Soft Schedule Dooms Utah State

When Utah State lost at Nevada Saturday night, some felt it was one of those "nothing to play for games." And some means Utah State fans trying to spin this awful loss. But when you are good mid-major team searching for respect, you cannot afford to have an off night. When an at-large bid hangs in the balance, you need to play every game like it's a tournament game.

The Aggies did not.

Utah State clinched the WAC title on Thursday night. Saturday's loss to Nevada sealed its reputation as a fraudulent team. And the reason is that butter-soft schedule.
Winning in Reno is no easy feat. And this isn't a slam on the Wolf Pack, the team picked to win the WAC title this season. Instead, this is a criticism of Utah State's effort. The Aggies never seem to rise to the occasion against big-time opponents. And it's because of that schedule.

Utah State's record is akin to running up the score against the computer against Madden. Hard to improve yourself when you are playing inferior competition. And this is something that has been mentioned in the past at great length.

But now you are seeing the rotten fruits of this aversion to labor. The Aggies looked star-struck losing at St. Mary's. And Utah State follows that up with a weak effort at Nevada.

You can hear the Utah State apologists spinning it now, the Aggies area young team, this was a rebuilding year. That's a nice story. But this current team had a chance at something special. Besides, Stew's teams will always be in the hunt.

For a conference title, at least. If Utah State ever wants to run with the big boys, they will have to start playing them. Anywhere.