USU seeks rivalry down South
It’s an underrated and timeless tradition, often forgotten. The battle for the coveted Old Wagon Wheel. The Utah State football team heads south to Provo, Sept. 30, looking to repeat last year’s dominant win over the Cougars of Brigham Young University. Dating back a century, the
Aggies and Cougars have played 80 times, and BYU holds the edge in the overall series, with a record of 43-34-3.
Truth be told, in the last 20 years the Aggies are 2-13 against the Cougars, giving BYU a nine-game lead in the series. It’s also created an interesting thought process in the minds of students at both universities. Students currently enrolled at each university are unlikely able to recall the rivalry before the 1980s, and as such form and base their opinions on the more recent history between teams. This raises the question, Is there actually a rivalry between USU and BYU?
That might depend on who answers.
Derek Davidson, a USU sophomore majoring in business said he thinks so.
“Of course,” Davidson said. “They’ve been a rival for 100 years. That’s why it’s a rivalry. We always hate each other when we play. I consider that a bitter rivalry.”
Jeremy Bejarano, a junior mathematics major at BYU disagrees.
“Here at BYU, from what you can tell, it’s never really been a big deal,” Bejarano said. “I think just about everyone here agrees, Utah is our rival, not Utah State.”
The Old Wagon Wheel Battle between USU and BYU often takes a back seat to The Holy War between BYU and Utah, and Davidson said he feels that’s because of the lopsided recent history.
“Probably because (BYU) has beaten us so much, they think that it’s an easy win for them,” Davidson said. “Since we beat them last time they might actually think its a rivalry now, because we can actually play with them.”
Bejarano shared some of Davidson’s thinking.
“This year and last year is looking a little different, because its no secret that BYU has kind of been struggling these last two years,” he said. “This game should be more exciting. I feel like there might be a little more tink of rivalry this year. It just seems like its been too lopsided lately to mean much on campus.”
So what makes a rivalry a rivalry? Here are just a few ideas.
The familiarity of teams: The better acquainted a team is with an opponent, the more passion and motivation will be present during games. Teams often find rivalries with opponents every year, if not multiple times a year. BYU and Utah State have played each other all but nine years during the last 100 years.
Geographic proximity: Teams located close to each other on the map seem to have a more bitter competition than most others. Fans in close proximity to one another have encounters that are blood boiling and aggravating, creating tension between teams. The Aggies and Cougars are located just over 100 miles apart, roughly two hours by car. This makes for easy travel between universities and results in lots of encounters of fans from each team.
Tight battles over the years: Closely contested games year after year makes for exciting football and gets adrenaline flowing in the heart of every fan. These thrilling events leave fans craving more and create great hype. When a series becomes too one sided, the fire and flare for the contest can become stagnant. Recently, the scoreboard has been one sided, because BYU won the previous 10 games before Utah State’s win last year. However, Utah State actually led the overall series, 32-31, before the Cougars won every game from 1993-2010. A general look at statistics for the series indicates an even and competitive rivalry.
Tokens of victory: When teams clash, the goal is to come away with more than just bragging rights. Having a trophy, or symbol of some kind, that changes hands as teams beat each other through the years is a motivator for most players heading into those games. Utah State and BYU fight for ownership of the Old Wagon Wheel each time they play.
A good chunk of what defines a rivalry is the amount of emotion and thought put into it. The other half the formula seems to be the quality of competition. With these things in mind, how does the Utah State-BYU rivalry stack up?
“I think that this game is more important than usual for the rivalry,” said BYU senior Billy Hancock.
Spencer Williams, a junior biological engineering major at Utah State, said he thinks the rivalry is very much alive, since USU won the game last season.
“We won the Old Wagon Wheel last year,” Williams said. “That’s gonna fuel the rivalry for a long time, just because we won. We’re gonna have to bring it back, we’re gonna have to fight for it, and we’re gonna get it.”
Utah State has not won the Old Wagon Wheel in back-to-back seasons since 1973-74 — something BYU hopes to avoid, Friday. Utah State hasn’t won in Provo since 1978.
As Utah State football head coach Gary Andersen said, Oct. 1, 2010, “I guess we can call it a rivalry now, huh? We finally got a victory.”
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu