Two-year breakup: are both better off?
There’s nothing like a good in-state rivalry to get teams and fans alike fired up.
This Saturday when the No. 22 Utah Utes visit Romney Stadium, there is sure to be one of the biggest crowds of the season.
Aggie fans better enjoy it while they can. After playing at Rice Eccles Stadium next season, the programs will take a two-year break before resuming play in 2012 in Logan.
Despite the long history of the series, it is the nation’s 12th-longest at 107 games, this move should come as a sigh of relief to Aggie fans, said USU Director of Athletics Scott Barnes.
Not only will this give USU more flexibility in their scheduling, but it will also allow them to continue to have six home games on the schedule.
For a team that every other season must travel on the road to Utah, BYU, and a Pac-10 or Big-12 opponent, Barnes said this is good news and shows a change in scheduling philosophy at USU.
“People think about this as a Utah-Utah State issue,” Barnes said. “It’s not. It’s about implementing a scheduling philosophy. It just so happened that the first window of opportunity came with Utah’s request. With our need to implement our scheduling philosophy and their desire to play Notre Dame, we decided that a two-year hiatus would help us.”
This new change in scheduling philosophy has already shown up this season. For the first time in 10 years the Aggies have six home games. Barnes said this is a plan he intends to keep in place in order to increase fan and community participation, as well as build the program.
Barnes also said USU will begin bringing in one Division II opponent each season. Those next two opponents, Southern Utah and Idaho State have already been scheduled.
“Right now we feel that with having a BCS game and with all the competition in the WAC – especially at its highest level – plus Utah and BYU on the road every other year is too much,” Barnes said. “We want an in-state rivalry game every year, but right now in the scheduling for the short-term we want one, we don’t want two.”
Barnes has shown an affinity to help the football program since his arrival in the spring. Besides this new scheduling philosophy, Barnes was also a major player in bringing in Frontier Airlines to transport the football team to and from games. These changes are helping to put the team in more winnable situations.
Despite the balance this philosophy will bring to the schedule, Barnes said the decision to take a break in such a rich rivalry was not taken lightly. He said the decision was based on the long-term, and the ability to build a football program.
“With both the rivalry games and all the other competition that we have, is that more important than building a successful program and sustaining that momentum over time?” Barnes said. “Where we are with our program, we have a better opportunity to be successful and sustain success with more balance.”
With this two-year hiatus, Barnes said USU football will have an opportunity to take a break in their brutal early-season schedule and build momentum. This will not only help the team overall, but will help them be more competitive in the WAC by virtue of more confidence. Had last year’s team been able to open with some easier games, there would’ve been more confidence to win games they were in later in the year.
Though it is tough to lose a rivalry game from the schedule, Barnes said it is a good move by the Athletic Department because it will be positive in an effort to build a foundation for the football program. Once that foundation is built, Aggie fans can welcome the Utes back in 2012.
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu.