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College football week got an early start with a big win for the Utes over Oregon St. Tonight BYU comes off its bye week and plays in Logan against in-state rival Utah St.
The Cougars and Aggies continue their long and storied rivalry tonight. They've met 77 times in the past.
BYU is ranked 7th in the country while Utah St. is struggling for respectability, but just because this rivalry is one sided doesn't mean it's any less intense
Despite the fact that the records aren't the same and BYU is an overwhelming favorite, both these teams have mutual respect for each other.
"I like watching their offense. I think they are imaginative. I think they are creative and I think they have good athletes," says BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "As they're gaining momentum, which I believed was the case in their victory over Idaho, there have been stretches against any and all of their opponents when where they have looked, I think, effective."
"We can't try to play catch up. We've got to match and play with them during the football game," Utah St. coach Brent Guy professes. "A defense that's not give given up any points in two games will be a big challenge for our offense to score points."
BYU has beaten the Aggies eight straight times, but the Cougars know better than to take anything for granted. Cougar quarterback Max Hall says he and his teammates are not overlooking this game, "You've got to be ready to play. Utah St. is going to want to play us tough. It's going be at their place. It's going to be a fun atmosphere, a fun game to play, but we have to make sure we're not lazy or not precise in our execution after a bye week."
"There will be a lot of BYU fans, but we are going to have our fans supporting us to," says Aggies quarterback Diondre Borel. "So, hopefully we get a win this weekend. We are going to practice hard and play hard."
History is definitely on the side of the Cougars. The Aggies have only beaten BYU three times since 1975. And Utah St. has never beaten a ranked team under Brent Guy.
The Vegas odds makers also believe BYU is the favorite. They have the Aggies as 31-point underdogs even though they are playing at home.
E-mail: jjensen@ksl.com
