COLUMN: Rivalry Week (Yes, BYU fans, it’s a rivalry)
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Ladies and gentlemen, it’s rivalry week.
Yes, I said it. Believe it or not, Friday night’s game between two in-state rivals, with a long-running rivalry history and a traveling rivalry trophy, is, in fact, a rivalry. And a pretty good one at that.
Now, many BYU fans will act as though they are above having a rivalry with a team they’ve played side-by-side with for almost a century. They will try to downplay it, calling Utah State “little brother,” making farmer jokes, and saying that USU is in Ogden (I’m still trying to figure out how that one is an insult).
But don’t let that fool you, this game means a great deal to the fan bases of both schools.
According to some super reputable random article I found while doing a Google search for “what makes a college rivalry,” the important factors in a rivalry are history, geography, familiarity, smack talk, and a trophy. Friday’s matchup has all of those.
First, let’s look at history. This game has been played a total of 87 times, going all the way back to 1922. For both teams, the other is their second-most played opponent behind only Utah.
History, check. And, with less than 130 miles between Maverik Stadium and Lavell Edwards Stadium — named after a former Aggie, I might add — we can easily check off geography as well.
Next is familiarity. By my count, there are 34 current Utah State players who, in either high school or college, were once teammates with a player on BYU’s current roster. Beyond that, many of the kids who didn’t play with each other in high school played against each other. That’s part of the beauty of in-state rivalries. Check.
Finally, a trophy. Not only does the winner of this game take home a trophy, it’s one of the coolest trophies in college football: The Old Wagon Wheel. It’s no Paul Bunyan’s Axe, but it’s certainly, unmistakably, indubitably a rivalry trophy.
This isn’t the Holy War. But in recent years, the USU-BYU matchup may be just as important. With Utah riding a seven-season winning streak, the Utes have pulled firmly into the lead in terms of popularity, exposure, and recruiting over BYU. Of course the Cougars would like to beat the Utes, but that wouldn’t really change that narrative. However, the team that wins on Friday will be the victor in three of the past five matchups, which really starts to shift that narrative.
On one hand, this year’s game means nothing. As cool as that massive wooden wagon wheel looks sitting on the second floor of the Laub Complex, the Aggies remain 1-0 in Mountain West play regardless of what happens this weekend. BYU, just four games in to the season, is already mathematically eliminated from winning a conference championship (oh wait…), but should be able to coast to bowl eligibility barring a few disastrous losses to lesser opponents.
On the other hand, this game means everything.
Any Aggie fan who has to go home for Thanksgiving and eat with a bunch of Cougar fans at the table knows exactly what I’m talking about. And for all the insistence that BYU doesn’t care about this game, every Cougar reading this (‘sup CougarBoard) can’t bear the thought of that same holiday meal after an Aggie victory.
Bragging rights are what sports are all about, and there are plenty on the line in this game — that’s the mark of a good rivalry.
With Utah opting to not play against USU any more in order to increase their exposure in recruiting hotbeds such as DeKalb, Ill. and Laramie, Wyo., this is the lone in-state game for Utah State this year. This is their chance to prove Beehive State supremacy.
So I will say it again: Welcome to rivalry week.
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Twitter: @jadenjohnson00
While it is a bigger game on the schedule then playing teams like Middle Tennessee State, BYU fans don’t get up for this game as much as their Aggie counterparts. Recent history has been more evenly matched. Keep that going and in a few years BYU fans may be as excited for this game as Utah State fans. They are already a huge step above Weber and SUU. Utah State’s rivalry with BYU is probably on a similiar level as BYU with Boise St. BYU has pulled some wins recently, but not enough to be seen as an equal.
I grew up a BYU fan and went to school at USU (BYU was definitely not the school for me). I’ve seen both sides of the rivalry. Is it a rivalry? Of course. The thing is each school generally has one team that they consider their “rival”. BYU doesn’t consider Utah State their “rival” – that title belongs to the University of Utah. That’s where the importance of this game differs for both schools. BYU fans consider Utah State an in-state rival but not their “rival”. This just fuels Utah State’s hatred of BYU. Utah State seems to consider BYU their one “rival” even though the Battle of the Brothers (USU-U of U game) is the most played in-state rivalry game. I’m guessing this is because of BYU’s “holier than thou” vibe – I know, BYU fans can be annoying. Growing up a BYU fan, I would get so hyped for the Holy War. When I came to USU, I thought it was silly how Utah State would get so hyped for BYU but then I realized that BYU is USU’s “rival”. The rivalry feeling just isn’t mutual for BYU fans and I know that rubs USU fans the wrong way. I mean, many BYU fans consider the Boise State game a more important rivalry game than the USU game (even though there is no trophy). USU fans make such a big deal of it being their rivalry game that it feeds the “little brother” idea just because BYU fans care way more about the Holy War. That’s just how it is. I mean, you have to go back to the 70’s to find the last time Utah State has won the rivalry consecutively (although that could easily change this year). In that same time period the BYU-Utah game is pretty even. BYU has the slight edge over that time period but the U has been dominant for the last decade. I don’t disagree with the article, I just wanted to share what I’ve seen from both sides. Just got my ticket to the game this weekend – should be a good one!
BYU only leads the series 48-36. And that’s after the Aggies took a huge **** for almost 30 straight years (1983-2010). Anyone able to do math would understand that prior to Lavell Edwards at BYU, USU won the game twice as often as BYU. Utah sucked back in the day as well, and since BYU and Utah were in bigger cities but we’re constantly losing to USU they decided to stick it to the Aggies when they formed the WAC (USU wasn’t invited). Thus the hatred of BYU by USU fans.
I think this is kind of funny. I’m a life long BYU fan of about 50 years and I have never thought of the BYU-USU game as a rivalry. Not like BYU-UofU. To me it has always been just another game that BYU was expected to win and I know that’s how most other BYU fans have felt. I’m guessing that’s why the feeling is just the opposite for USU fans since they have not, until recently, been able to beat BYU. I have never disliked USU or any of it’s athletic programs like I have the UofU so that’s another reason I have never considered this much of a rivalry. And in talking to other BYU fans, they feel the same way. With all that being said, of course we want to beat USU just like we want to beat all our opponents, but not in the same way we want to beat the Utes. The reason I said I think this is kind of funny is because an article needs to be written to try and convince everyone that BYU vs USU is a rivalry. That alone tells me this is considered more of a rivalry by one side more than the other.
I am a BYU fan and live on the East coast….far from all the Utah-based dynamics. If a sports writer has to tell me it is a rivalry….then I guess by definition it isn’t. I don’t doubt however that this is a rivalry game for USU.
I agree with BYU fans let’s quit playing BYU it jus isn’t important. It would be much better to find a real P5 team to like Boise does. That would do much more for our program.
Conference play is what matters.
As for BYU they can continue to be independent and get their but kicked 1/2 to 3/4’s of the time by P5 schools and high G5 schools like Boise. And schedule a half a dozen cupcakes a year to get to 6-7 wins. MEH