Replacing Boise State

Losing Boise State to the Mountain West Conference is one thing. Replacing the Broncos on the schedule is another.

After BSU accepted an invitation to the MWC, the Western Athletic Conference decided to not expand immediately and leave Boise State’s chair at the table empty. That left a big hole in the football schedules of the remaining eight WAC teams.

It appears Utah State has found a replacing for the Broncos for at least the 2011 season.

According to this article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Utah State will host Wyoming in 2011.

“WAC athletic directors are scheduled to discuss the situation at a meeting later this month and, so far, only Louisiana Tech and Utah State are listed as having found replacements,” the article said. “The Bulldogs are expected to play at Mississippi, while the Aggies will get a home date with Wyoming.”

Getting a game in Romney Stadium would be huge for the Aggies. Not only was Boise State scheduled to be in Logan that year as part of the WAC schedule rotation, USU will play at Hawaii and have an extra game to schedule if it can. Home games are increasingly difficult to find for the Aggies and if they are able to get into a series with regional teams like Wyoming and Colorado State — both of which should now be making a visit to Cache Valley in 2011 — things will be much smoother not just for the Aggies, but for the Cowboys and Rams. Also on the home schedule in 2011 will be Louisiana Tech, Nevada and San Jose State — giving USU five secured home games with a probable sixth against a FCS school such as Weber State.

Road games currently on the schedule include visits to BYU, Idaho, Hawaii and New Mexico State. There have been reports of ‘money’ games scheduled at Auburn and/or Florida State for the 2011 season but those are not confirmed at this point.

If the Aggies are able to fill their 13th-game option with a home game, it will give USU seven home games for the first time in decades.

Another interesting possibility, especially considering the BYU-Utah scheduling dilemma caused by the Utes’ move to the Pac-12, is a game in Rice-Eccles Stadium. With the rumor of Iowa State being forced to back out and Utah’s traditional rivalry game with BYU anything but a sure thing, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities for Utah to fill its home-game opening with USU.

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