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LOGAN -- The Utah State Aggies accomplished something Friday that they had not done since Bill Clinton was elected President, the first time, and Michael Jordan was winning the last of his first NBA championship three-peat.
It had been 17 long years since the Aggies beat the BYU Cougars. The last time it happened MTV's Beavis and Butthead just became popular, Whitney Houston was on top of the music industry and grunge flannel and shoulder pads were dueling as conflicting styles.
It was 1993, and quarterback Anthony Calvillo led his Aggies to the 58-56 shootout upset over the Cougars.
Almost two decades later, not only did the Aggies beat BYU, but they convincingly defeated every aspect of the Cougar's game. They ran for 242 yards, held the Cougar running game under 100 yards, and even had a nice 67-yard kickoff return on special teams.
"This was a huge step forward," Head Coach Gary Andersen said. "To beat BYU is huge."
The week before the game was not without problems. Early Monday morning coach Andersen injured his neck from a fainting spell. Before then he had never missed a football practice.
"He's a tough guy," senior quarterback Diondre Borel said. "He doesn't want to miss practice, it motivated us a lot."
It was obvious throughout the game that the Aggies were the more motivated team. The Aggie running game looked unstoppable at times, allowing Borel to work his magic.
"Like I said before, he can be a great quarterback when he has a supporting cast," Andersen said. "I thought tonight the supporting cast really played well."
The defensive backs looked unbeatable at times. For most of the game they were playing man-to-man on the Cougar wide receivers and they made it almost impossible for the receivers to make catches. They held BYU's freshman quarterback Jake Heaps to a completion rate of just barely of 50 percent.
"The defensive staff did a tremendous job of taking away what BYU had success with in the first few games," Andersen said.
Borel emphasized the importance of this win, but is not dwelling on it for too long.
"We just gotta keep going from here, move on to the next team," Borel said now looking towards Louisiana Tech.
The fans played a huge part in the game. At times it felt that Romney Stadium had become The Spectrum. At the end of the game, the fans stormed the field.
"It was a great feeling and something I'll always remember," said running back Dervvin Speight, who tore up the BYU defense for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
Borel described it best when he said, "It was all smiles."
