COLUMN: There’s always next year
Keeping up with the trend of large student turnouts for USU football games this season, Saturday’s game against Hawaii was not much different. After packing record numbers of students into the Utah State student section for the first three home games against Idaho State, Fresno State and BYU, another 4,100 or so students swiped their cards to see the Aggies take on Hawaii.
Safe to say, the student support for this football season has been monumentally excellent, regardless of the final number of students still standing at the end of Saturday’s 45-7 loss.
Understandably so, the number of fans in the stands at Romney Stadium fell as rapidly as the rain Saturday, as few people were prepared to weather that kind of weather, not to mention the game itself, which was well out of hand not too long into the third quarter.
Some people might knock others for leaving a game like that early. I, on the other hand, have a tough time really faulting anybody for it. But I also think it speaks to the character and commitment of those still standing when the game went final, all 50 of us or so.
Those are the same kinds of fans who have been the select few fans occupying the student section at Romney Stadium during those November games for those one-or-two-win Aggie teams of years’ past. Those are the fans who are going to end up feeling the most rewarded for events such as a win over BYU, or the eventual bowl game for USU football. It speaks to a person’s character for being willing to stick it all the way to the end, even through the worst of times, with something important to them, just because they care about it that much.
At this point though, with USU essentially out of the running for a bowl game appearance this year, those impressive turnouts are likely in the past until the 2011 season, with the majority of the USU student body turning its attention to basketball, which kicks off tonight with the annual blue and white scrimmage.
It’s an unfortunate reality, but indeed a reality. A season that carried high expectations has fallen short of those expectations. An offense that returned every crucial piece from the No. 12 offense in the country a year ago was decimated by injuries, and the trickle-down effect on the rest of the team was too much to play through and sustain last year’s momentum.
As it stands, the Aggies lose a couple key pieces from this year’s team, most notably quarterback Diondre Borel. Returning to the mix however, will be runningback Robert Turbin and wide receivers Stanley Morrison and Matt Austin, which should make the transition to a new quarterback much more smooth than it otherwise would have been.
Throw in what is shaping up to be an impressive recruiting class thus far, and the slow but steady progression of the USU football program looks like it will indeed continue to progress.
Until 2011 rolls around, along with a fresh hope for seeing the Aggies make it to a bowl game and hopefully make victories over BYU that much more routine, Utah State fans will have to resort to turning their attention to what very well could be one of the best basketball teams USU has ever had.
Matt Sonnenberg is a senior majoring in print journalism. Matt can also be reached at matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu.