LOGAN — Utah State might not know exactly which conference the Aggies will play in, but they're starting to find out who they'll be playing nonetheless.
Thursday afternoon, Utah State finalized a pair of scheduling agreements that will have the Aggies facing Wyoming four times as well as making a trip to Memorial Coliseum to play Southern Cal in 2013.
Wyoming will visit Romney Stadium on Oct. 8 next season, and then continue the series with home-and-home games running from 2014 to 2016.
"Adding Wyoming to our home schedule early in 2011 gives us a nice regional rivalry and will fill the vacancy created by Boise State," Barnes said. "It will also allow us to continue our master plan for a balanced schedule and give us six home games, which is great for our fans."
By adding Wyoming, the Aggies are currently scheduled to play six home games during that season. It will be the second season in a row for USU to do that — assuming the WAC's schedule remains as currently situated.
Also announced by USU on Thursday was a home-and-home basketball series with USC as part of the football game contract.
The Trojans will visit the Spectrum in 2012 while USU will make the trip to Los Angeles in 2013.
Getting a team from the Pac-10, or any other BCS conference, to play in Logan has been an impossibility for Aggie hoops coach Stew Morrill.
"We have struggled to get games against BCS conference schools, so this is an exciting series for the future," Morrill said. "Scott Barnes negotiated a combo deal that made this happen, and we appreciate his efforts in bringing a Pac-10 team to Logan."
According to USU, USC will be the first team from the Pac-10 to play in Logan since 1977, when Washington came to town.
Playing USC in both football and basketball, USU football coach Gary Andersen said, will benefit both teams.
"We recruit California heavily, so it is great exposure for us. It will obviously be a very challenging game for us, but we're looking at getting one of those games every year that puts us in the national spotlight. The USC game definitely does that for our program," Andersen said. "As we continue to move forward, we need to take those challenges on and prepare in a way that we know we're going to play a high-quality opponent very early in the season, and we're excited about that opportunity."
The Wyoming series is also a key part of USU's attempt to move the program forward. While USC is an almost-certain loss, the Wyoming games are winnable and have a regional draw that should help with ticket sales.
"It's great to have a home game against a Mountain West team in Wyoming, especially where it is placed in the schedule," Andersen said. "That is big for our program, our community and our fans. That gives us the opportunity to hopefully be on a good television network, whichever one it may be."
Utah State is also scheduled to play Colorado State at Romney Stadium next year and will probably add an early season game against an FCS team in addition to a game at BYU that will probably be scheduled on Sept. 30 — LDS general conference weekend.
In 2012, USU is scheduled to play at Colorado State on Sept. 22 while hosting Utah — which will then be a member of the Pac-12 — on Sept. 8.
Utah State will again visit BYU that season, too.
The Aggies' 2013 non-conference schedule currently has dates at Utah (Aug. 29), at home against San Diego State (Sept. 7) and the USC game.
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