LOGAN — O Brother, where art thou?
The nation's 12th most-played rivalry, billed as the "Battle of the Brothers," has become a bit lopsided in recent years. Utah has won the past eight meetings with Utah State and leads the all-time series by a wide margin of 73-28-4.
Even so, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham believes the annual matchup is healthy. The 106th meeting is scheduled for tonight at Romney Stadium.
"It's a good instate rivalry," Whittingham said. "I see no reason to discontinue it. Especially now that we're in a 12-game scenario."
Besides, whenever the Utes (1-1) and Aggies (0-2) square off, there's plenty of pride on the line.
"It is a big game for us being instate rivals," USU safety Terrance Washington said. "We are looking to come out and get our first win of the year. We are playing at home and want to defend our home turf."
The Aggies have won three straight home openers but enter this one without star receiver Tony Pennyman. The senior was dismissed earlier this week for repeated violations of team rules.
"You hate to lose a guy like that — an explosive playmaker like him," USU coach Brent Guy said. "Rules are rules and Tony knew what the circumstances were, and he suffered the consequences of it."
The Aggies won't change their game plan, he added, because of depth at receiver.
Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen isn't expecting much to change, either.
"They've got some good kids that run around, and they've got good speed. So we need to go out and cover whoever's there," he said. "It's not like we had one guy matched up on one guy going into this football game.
"So we'll just go in and prepare. Somebody's going to be out there running and blocking for them," he said.
Utah's top priority, as usual, is shutting down the run — a challenge considering USU tailback Marcus Cross is coming off a 103-yard performance against Arkansas.
"They did run the ball fairly effectively," Andersen said. "We need to do a nice job rushing the quarterback and playing a good pass defense — continue to improve in that. Those are the key things for us, and that's the bottom line."
The Aggies have yet to score a touchdown on offense this season. Their lone trip to the end zone came on a 45-yard interception return by Antonio Taylor.
"We have got to score points," Guy said. "We have got to start faster, score points, and give ourselves a chance to be in the game in the fourth quarter."
After road games at Wyoming and Arkansas, USU is looking forward to playing at home.
"That little extra boost that we will get playing at home should help us a lot," Washington said.
Utah, meanwhile, is looking to carry newfound momentum into the game. The Utes recovered from a 31-10 loss to UCLA with a 45-7 win over Northern Arizona. Last week, they ended a season-long string of third-down failures at 13 — converting on 8-for-10 after finally moving the chains.
"Once we got that first third down I think it really opened up for us, and we didn't look back after that," Utah quarterback Brett Ratliff said. "Our confidence was back, and we just moved the ball down the field like we should."
Utes, Aggies on the air
Utah (1-1) at Utah State (0-2)
Today, 6 p.m.
Romney Stadium
TV: Ch. 14
Radio: 700AM, 1230AM, 1320AM, 610AM (Logan)
Contributing: Jay Hinton
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com