Remember, remember the fifth of November...

"Remember, remember the fifth of November, when the Aggies seemed dead but were not...
I plead you with urgence that this Aggie resurgence, shall never be forgot..."

It was one year ago today...

One year ago that the despair and doubt we all knew, and knew all too well, reached its peak of the 2011 season. We had seen flashes of improvement in 2009, followed up by injuries and missed opportunities haunting much of the 2010 season. Then to start 2011, USU established an unwelcome identity as the heartbreak kids, destined to let games slip away in the closing seconds.

With a 2-5 record overall, and an 0-2 start to WAC play, things looked to be headed down an even darker road with a 28-7 halftime deficit and the Aggies star freshman quarterback in an ambulance. Feelings of emptiness, helplessness and hopelessness were in the minds of every Aggie fan at that moment. There was also that terrifying feeling of worry that things actually might never get better. And while those feelings aren't anything foreign to those of us who have been around USU for a while, we still hope that each time around, things will be finally be different. In this instance though, doubt and heartbreak trumped every glimmer of hope...



Then something happened. I don't know if it was some intense moment of unity during that halftime, or some realization that things were never going to get better unless some kind of greatness arose from that low point. But whatever that moment was, it stands now as the moment where Utah State football became something different that what it was and had been for so long.

Utah State came out in the second half as a whole new program; one that was set out to win football games and expect nothing else. Utah State shut down everything Hawaii tried to do in the second half of that game, dominating both sides of the ball and executing big play after big play. And when the moment seemed primed for another heartbreak, in situations that had so often betrayed them, Utah State finally got the late-game heroics on its side. With just seconds remaining, the score shifted to favor the Aggies for a change as Robert Turbin powered his way into the end zone.

In a win that seemed improbable before the game, and impossible at halftime, Utah State beat Hawaii 35-31 on that November 5th... Along with that appears to have come a revolution.

In 16 games prior to that one, Utah State had a record of 5-11.
In the last 16 games, Utah State now has a record of 13-3.

What's even more amazing is that those three losses are by a combined six points. Even as is though, a stretch of 13-3 is a record that almost any team would kill to have.

So here we are... An 8-2 record on the season so far, top 25 votes coming our way more each week and less than two weeks away from locking up our first, only, and last WAC football championship. In a way it's almost like the rise happened so fast. We saw flashes of improvement overpowered by bursts of disappointment for those first couple years of Gary Andersen. Now all we mostly see is dominating performances each week. It was like an entire flip of the spectrum of things in the time span of a single halftime in Hawaii.

Whether you pushed through the darkest days of this program in the early-to-mid 2000s, or if you agonized through 40+ years of frustration, or even if you are just a freshman USU student this year, things right now are as good as they've been in a very long time. Maybe even better than they've ever been with the future the Mountain West Conference holds.

The last year has held plenty of incredible memories and brought plenty of excitement for the future of Utah State football. What's exciting now is waiting to see just how good things are going to get with this whole thing. Let's just not forget where it all really began to show itself.

The curtain is lifted and this show is underway. The Aggies' dominance began, one year ago today...