Brad Rock: Signature win over Utes has Aggies believing in rivalry again

LOGAN Oh, all right.

If he wants to get all picky about it.

Utah State coach Gary Andersen has repeatedly said, since becoming the Aggies coach, that it isnt a rivalry until its competitive.

In that case, break out the face paint.

Even as the Utah State-Utah series wavered due to scheduling hang-ups, the Aggies scored a shot in favor of continuation with a 27-20 overtime win over the Utes, Friday at Romney Stadium. Just when it seemed Utah and BYU might leave Utah State all by its lonesome, the Aggies started giving both programs a reality check.

USU isnt going to concede instate bragging rights just yet.

The win made the Aggies 2-3 in instate games since Andersen left Utah to become head coach at Utah State four seasons ago. Competitive? Yes, the Aggies have been that lately: An overtime win this year against Utah, a last-second loss at BYU last year, and a win over the Cougars in 2010 says a lot.

Theres no dodging the fact the Aggies are a different program in a different place than they were under previous coach Brent Guy. With admission into the Mountain West Conference ahead, a bowl game right behind them, and a win over a Pac-12 team, things havent looked this good in Logan in awhile, maybe even since the good old days. School officials commemorated those days with a halftime salute to recent USU Hall of Fame inductees, including Eric Hipple and James Murphy, who starred on some imposing Aggie teams in the late 1970s and early 80s.

Todays Aggies?

Weve seen signs every year that Gary (Andersen) has been the coach that were moving forward, said athletics director Scott Barnes. To have a day like this and oh, by the way, it happens to be on national TV its a signature win, a win that can change programs.

Speaking of changing programs, that hasnt happened lately for the Utes. Last year they struggled through early problems to win five of their last six games behind backup quarterback Jon Hays. Fast forward to 2012 and it looks dangerously like the same Utes as last year. Starting quarterback Jordan Wynn was ineffective on Friday, passing for just 47 yards before a hard hit sidelined him with an injured shoulder.

That leaves them again with Hays to run the team, thanks to an injury. They might even be better off that way.

Isnt this where they left off? Hays brought Utah back to tie the score late in the fourth quarter on a 24-yard pass, and even came close to knotting it again in overtime with a strike to Jake Murphy. But the play was negated on an interference call and the Utes couldnt repeat.

Weve got a long day tomorrow, Hays said.

It wasnt just that Fridays game might have been the last in Logan for the 110-game series. It was that the game actually seemed to have some prior intrigue. That hasnt been the case since the Van Buren administration. Every year theres the usual rhetoric about rivalries and coaching crossover, but truth is, the game has usually been as suspenseful as a trip to the cheese factory.

But Andersen, a former defensive coordinator at Utah, knew all that. Only once in 12 games did his teams at Utah lose to the Aggies. Competitive wasnt the word for it. Gruesome was. Utah won by such lopsided scores as 38-18, 35-14, 23-3, 40-20, 48-6, 31-7, 48-0 and 58-10.

By comparison, USUs 35-17 loss to Utah in 2009 was practically a suspense novel.

While its true USU has occasionally had better teams than Utah, it hasnt often happened. Last time USU won two straight was in 1996-97. Last time it won three in a row was 1974-76. That three-year streak was the longest Aggie run in series history. Even during Utahs lackluster 1980s years, Utah was winning nearly all the games.