Hello from Utah, Bobcats. It looks like we're going to be playing each other a little later this month. I'm quite excited about this. I have to admit, I really don't know anything about your program or what city Ohio University is even in, but I thought I'd come here and say hello since I imagine most of you probably feel the same way about Utah State.

So I'm sure most of you are pretty hardcore football fans, but in case you aren't - we're not the Utes. Don't confuse us as the Utes unless you want me confusing you as the Buckeyes. We're also not the Mormons. That's BYU. If you confuse us as BYU I'll be sure to confuse you as Mole people. Sure a lot of students at Utah State are Mormon, but the school itself has zero affiliation with any religion and is state funded. Both of the Salt Lake schools are our rivals, but both schools also hate each other more than us as we don't reside in the same media market. Logan is about 80 miles outside of Salt Lake and has some giant mountains in between them. Population wise USU is the smallest major university in the state, but it doesn't make it any less prestigious. 

Our basketball program is usually the sport that gets us national attention. They're having a heavy rebuilding season this year, but currently have a 14 season streak of 23+ wins and most non-haters in out west will agree that Logan (where the Utah State University main campus is) is the toughest place to play in the region. Utah State fans are notorious for being rather dedicated. 

So.. Football, that's really all we care about each other's respective universities at this point, right? 

Utah State football for many years has been rather painful to watch. We had a 1 win season 5 years ago, followed by 2 wins, 3 wins, 4, 4 and 7 (hopefully 8) this year. The last time we played in a bowl was in 1997 and the last time we had a winning season was in 1993.

This year Utah State started the season out with heartbreaking loss after heartbreaking loss (maybe you saw the Auburn game?) and was 2-5 before the starting true freshman quarterback went down in a game against Hawaii. We were down 28-7 at the time. His backup, a junior, replaced him and went on a tear. We won that game 35-31 and I've never been so happy about an Aggie football game before in my life. 

After that every game was similarly intense and I probably lost about 3 years off of my life due to Aggie-football related stress this year. We won out and next we get to face you (or at least, so I've read... I suppose it's technically not official yet.)

Anyway, I look forward to the game in Boise. I hope it's a close game and I hope Utah State wins, but I also hope we can gain respect for each others programs and universities in the process, regardless of who wins. That's what college sports are about, right? Mostly, I'm just happy we made it to a bowl game. This has been a very exciting season for Utah State fans.

I would also like to learn about your school and football team! Feel free to write a summary of how your season went down and maybe what the attitude of Bobcat fans are about facing us in the Potato Bowl. Will many of you be traveling to Boise? Is Ohio a good university? When I go to grad school do I want to apply there? (Kidding.. I don't think I could ever live in the midwest, no offense.)

Anyway, if somehow another MAC team ends up in Boise, I'll have to come back and copy/paste this essay to some other board, and my apologies at the assumption, but otherwise I look forward to watching the Aggies play you.

Thanks for the post -- basketball is primarily what I know Utah State for (and while I think you stole our chant, I have to admit you execute it well).  I did also note you guys played Auburn quite well earlier in the year.  Welcome, and I guess we'll know tonight if we'll be playing for sure!

Hi everyone and thanks for the replies. OU sounds similar to USU in many aspects. USU is a very community campus as well. Logan is 50,000 people and USU makes up about 15,000 of those people. We also have a big halloween party here every year too. Biggest in the state - though I'll admit, Utah isn't exactly a party state.

Unfortunate that it'll be tough for the students and alum to make it out to Boise. I think it'd be really exciting to see a good turnout for the other team and really experience college bowl atmosphere as it's a pretty new experience for Aggie fans. Utah State will have a lot of fans in Boise, I'm certain. Not only are the fans of USU rather excessively loyal, as stated before, but Boise really just isn't that far from Logan or from Salt Lake (where I and probably most of the alumni live.) It's about a 4-5 hour drive from where I am.

As for the close game with NMSU, yeah - that certainly wasn't an impressive showing by Utah State in that game, but we got the win and that's what mattered at that point.  Also if you look at USU's schedule this year - they really didn't blow anyone out (besides Wyoming and an FCS school), but they also didn't lose to anyone by much either. They tend to play the level of their competition which can be exciting and annoying at times.

Anyway, sorry about your loss to NIU, but I'm happy about it as I think you guys will be a better opponent than Toledo would have been. 

Appreciate the note, Geo.  Keep checking in with us.  You'll see a good bit of information answering your questions between now and the bowl game.  

P.o.t.Y!

Another Aggie visitor here. First, congratulations on a great season. I know you had a tough loss in your championship game. I hope your team can get past it and have a great bowl experience. We have great respect for the MAC. We're excited to be playing a quality team with recent bowl experience. Second, I love Athens; the quintessential college town! My first year at Duke medical school, I used to drive up on long weekends and breaks to visit my girlfriend (now wife!) who was a senior at BGSU. I would drive up through WV and cut across Ohio on the diagonal. I thought Athens was gorgeous.
I have to admit, I am nervous about this game. We have a very potent running offense, but OU obviously has a very high quality team. Your pass offense has me very nervous. Our biggest weakness is probably our secondary. On the other hand, I would be careful about using NMSU as a reference point. Unlike math, college football does not have a transitive property. For example, we lost to Colorado State 35-34 in double overtime. We humiliated Wyoming 63-19 in our biggest beat-down of the season. So, CSU should easily beat Wyoming, right? Wrong; Wyoming beats CSU 22-19 to take third place in the Mountain West. We are definitely not taking you lightly. I'm just saying that every game is a unique entity. This is our first bowl game in 14 years. Our guys are totally charged up. I think it will be a good game.
On another note, I agree with the insanity of the bowl match-ups. The reality is, most bowls would rather take the #9 team in a BCS conference than even the first place team in a non-BCS conference. So, even good non-BCS teams get relegated to second and third tier bowls in less desireable venues. I really didn't want to be in the FIPB either. I was hoping for the KFH bowl as well. Having said that, I know that the FIPB presents some unique advantages for us. It is almost a home game. I would not be surprised to see USU put 15,000 fans in the stands. The Boise community is pretty supportive of the bowl. If they put another 10,000 in the stands, you're looking at 25,000+ in a 35,000 seat stadium. If they keep the cameras away from the bald spots, it won't look too bad.
Go AGGIES!

Good Lord, let it go.

Getting to Boise from Salt Lake is pretty easy.  It is well maintained interstate all the way.  They only part that can get a bit dicy because of weather is right around the Idaho state line.  The western interstate that will occasionally get closed is I-80 in Wyoming.  This is quite different.  Driving around Boise is fairly easy.  The highs are comparable to Salt Lake, but the lows are typically higher, because the altitude in Boise is lower.  I hope that made sense.  Boise is less snowy than Salt Lake.  It is in the rain shadow of the Cascade mountains, and has no lake effect, like Salt Lake has.
Go AGGIES!

All I know about Utah State is that they stole our winning team losing team chant for basketball. 

That should be enough motivation for our football team right there.