BYU Football: Should BYU keep playing Utah State?

Oct 1, 2021; Logan, Utah, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Baylor Romney (16) drops back to pass during the second quarter against the Utah State Aggies at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2021; Logan, Utah, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Baylor Romney (16) drops back to pass during the second quarter against the Utah State Aggies at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 1, 2021; Logan, Utah, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Baylor Romney (16) drops back to pass during the second quarter against the Utah State Aggies at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports BYU Football
Oct 1, 2021; Logan, Utah, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Baylor Romney (16) drops back to pass during the second quarter against the Utah State Aggies at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports BYU Football /

One could make a strong argument that Utah State has been BYU Football’s biggest issue since going Independent.

BYU Football has lost a quarterback eleven times by my count in a game over the past decade. Six of those injuries have come against Utah State. That’s right, BYU has played nine times against Utah State and been injured six times while in the other 110 games only five times.

Again –

Injury percentage against Utah State – 66.6%

Injury percentage against other teams – 4.5%

Am I saying that Utah State is trying to injure BYU? No, of course not. But the sample size is starting to get pretty large and whether it’s karma, too many cow jokes or just the playstyle of Utah State, it is getting to the point where this can’t be a coincidence.

While some are starting to make calls to never play the Aggies again, I’m going to take things a step further and demand we never play again, at least in any kind of regular rivalry. The reality is, Utah State has killed BYU’s chances of having success too many times.

Playing hypotheticals of course is a dangerous game. After all, who knows, maybe if BYU plays UNLV in 2015 instead of USU Taysom still goes down, but I’m going to play it as a 4.5% of happening. The next painful minutes for you will show what ‘could’ have happened if the Cougars never played Utah State the last decade.