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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Utah State willingly subjected itself to domination and frankly, embarrassment, at Alabama Saturday night.
Facing the No. 1 team in the country, who are in the midst of arguably the greatest dynasty run in college football history, the Aggies, who finished ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 last year and beat two Power Five schools, trailed 41-0 at halftime and lost 55-0.
As highlighted in a prior story, Utah State was eager for the game — for the money it provided ($1.91 million) and for the opportunity to go up against one of the more historically significant football teams ever assembled.
But did they have to play the game?
Surely, there were better options than getting swallowed by the Crimson Tide (to say nothing of the potential impact to the team's health and psyche in the second game of the season). Yes, the Aggies need to play guaranteed games to keep the lights on, but there are less burdensome ways going about it.
South Carolina paid Georgia State $1.45 million to come to Columbia Saturday; Georgia State lost 35-14. Michigan paid a rebuilding Colorado State $1.8 million to come to Ann Arbor; the Rams lost 51-7, but it was only 23-0 at halftime.
Yes, that's a small sample size and still lopsided games, but teams who, entering the season, were arguably inferior to Utah State fell to teams inferior to Alabama in a less demeaning fashion. They also did it for nearly the same amount of money.
In a league with less parity at the top than perhaps any other sport of significance, there are realistically eight schools in a given year who recruit at the necessary level to have national title hopes. These schools should be on the no-play list.
The Aggies, though, keep scheduling them.
In 2019, Utah State went to LSU and ran into Joe Burrow and the future national champion Tigers. Whether or not it was causation, the game provided a noticeable shift in morale. Entering the LSU game, the Aggies were 3-1, which included a win over San Diego State; afterward, they were 4-4 and lost to Kent State in the bowl game.
They may be making the same mistake in 2025, as they have committed to playing Texas A&M, who just signed the best recruiting class in college football this offseason. In the meantime, Nevada just signed a deal with Penn State — a good but not great team — to come to University Park for $1.5 million.
Agreeing to play Alabama is on a whole different level.
Alabama is a team with arguably the greatest coach of all time, boasts six national championships since 2009, and has zero limitations on the recruiting trail. They pulled their Heisman quarterback Bryce Young out of Mater Dei in Southern California; their top defensive player, Will Anderson Jr., was recruited out of Georgia's backyard; and their second-leading receiver on Saturday night, Jermaine Burton, is from Southern California and transferred from Georgia.
As coach Blake Anderson pointed out, "People in the SEC come here and get treated exactly the same way," including Tennessee and Mississippi State, who lost to Alabama 52-24 and 49-9, respectively, last season.
But alas, Utah State's athletic department chased the dollar figures and put an otherwise respectable team into a position where its coach is saying things like: "I wish this was not an environment that our team had to be in, but it is what it is. This is a game that you had to come play. I didn't feel like we were physically gonna match up very well; we didn't."
Granted, Utah State did not play very well.
Acknowledging the superior talent of the opposing team can be a useful tactic to shield some of that blame. There are serious questions surround an Aggies team that was out-gained by 423 yards and, a week prior, just edged out Connecticut.
Tuscaloosa is an impressive place, and Saturday was certainly a cool experience to take in for the handful of Aggie fans who made the trip. The fans pitch the tailgate tents and clog up the streets in droves starting at 8 a.m. It's a place seeped with history, with a museum dedicated to Bear Bryant, and footprints of former Heisman trophy winners carved into cement.
But why play Alabama when you can go to South Carolina or Penn State and still get paid swimmingly?
