Strange Times - Utah State, WAC facing uncertain futures after summer shake-ups

    Utah State's best offensive player was lost for the season before it ever began. Stanley Morrison, the play-making receiver who was supposed to step in for the injured Robert Turbin, went down for the year in a freak divingboard accident early this summer. The Western Athletic Coference (WAC) the Aggies were hoping to surprise this season learned that it would lose its flagship football program in June, while the teams slated to fill the void left by Boise State – Fresno State and Nevada – recently announced their decision to jump ship for the Mountain West Conference. If that weren't enough, the ultimate coup de grace came when Aggie fans learned that USU also had an opportunity to the MWC, yet turned it down out of loyalty and the promise that in-state rival BYU would join the WAC in all sports except football.

    Dizzy yet?

    We're less than a week away from the opening of the 2010 college football season, but you wouldn't know it from talking to fans of the WAC's nine teams. Instead of buzzing over preseason watch lists and talking of which games will be the most important this season, WAC fans, including those in Logan, have instead been taken on an offseason odyssey worthy of a daytime Emmy.

    It wasn't supposed to be like this. Just eight short months ago the Aggies looked primed for a breakout campaign. After a promising 4-8 season in 2009 the team figured to be even more potent in 2010, with second team all-WAC running back Robert Turbin returning along with most of the pieces from the NCAA's 12th-ranked total offense. Likewise, the WAC looked as powerful as it had in years, and following a perfect season by Boise State and impressive campaigns by Nevada and Fresno State, national pundits had reason to believe that the WAC would be among the strongest non-Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences in 2010 and beyond. Some speculated that the conference could achieve automatic qualifying status for the BCS within a few years, while die-hard fans reveled in the chance to stick it to the MWC.

    As the winter began to thaw, however, so did the league's future begin to unravel, and so did the "sure thing" of a quick Aggie turnaround begin to take on more caveats than certainties.

    It started with Turbin going down in an off-season conditioning drill in late January.  The second-team all-WAC running back tore his ACL, and although various reports speculated that he could rejoin the team in time for the 2010 season, Aggie fans learned this summer that he'll instead miss the entire season. The outlook for the season – incredibly optimistic following a road upset of bowl-bound Idaho in the 2009 finale – dimmed even further when wide receiver Stanley Morrison broke his foot during a summer swimming accident.

    If Aggie fans were looking to the WAC's reputation for solace for their own team's injury concerns heading into 2010, then they were greeted instead with more uncertainty and ominous news. With conference realignment rumors running rampant throughout May, Boise State became the first team to depart when the program announced its intention to transition into the MWC following the 2010 season, and was followed by similar defections by Nevada and Fresno State just two weeks ago. This second round of shuffling – which will leave the WAC with a perilously slim six members beginning in either 2012 or 2013 – is especially painful for Aggie fans, when they learned that USU had also been invited to join the WAC's more powerful rival. USU declined the invitation, however, on the assumption that BYU would join a stable WAC conference in all sports except football.  While the situation remains fluid, it now appears that BYU will remain in the MWC. USU Athletic Director Scott Barnes has reportedly been at work attempting to renegotiate a deal to bring the Aggies into the former offshoot of the WAC, but as the days drag on the prospect of securing a conference invitation appears increasingly bleak.

    All of this comes just days away from the Aggies' Sept. 4 opener against Oklahoma. Despite the turbulent offseason and talk of impending conference implosion, USU head coach Gary Andersen remains committed to the program's goals in 2010. One of those goals includes getting his team to a bowl game – a feat not achieved by USU since 1997. Asked after USU's scrimmage last Wednesday if he was concerned his players might be paying too much attention to off-the-field events, Andersen set the record straight as to where the team's focus is.

    "It is not hard keeping the guys focused," said Andersen, who is entering his second year as head coach.

"I don't think they have given it two seconds of thought to be quite honest with you.  They are just happy to come out and play and prepare for the season that is in front of them."

    Andersen went on to say that neither he nor his players have paid much attention to the ongoing situation with the WAC's future and where USU might fit into it. Instead, he's making sure his players understand just what's at stake when it comes to the on-field action this season, including the daunting trip to Norman, Okla.

    "We will just take it as it falls and continue to fight on," Andersen said.

    Levi Koskan, a junior defensive end from Cache Valley who anchors what many are hoping is an improved USU defense, echoed his coach's sentiments. "Right now it's just one day at a time, one practice at a time, one play at a time. All that (other) stuff, we are not worried about it," he said.    

    USU's players aren't sweating the uncertainty of the WAC's future, and they're not losing sleep over the loss of Turbin and Morrison, either. With innovative offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin at the helm, USU's players have confidence in the offense to perform even without their top running back and wide receiver, and say that the loss of the unit's top play-makers will only present the opportunity for a previously unheralded player to step forward.