in the country. I’ve been to big sporting events at venues around the country, and I would choose Aggie fans over other fans any day of the week.
One of my favorite examples of how great our fans are happened during the 2006-07 basketball season in a loss to BYU. Having traveled down to Provo, I joined the throng of Aggie fans in the corner of the Marriot Center. Unlike the sold-out Spectrum we have for nearly every Aggie game, the Marriot Center was about half full.
It was not a good game for the Aggies. They struggled throughout and lost by about 20 points. It didn’t matter to the fans – we were still the loudest in the arena. Aggies have more school spirit in their left foot than any Cougar fan I know.
A friend of mine who attends that school once remarked about one of my many USU hats that he wished he attended a school where he would want to wear its hat.
Not everyone can be as lucky as an Aggie, I said.
The point I’m getting to is that Aggie fans need to carry over the atmosphere that is created in the Spectrum and transfer that to the football field.
“In basketball we expect to win and in football we expect to lose, and so I think that carries over to the fans,” said Riley Traveller, freshman majoring in music.
Isn’t that so true. I’ve gone to every Aggie football game that I’ve been able to since I was too young to remember, but it takes more than attending to show support – Aggie fans need to believe.
This will not solve all the problems the program has to solve, but I guarantee that if Aggie fans pack Romney, be loud and get behind their team, and do what Aggie fans do best – annoy the hell out of the other team, the football team will compete harder and come away with more wins.
“I support them (football team) wholeheartedly, it’s good to have school spirit,” said Kellen Knowles, a junior majoring in marketing. “They’re out there doing their best, and it’s good to go out and support them.”
That’s the kind of attitude that’s hard to find on campus.
There are currently 24,421 students enrolled at Utah State University. Next week when the Ags play host to No. 11, BYU let’s show a little Aggie pride. They may win the game, but they should hate coming to Romney just like they hate coming to the Spectrum.
Let’s put complaining about the coaching, play calling, or anything else behind. There are 25,513 seats at Romney and Aggie fans should fill every one of them.
Tim Olsen is a junior majoring in print journalism. You can send him comments at t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu