Provo Preview

The Aggie men travel to that school down south tonight. You know the one we beat in basketball last year, the one we beat in football this year, the one that still doesn't think we are a rival. A win tonight will solidify the fact that we are indeed a rival. In what could be the last game in the series for some time the Utah State Aggies (1-0) take on the #23 Brigham Young Cougars (1-0).

It's a huge early season match up, especially for the Aggies as they only play one more quality opponent out of. A win will go a long way come tournament time in March. Here is what happened up in Logan last year when the two teams met up. Hopefully there will be more of that tonight and my road spectating record will improve to 2-3. It will be a tough game for the Aggies, who are already missing starting forward Nate Bendall, as defensive specialist Pooh Williams may be unable to go after straining his groin in the opener vs. Weber State. He is listed as a game time decision but I expect him to play in a game as big as this.

Some quick facts about the game via the USU Media Guide:

• Utah State and Brigham Young will be playing for the 227th time this week in what is the oldest rivalry in school history. USU's first game against BYU was during the 1905-06 season. The Aggies trail in the all-time series 135-91. The first game played in the series was on Feb. 23, 1906 with BYU winning 21-14. The last time the two teams played was on Dec. 2, 2009 in Logan with USU winning, 71-61. The last time the two teams played in Provo was Dec. 16, 2006 with BYU winning, 75-62, and the last time Utah State won at BYU was on Dec. 18, 2004, 84-62. Overall, USU has won six of the last nine games played in the series.
• Utah State has won 16 straight regular season games dating back to the 2009-10 season with its last regular season loss coming at Louisiana Tech, 82-60, on Jan. 4, 2010.
• Utah State has won 24 of its last 30 games versus in-state opponents and is 31-10 (.756) against the state of Utah during the last 11 years. During that time period, USU is 6-4 versus Brigham Young, 6-4 versus Utah, 11-2 versus Weber State, 5-0 against Utah Valley and 3-0 against Southern Utah. Overall, USU is 32-15 (.681) versus teams from the state of Utah under Morrill.
• Utah State is 11-56 (.164) all-time against ranked opponents, which includes a 5-13 (.278) record under Morrill. The last time USU played a ranked opponent was in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament when it lost to No. 23 Texas A&M, 69-53. The last time USU defeated a ranked team was on March 9, 2007 when it beat then No. 9 Nevada, 79-77, in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament.
• Utah State is starting the 2010-11 season with four-straight in-state games as it defeated Weber State (77-65) at home, plays at Brigham Young (11/17) and Southern Utah (11/20) and hosts Utah (11/24). Those four in-state games to start the year are the most for USU since the 1991-92 team began its season by playing five-straight in-state opponents.
• Utah State's four returning starters have a combined 353 games played while at USU including 288 starts.
• Only one player on the Aggie roster has ever played a game at BYU, Morgan Grimm a U of U transfer.

The Comeback Kids

(AP Photo)

Just wanted to make a quick note on the Jazz. They are tearing it up! Last Monday they left of their early season eastern conference road-trip making stops in Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, and Charlotte. I predicted that they would win one, maybe two games at most. This first road trip has been bad for the Jazz the past few years, they usually return with a losing record. Well not this year, they won all four games on the Atlantic coast! And they did it in amazing comeback fashion each and every time! They now sit at an impressive 7-3 and have swagger, knowing they can come back from anything! They will have some good tests this week in Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Hopefully they will keep this streak going.

The End Starts Tonight!

Well tonight, at approximately 7:05, my senior season of enjoying Aggie basketball begins as the Aggies take on in-state rival Weber State. It'll be a bitter sweet moment for me, so happy for the fun nights in the Spectrum to begin but sad that this is it! This is it for me watching as a student. This is it for my friends and favorite players playing, Tyler Newbold, Tai Wesley and Matt Formisano. That being said there are 30+ games and I thoroughly believe that those boys are going to do everything in their power to win every single one of them!

There are two key games in the early part of the season, Nov. 17 @ #24 BYU and Dec. 4 @ #20 Georgetown. Both will be tough tests and at least one victory will be needed to boost the Aggies tournament resume come March. Other than that there aren't many games the Aggies should lose if the team comes together like they usually do by January.

As I stated before it will be the senior season for Tai Wesley (who is the only Aggie to ever record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 blocks), Tyler Newbold, Pooh Williams, Nate Bendall (assuming he recovers soon from a foot injury), and Matt Formisano. Wesley, Newbold, and Williams will all retain their starting positions. Athletic Brady Jardine will fill in while Bendall is injured and JuCo transfer Brockeith Pane will run the point. From the two preseason games, Pane looks like a very exciting player and could be the missing piece to help this seasoned line-up win an NCAA tournament game.

Some analysts are saying Utah State is the most likely team to go unbeaten through the regular season, I won't go that far. My predictions are as follows, the Aggies will lose 3 games throughout the season, Georgetown and two WAC road contests. The team will win WAC Regular Season Championship for the fourth straight year and then win the WAC Tournament in Vegas with a strong Aggie crowd behind them. And finally they will win, not one but TWO tournament games propelling them into the Sweet 16. Too bold? Nah, these guys are ready for this.

Commercial of the Week!

Brandon Jennings almost gets into a car accident with Stuart Scott.

Miracle in Miami? Nah, just Milsap in Miami!

Down by as many as 22 at one point in the game the Jazz and their fans were sure a loss was in store to Lebron James and the Miami Heat on the first game of their Eastern Conference road trip. That was until Paul Millsap caught fire from three-point! A man who had only knocked down two triples in his entire NBA career, made THREE in less than 30 seconds! With only four seconds left in regulation and the Jazz down by two points, here is the live reaction from my house...

Who else but Paul Millsap would tip it in to send the game to OT?! Unbelievable performance by this man. He is turning into quite the leader. What a start to the road trip as the scrappy Jazz went on to win by two in overtime with Deron Willams fouled out on the bench. And then to come back from 18 down to Orlando and win tonight the road trip is already a success. I personally thought we would win one of the four games. Hopefully there are even more surprises from this unheralded 2010-2011 Jazz team as the season goes on.

One More Game in January

As I was watching Utah get dismantled by TCU yesterday, it hit me just how unfair the BCS system was! I have always been a proponent of a playoff system in college football, it's really the simplest thing to make the game better. It's the year 2010 people, we should have a playoff system by now! In my ideal world there would be an eight team playoff, each major conference champion getting a spot, plus two "wild-card/at-large" teams. Yesterday though, I realized that even a "plus one" playoff system would suffice.

Why? Because there is no doubt in my mind that we are going to need it this year more than ever! And who are we going to need it for? Boise State. Yes, I said it. I want to see Boise State, the same Boise State I despise, have a chance at a national championship.

Here is how I see it breaking down: Auburn will eventually lose to Alabama or in the SEC Championship. While Oregon, TCU and Boise State are all going to run the table, and finish undefeated for the regular season. And if the BCS doesn't change, as I believe it won't because Boise State doesn't have enough high quality opponents remaining to push them ahead, it will be TCU/Oregon in the national championship.

This bothers me for one big reason. Boise State beat both of those teams last year! Both TCU and Oregon! Sure it's a different season, but not really a different team for the Broncos. Nearly all of there key players from last year have returned and I definitely feel that they can beat either of those two teams again. So that's it, they need there chance and they aren't going to get it because of some computer system.

There was a Nike ad that called for a plus one game a couple of years back, having brackets of two winners from bowl games meeting against one another saying "Just do it." This year, throw out all the rules and regulations that the NCAA, BCS and those stingy college presidents impose. If you really want to call yourself a champion, Oregon/TCU/Boise State, you better be the last undeafeted team out there! Play that extra game. Pretty sure our friends at Nike and ESPN would be more than willing to foot the bill.