Blue roundup: USU 'welcomes' BYU to Spectrum tonight

Utah State fans have established a reputation for being hostile and creative, especially when BYU comes to town. Those traits were on display Thursday night, when the Cougars arrived at The Spectrum for a shootaround ahead of tonight's big season-opener.

This video shows the Cougars getting off the bus to a contingent of Aggie fans greeting them with some colorful jeers and chants. Just imagine what tonight's environment will be like.

"Maybe if it wasn't dark outside, it wouldn't feel so sinister. If I'm a BYU player, I'm slightly intimidated getting off that bus," writes Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com. "I'm slightly intimidated doing much of anything in that arena, frankly. I'm not intimidated by Wild Bill. That's more of a distraction. But in tandem, look out. Tonight's Spectrum atmosphere could be one for the ages."

Turning to football, BYU hosts Idaho Saturday night. Long-time KSL color commentator, former Cougar quarterback and former Olympus High coach Marc Lyons offers an insightful preview of the game.

"Here's the scoop on Idaho," writes Lyons. "First of all, BYU is coming off a bye week and U of I is coming off a great comeback win against San Jose State. They are all pumped up and want to keep the good times rolling. BYU has had lots of practice time with little excitement, but good specific work on areas that they want to see improvement this week. It will be important for BYU to be ready at the opening whistle this week. Here's why. Idaho has been shut out in the first quarter in four games this year, it is their worst scoring quarter and the fourth quarter is their best."

And finally, obligatory conference realignment news: Oklahoma President David Boren said the Big 12 is settled with 10 teams through the 2012 football season, but didn’t rule out the possibility that two more teams could be added in 2013.