Utah State football: Aggies aim to emulate Boise State

LOGAN — When Utah State meets No. 6 Boise State on the Romney Stadium football field this evening, the Aggies will look across the line of scrimmage and see what they, someday, hope to be.

Boise State, a team that in the not-too-distant past was a Division I newcomer struggling to survive in the Big West, is now the envy of nearly all non-BCS schools.

The Broncos, owners of a 108-17 record over the past 10 seasons, are the little team from the small market in the spud state that is showing the football world it's possible to earn spots in BCS bowls and become a national power — even if the national powers refuse to admit it.

"Let's just say they are deserving of their ranking," Utah State coach Gary Andersen said. "They are as good of an opponent as I've prepared for in a number of years."

Boise State, simply put, is no longer that little team in Idaho with the quirky blue turf — the Broncos haven't been that team for most of the decade. Now, BSU is the team that scares the bejeebers out of teams from the Pac 10, Big 12 and other conferences so much that Boise State finds itself mounting a public scheduling challenge to any school willing to suit up against the Broncos.

BSU will, without requiring a return game, take on anybody out there next season.

So far, no takers.

That schools like Utah State, a program mired in a nearly three-decade span with only two winning seasons, aspires to become more like Boise State — the focus of a Sports Illustrated article this week — is no surprise. Figuring out the formula to get there, though, is the challenge.

Can Utah State become Boise State? If so, how?

"Everybody wants to win, that's the bottom line," said BSU coach Chris Petersen, who has a record of 45-4 in four years at the school. "We don't have the biggest stadium or the most money that everybody else has, but we've still figured out a way to win some games."

Boise State's success is not an overnight story. The Broncos have been posting winning seasons for a long time. BSU won the I-AA national championship in 1980 and, since Dirk Koetter took over the program in 1998, has not had a losing season. In fact, the Broncos, since 1999, have posted fewer than 10 wins only twice and have not won fewer than eight games.

So what's the secret to the success?

"You've got to be able to build an identity," USU's Andersen said. "They've done that. They have established themselves as a winning team and they now have that tradition."