Memorable Moments: No Trophy, But a Long History

The finale of the 2024 regular season pits two teams which have been battling one another for more than 120 years in a rivalry which will carry on to the Pac 12 in 2026. Friday's game will be the 80^th time the Rams have met the Aggies on the field, and of the schools the Rams have played against in 2024, only Wyoming (115 games) and CU (93 games) have played CSU more times. The Aggies and Rams have seen their share of close games, make-or-break season games to make the most balanced rivalry in terms of win/loss records (39-38-2 in CSU's favor) of any school CSU has faced this year.

It all started in 1902, when the Colorado Agricultural College Aggies traveled to Logan to face the Utah Agricultural College Aggies. It was the first time a CSU football team had played another agricultural college team and the second game in two days the Colorado Aggies had played a game in Utah. To save money, Colorado Aggie coach Clarence Griffith scheduled two games on their trip to Utah, the first played on Saturday October 25^th in Salt Lake City against the University of Utah (a scoreless tie) and the second, in Logan on Monday, October 27^th, the first Monday game in school history.

The Colorado Aggies came out on top in that first win over the Utags (a nickname still used for the Utah Aggies) by a score of 24-5. The schools would not meet again until 1911, when rookie head coach Harry Hughes did the same thing as Griffith, playing both Utah and Utah State within a two-day period. This time the Utags came out on top on Sunday, October 9^th, marking the first Sunday football game in CSU history.

It was at this point the Utags and Colorado Aggies joined together in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and started playing one another regularly. The Utags lost 10 of the next 11 games to the Colorado aggies between 1913 and 1925, but it was in 1919 that the Utags gained their famous coach, Dick Romney. Romney was to the Utags what Hughes was to the Colorado Aggies, establishing a football coaching career which lasted until 1948, winning three RMAC championships and one Skyline championship.

Hughes and Romney faced off in close and heated rivalry games in the 1920s which made a difference in one another's seasons nearly every year. The Utags didn't play CAC in 1921, Romny's first RMAC title. In 1925, the Utags lost to the Colorado Ags 13-0, spoiling what could have been a championship season in Logan, but went to the Hughes-led team in Fort Collins. The 1927 game almost knocked Hughes' team out of the race in a game described by the Silver Spruce yearbook as "One of the most thrilling gridiron battles seen in years." This was in part due to a great goal line stand at the 4-yard line which prevented the Utags from scoring and holding a narrow 6-0 win for Hughes' team.

Beating Utah State has been pivotal in every season in which CSU has won a conference championship when the two schools have matched against one another. All but one of Hughes' eight conference championships saw the Colorado Aggies beat the Utags, with the lone exception in 1934, when the two teams tied. That draw -- one of only two in the 122-year rivalry -- prevented the Colorado Aggies from winning the conference championship outright, forcing a three-way tie for the title. In 1955, coach Bob Davis beat the Utags 26-9, winning his lone championship and in 1994, 1995 and 1997, Sonny Lubick beat Utah State winning all three of his WAC championships, even though they were not conference rivals at the time.

The Utags and CSU Rams played in the same conference from 1914 until 1961, both moving from the RMAC in 1938 to the newly formed Mountain States Conference. In 1961, the Utags and Rams were two schools not invited to join the new Western Athletic Conference, both because of poor athletic facilities. Both competed as independents until CSU entered the WAC in 1968, and both played one another consistently from 1962 to 1979 despite not competing as conference foes.

In 1994, the longest hiatus in the rivalry ended when the Utags and Rams scheduled one another for three non-conference matchups, all previously mentioned during CSU's WAC title years. Then, a 14-year layoff in the rivalry occurred from 1998 to 2011, but since then the two schools have seen some great football between one another.

In 2012, Utah State joined the Mountain West and except for their forfeited game in 2020 when the Aggies boycotted playing due to internal strife, the two schools have played one another every year. The Rams kicked the rivalry off in great style in 2011 with a double-overtime win in Logan. Then come-from-behind victories on homecoming day in 2014 and 2016 made for some very exciting football at Hughes Stadium in its final days.

The most heart-breaking loss since the Utags entered the MWC came in the so-called Ice-bowl at Canvas Stadium in 2018. The Aggies, ranked No. 23 in the nation, narrowly escaped a loss when with 8 seconds on the clock, CSU's quarterback Colin Hill threw a bomb in the end zone to Rams receiver Preston Williams. Williams caught the ball for an incredible touchdown. Television announcer Drew Goodman called the touchdown, the Rams celebrated a win, until it was found that Williams' right foot had grazed the sideline out of bounds, and he ran back into the field of play before he caught the ball. Williams was called for illegal touching and the game ended in the Aggies favor.

With the Rams and Aggies moving to the Pac-12 together in 2026, they will have the longest rivalry between any of the new schools in the rebuilt league. A rivalry which spans 122 years has seen games decide seasons and championships but has no traveling trophy. Perhaps with the entry into the Pac-12, the two schools will continue this long rivalry even further and the long-standing feud will continue to heat up into the next generation of football.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results