Five years ago, we capped off Senior Day 2007 with a 52-0 loss to Boise State, sending off that class with an 0-10 start to that season, and the 16th consecutive loss for the Utah State football program. It was a heartwrenching way to send off a group of guys who had busted their butts and put in their time to represent Utah State on the football field.
Everything is different now in 2012. The idea of being a program that loses 16-straight games is seemingly unimaginable, and that is a beautiful thought to not have!
I only arrived in Boise in time to soak in the pep rally on Friday, mingling with players, coaches and other personnel as we all collectively got prepared to cap off the best season of Utah State football any of us have ever seen. There's just something special about making a trek to some other place with your team and fellow fans. It makes even the most familiar of faces that much more great to see when everyone has the collective feeling that something special is happening.
But it's not like we needed any more reminders that this 2012 Utah State football team was special... They've reminded us of that plenty of times. Still, even before kickoff had come on Saturday afternoon, we were reminded once again.
As USU fans busted out into an epic bowl game version of the "I Believe" chant, you could see the excitement on the team was quite a bit higher this time around. More importantly though, for a handful of seniors, they soaked it in even more as they came to that end zone, arms waving, jumping around in the thrill of the moment.
For them, this was the last time they'd experience that thrill with a helmet and pads on. It was a game they knew was their last, in a season that was USU's best, for a senior class that should be cherished forever.
Never before has an "I Believe" chant meant more to me or held quite the excitement as that one did, and given what was done throughout this whole football season, I wouldn't have it any other way.
For the bulk of the football game, it was more of a battle than I think most Aggie fans expected. So when Kerwynn Williams finally broke loose up the middle, we knew we had finally tipped the scales in the big way we had needed. At that point, we could finally taste victory.
Then Kerwynn put the team on his back for another drive, capped off with Eric Schultz coming from the opposite side of the line to give an extra push to drive the pile into the end zone. And then Kerwynn scored one final time to cap off one of the most memorable performances in Utah State football history.
The season had finished like only one other season in USU history had. 1993 finally had a team to look up to with this 2012 team doing things like no other team before it.
What's amazing is that even the best could still be yet to come with future teams. But when it comes to a season like this, with this new record, and these players, this is the kind of season that gets remembered forever. These players and these coaches reached the status of legends on Saturday, and while there have been many USU football heroes in the past, and surely plenty more to come, it comes down to this... "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die!"
We'll all remember this team for being the ones who really took us to this next level. And while there are plenty of players who are equally deserving of the credit in getting us here, these guys made it all finally happen like we couldn't have even dreamed of just five years ago.
Next milestone up is the last one left... An undefeated season!
