Aggies Tangle With Bengals Saturday in 2010 Home Opener

IDAHO STATE at UTAH STATE

Saturday, Sept. 11 - 6 p.m. (MT)

Merlin Olsen Field at

Romney Stadium (25,513)

Logan, Utah

QUICKLY — For its 2010 home-opener and to open action on newly named Merlin Olsen Field, Utah State (0-1, 0-0 WAC) will host border-foe Idaho State (1-0, 0-0 Big Sky) Saturday, Sept. 11. Kickoff from Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium (25,513) is slated for 6 p.m. (MT). Saturday's border battle between the Bengals and Aggies is not on television.

SATURDAY'S STORYLINES — Things to watch for in Saturday's battle between the Aggies and Bengals:

USU is playing its first game on newly named Merlin Olsen Field.
Aggies are debuting their new home uniforms.
Utah State head coach Gary Andersen was an assistant coach at Idaho State, coaching the Bengal defensive line from 1992-94.
USU senior QB Diondre Borel is 69 passing yards from the 5,000 yards plateau for his career, currently with 4,931 yards, and would become just the seventh Aggie QB to reach the 5,000-yard plateau.
Return of former USU LB and current ISU senior LB Jake Hutton, who played at USU from 2005-08 and was granted a medical hardship redshirt season after a foot injury in 2006.
The Aggies are 7-13 in their last 20 home-openers and are trying to win back-to-back home-openers (W, 54-34 vs. Southern Utah last year) for the first time since 2004-05.
This is the second time in USU's last 14 home-openers that Idaho State has been the home-opening opponent... The Aggies also hosted the Bengals in their first home contest of the 1997 season, winning 41-7.
Saturday marks the second-straight Football Championship Series (FCS), formerly known as I-AA, opponent to open the Aggies' home schedule.
Utah State is 76-17-6 overall vs. FCS opponents, winning the last four in a row, after getting upset by Idaho State, 27-24, on Nov. 18, 2000.
It is just the fourth time in the last 14 years that USU has hosted an FCS foe in the its home-opener, joining 2000, 1999, 1997, although it was supposed to be five as USU was scheduled to host Nicholls State in 2005, but that game was cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina.
Utah State is 11-2 all-time against Idaho State, last facing each other in 2002... The Aggies are 10-1 against the Bengals in games played at Logan... USU has won two in a row, both overall in the streak and in games at Logan... The last three meetings have had a total scoring differential of nine points with an average score of USU 30, ISU 29.
USU video coordinator Bill Garren played one season at Idaho State (1999), before beginning his video career there, serving as the Bengals video coordinator in 2000 and 2001.

FOLLOWING THE GAME

ON TV — Saturday's battle between the Aggies and Bengals is not being televised.
ON THE AIR — All Utah State football games are carried live on KVNU 610 AM, KVNU 102.1 FM (Cache Valley) and KLZX 95.9 FM in Logan; 1230 or 1320 AM in Salt Lake City; on KLZX 105.3 FM in Montpelier, Idaho. All Aggie football games are also on the Internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com by clicking on "Listen Live." Al Lewis handles the play-by-play duties, while Craig Hislop provides analysis.
ON THE INTERNET — USU home football games are also streamed on the Internet through "Aggies All Access," by clicking on the "Live Aggies Video" link in the right hand column on the home page of www.UtahStateAggies.com. Fans can register and purchase single-game or season packages to watch.
GAMETRACKER — Fans can follow all USU Aggie home games through the USU website at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.

More facts about USU’s football home opener are available in the full posting at the Athletics website.

Additional Aggie sports news is available at the Athletics homepage website.