The Brigham Young Cougars carry the Old Wagon Wheel after beating USU in Logan Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. BYU won 51-28. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Cougars enter Saturday’s 8 p.m. game at frosty, cold Maverik Stadium in search of first win over Aggies since 2016 with a backup quarterback, most likely redshirt freshman Jaren Hall
LOGAN — With all due respect to Utah State and the way the Aggies have improved their football program the past decade, BYU coach Kalani Sitake said on Monday his good friends in the Cache Valley have something that the Cougars believe should be adorning their trophy case in Provo.
“I just want the ‘Wheel’ back,” Sitake said, rather adamantly. “That’s all that matters.”
Wresting the prize that signifies supremacy in one of the oldest rivalries in the country — the Battle for the Old Wagon Wheel — away from the Aggies is of particularly great importance to BYU and Sitake this year, seeing as they’ve lost their last five instate games, two to USU and three to Utah, since beating the Ags 28-10 in Provo on Nov. 26, 2016.
The 89th meeting between 3-4 BYU and 4-3 USU kicks off at 8 p.m. at Maverik Stadium and will be televised by ESPN2. The Cougars lead the series 48-37-3, but USU has won three of the last five and will be looking to take three in a row from BYU for the first time since winning four straight in the early 1970s. Utah State is favored by a field goal, probably because it is playing at home, where it has won 10 straight.
“Utah State will give us their best shot,” Sitake said, discounting the Ags’ 31-7 loss to Air Force last Saturday while the Cougars were enjoying a bye. “That happens in these rivalry games, and I guess my job is to make sure they get ours in return.”
His own job could very well depend on it.
Sitake and the Cougars won some of their fans back by upsetting another rival, Boise State, on Oct. 19 to snap a three-game losing skid, but could easily give all that goodwill away with another poor performance away from home. The coach said lack of motivation won’t be an excuse.
“Our guys have been up and ready for every game,” Sitake said. “They have had the energy and the excitement, and the effort has been there. So that hasn’t been an issue at all all season long.”
BYU tight end Moroni Laulu-Pututau, a Cache Valley native, said USU “always has a chip on its shoulder” when it faces BYU because the Aggies perceive the Cougars don’t respect them and also think they should get the type of attention BYU receives from the media.
“But we actually have a lot of respect for them,” Laulu-Pututau said. “We know they’re really good. We know they’ve got great players.”
That list includes fifth-year graduate transfer running back Riley Burt, the latest Aggie to have transferred to USU from BYU. Utah State also boasts a quarterback that Sitake calls “one of the best in the country” in junior Jordan Love, who celebrates his 21st birthday Saturday, and one of the top kick returners in the country, Savon Scarver.
Gerold Bright (89 carries, 469 yards) and Snow College transfer Jaylen Warren form a potent rushing attack, although Warren is ailing and might not play. Utah transfer Siaosi Mariner is their top receiver and junior linebacker David Woodward, an All-American, their top tackler.
“It’s a big rivalry for them, everyone knows that,” said BYU linebacker Payton Wilgar, from St. George. “But it is a big rivalry for us, too. All the Utah teams, there is a lot of hate and tension between us. It is going to be a fun game.”
Referencing something he saw on Twitter presumably written by a Utah State fan, BYU safety Dayan Ghanwoloku said the Aggies will play “like they are protecting their dairy farm” and said it would be up to the Cougars to “take over” and get the wagon wheel back.
“They are going to come out ready to play, especially hating BYU how they do,” Ghanwoloku said. “They are going to come out angry about the game they lost (to Air Force). … So we are happy they are going to come out playing their best, and we are going to come out playing our best, too.”
Sitake said USU will be a “different beast” than the group that gave up 448 rushing yards, 472 overall, to the Falcons and managed just 128 yards themselves. Utah State always busts out some new stuff when it plays BYU.
“They play really well at home and they are capable of putting up a lot of points, so defensively we are going to have to be on top of everything,” Sitake said. “If we can have that same type of performance (as against BSU) this week I think we will be ready.”
BYU will march into Logan with a backup quarterback starting for the second-straight time, having lost 40-24 here in 2017 when Beau Hoge, Austin Kafentzis and Koy Detmer Jr. all tried their hand at moving the offense in the place of season starter Tanner Mangum. They committed seven turnovers.
This time, coaches won’t say whether second-stringer Jaren Hall or third-stringer Baylor Romney will get the nod, but most insiders believe the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Hall will take the first snaps. Neither QB talked to the media this week.
“I don’t see any advantage to announcing it, so we are not going to,” BYU quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick said. “Obviously, it will be the guy who we think gives us the best chance to win.”
And get that wagon wheel back.
Cougars on the air
BYU (3-4) at Utah State (4-3)
At Maverik Stadium, Logan
Saturday, 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN2
Radio: KSL 1160 AM, 102.7 FM
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