Bye-Bye, BYU!

Aztecs vs. Cougars in Season’s Most Anticipated Game

Jeff Olson ('89) says BYU has always seemed "to have our number."

First there was last fall’s “Fumblegate.”  Then there was the Aztec men’s first basketball defeat of the season, dropping the team from a #4 national ranking to #7.  Both losses came at the hands of the team Aztec fans seem to scorn above all others: BYU.

February 26 marks the last time the Cougars will play the Aztecs at Viejas Arena as members of the same conference.  The date sold out two months in advance – much faster than any other game this season.  It has been on the radar of Aztec fans since long before last week’s loss in Provo.  But why?  Is there more to it than the possibility of this being the Cougars’ last men’s basketball appearance at SDSU?

"I think it's history across all of our athletics,” says Jeff Olson (’89), who attended a recent pre-game party at the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center and found himself talking Aztecs versus Cougars with a group of friends. “I can remember being a student here and these horrible (football) games of scoring 38 points and losing by four to BYU and in basketball, for whatever reason, they seem to have our number.  It's a good rivalry and this year I just hope we're out on top."

Chris Goodrow ('89, '92) says incidents like last season's "Fumblegate" at Provo perpetuate and Aztec rivalry with BYU.

Some would say it’s a stretch to label games between SDSU and BYU a “rivalry.” After all, the record of wins and losses is lopsided in favor of the Cougars.  Maybe that’s what gets under the skin of Aztec fans the most – BYU having the historical upper hand.

"Especially after last year's football incident, it just perpetuates itself, right?” reasons Chris Goodrow (’89, ’92). “I mean, you have no choice but to eventually hate them when they knock you out of a bowl game or that one chance for a winning season as they have done to us for the longest time in football.  They've always been just a little bit better, at least in that regard, but now in basketball we can compete with, if not beat them, so that's a good thing."

Dave Brownie ('89, '91) thinks BYU's imminent departure from the Mountain West Conference adds "a bit of an edge" the the Aztecs' February 26 game against the Cougars.

"They frankly have seemed to own us over the last few years,” agrees Dave Brownie (’89, ’91).  They're kind of like the guys who have owned the program in the Mountain West Conference for years.  The fact that they're departing the Mountain West just adds a little bit of an edge, so it's a great match-up coming up.” 

"I think it's important (that this is the last home game with BYU in the conference),” says Tom Collard (’86).  I think that adds to the intensity of this game.  I think the true fans realize that and it adds to the (feeling that), 'Hey, this could be it for a while and we want to go out a winner and have that memory of a win behind us."  

Will he be at the game?

“For me it's going to be the most anticipated sports event I have attended,” says Collard. “I went to the last bowl game here in San Diego and that was fun, but this will be just incredible.  I think it will be intense.   I cannot wait!”

Tom Collard ('86) thinks the Aztecs vs. BYU game February 26 at Viejas Arena will be "intense."

“I bought the tickets three months ago and people are scrambling now to get tickets,” says Brownie. “It's going to be huge.  Viejas has probably never seen an event like it and may never see an event like that again.  It's setting up to be for the conference (championship).  It's circled in red on my calendar.”

For an Aztec fan, appropriately so.