Package Deal With Football And Men’s Basketball With USC; Four-Game Series With Wyo
Utah State Director of Athletics Scott Barnes announced Thursday that USU has signed agreements to face Wyoming in a four-game series starting in 2011 and will also play at Southern California in 2013.
In addition to the football agreement with USC, the deal also includes a men’s basketball home-and-home series with the Trojans.
USU will host Wyoming in a non-conference game on Oct. 8, 2011 in the first of a four-game series, spanning six years. The Aggies will play at Wyoming on Sept. 13, 2014 before hosting the Cowboys on Sept. 19, 2015 and then returning to War Memorial Stadium in Laramie on Sept. 10, 2016.
“Adding Wyoming to our home schedule early in 2011 gives us a nice regional rivalry and will fill the vacancy created by Boise State,” Barnes said. “It will also allow us to continue our master plan for a balanced schedule and give us six home games, which is great for our fans.”
USU will host six home games for the second year in a row in 2011, as the 2010 ledger has the Aggies at home for six games for just the third time in the past 13 seasons. In 116 seasons of Utah State football, the Aggies have had six home games on the slate a total of only seven times: 1952, 1978, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2008 and 2010.
Hosting Wyoming in 2011 will mark the 12th time in the 13-year history of the Mountain West Conference that the Aggies have hosted a MWC team, hosting BYU this season, both BYU and Utah in 2008, UNLV in 2007, Utah in 2006, UNLV in 2005, Utah in 2004, Wyoming in 2003, both BYU and Utah in 2002, Wyoming in 2001, Utah in 2000 and BYU in 1999.
“It’s great to have a home game against a Mountain West team in Wyoming, especially where it is placed in the schedule. That is big for our program, our community and our fans. That gives us the opportunity to hopefully be on a good television network, whichever one it may be,” USU football head coach Gary Andersen said.
Barnes also announced that he has signed an agreement to play at Southern California, as USU will take on USC on Sept. 21, 2013 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“The USC football agreement will give us a chance to play in an important recruiting market,” Barnes said.
USU football will be taking on USC for the first time since 1989, and the Aggies are 0-4 all-time against the Trojans, facing them in 1928, 1930, 1984 and 1989.
“We recruit California heavily so it is great exposure for us. It will obviously be a very challenging game for us, but we’re looking at getting one of those games every year that puts us in the national spotlight. The USC game definitely does that for our program. As we continue to move forward, we need to take those challenges on and prepare in a way that we know we’re going to play a high-quality opponent very early in the season and we’re excited about that opportunity,” Andersen said.
It will also be USU’s first game against a Pac-10 opponent since playing at Oregon in 2008. The Aggies have only played a Pac-10 team four times in the 2000’s, hosting Oregon in 2001 and playing Arizona State at 2000 and 2003.
“The agreement also includes a home-and-home men’s basketball series starting in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in 2012-13, which will be the first time a Pac-10 opponent has played here since 1977,” Barnes said.
The last Pac-10 team to visit the Spectrum was Washington on Dec. 17, 1977, and was the third Pac-10 team to play at USU in 1977, as Stanford played the Aggies on Jan. 29, 1977 and Arizona State visited USU on March 1, 1977.
“We have struggled to get games against BCS conference schools so this is an exciting series for the future,” said USU head men’s basketball coach Stew Morrill. “Scott Barnes negotiated a combo deal that made this happen and we appreciate his efforts in bringing a Pac-10 team to Logan.”
The last BCS team to play in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum was Kansas State on Dec. 31, 1987. KSU defeated USU, 81-69. Utah State men’s basketball will return the trip in 2013-14 season, playing at Los Angeles.
It will also be the first time that Utah State has faced a Pac-10 team during the regular-season since 1999-2000 season, when the Aggies faced the Trojans of USC on Nov. 24, 1999 at Lahaina, Hawaii. Overall, USU’s last time facing a Pac-10 team was in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, losing to Washington in the first round.
Utah State last played Wyoming in 2007, playing at Laramie for the second-straight season after two-straight home games in the series in 2001 and 2003. Overall, USU is 34-24-4 against Wyoming, but the Aggies have lost the last four meetings after winning seven of the previous nine meetings. USU is 21-10-1 against Wyoming in games played at Logan.
The 2010 edition of Utah State football has its final two of day of preseason camp on Thursday, wrapping up with single practices on Friday and Saturday to work on preparations for the 2010 season-opener at No. 7/8 Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 4 at 5 p.m. (MT). The Aggies’ home-opener is Saturday, Sept. 11 vs. border-foe Idaho State at 6 p.m. (MT).