Utah State football: With Utah gone, the Aggies looking at Mountain West

LOGAN — Aggie fans, for the most part, welcomed the news of Utah moving onward and upward to the Pac-10 with excitement.

Why? Because if ever there was an opportunity for Utah State to join BYU in a conference, it might be now.

But Aggie athletic director Scott Barnes said that is far from a likely occurrence, though not an impossibility.

"Right now, our focus is working on keeping the WAC as strong as possible," Barnes said Wednesday shortly after the Utes' move to the Pac-10 became a certainty. "The WAC has had some good years recently, and we want to continue to focus on carrying that forward."

Of course, the loss of Boise State to the MWC hurts the WAC's football future, and Barnes acknowledged as much.

"As I've said, losing Boise State was an untimely punch to the stomach, but no more than that," Barnes said. "It's not a knock-down punch. We'll survive this."

Another impact of Utah's departure to the Pac-10 is the future of one of America's longest-running rivalries. With the Utes having as many as nine conference games and an annual meeting with BYU, there may not be room for the Aggies in many future schedules.

"One of the concerns that all of us have with realignment is protecting rivalry games," Barnes said. "Certainly, it is important to us, and we will work to make sure we continue to play Utah in football in the future."

Ideally, for Utah State fans, following Boise State to the MWC would be a dream come true. But with virtually no additional television sets to offer the MWC — BYU already provides the Utah market to the MWC — USU doesn't have a lot to offer.

Still, there has been some contact between USU president Stan Albrecht and administration at MWC offices and schools, a source at USU said.

"I know President Albrecht was on the phone with people at BYU (Wednesday) morning, talking about conference expansion," the source said. "I don't know who initiated the contact, but I know there has been outreach."

Barnes did say the WAC has numerous options to consider and discuss regarding the league's future. Those include inviting additional schools — the most frequently mentioned include Montana, Portland State and UC Davis — or remaining as an eight-school conference.

"We are committed to doing everything we can to strengthen the WAC as long as we are members of the conference," Barnes said.