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Does wac conference have football1/10/2024 Austin joining WAC championship fixture New Mexico State. Those rivalries will also carry more weight in basketball, as the WAC will have a much better chance at being a two-bid league in the NCAA Tournament with a perennial tourney contender in Stephen F. Not only does DSU really want it, but the feelings are mutual with SUU and at UVU as well. That end result features DSU actively wanting that rivalry to happen. “I think the fans and the people in Utah really gravitate and understand that.” “To continue the WAC brand, and the name, and the history in the state in exciting,” Boothe said. Boothe still knows DSU is growing at the DI level and will take lumps on the way up, but the end result carries immense numbers of possibilities. Much like the Utes and Cougars created the “Holy War,” which is still played today in football, DSU and SUU have a chance to emulate something similar in football but in their own terms. How would you feel if someone wanted to enter your close friend group after a year or two when you still didn’t know them very well?īesides, how easy is it to sustain excitement for a rivalry when you’re distanced four hours from Weber State and five hours from Northern Arizona? Now, in the WAC, SUU can forge its own rivalry with DSU just 50 minutes away. When SUU came into the Big Sky in 2012, the T-Birds threw a wrench in that established natural order between the trio with a Big Sky Football Conference Championships in 2015 and a co-championship in 2017. The trio of Montana, Montana State and Weber State either won or won a share of the Big Sky football title in 16 of the 20 seasons since 2000. Those three were charter members of the Big Sky, much like Utah and BYU in the WAC. It seemed like Montana, Montana State and Weber State always preferred to measure their own successes against each other, which makes sense. Instead of presenting a rivalry with Northern Arizona or Weber State as its marquee matchup, SUU can create a more natural rivalry with DSU and harbor another with UVU. How can DSU not be excited? The program has leveled the Division I playing field, and SUU has laid the groundwork for a rivalry that has the potential to elevate college sports in southern Utah to a level that’s never been seen, or frankly even imagined. MORE: How Dixie State coaches are welcoming SUU's move to the WAC But, other than that, I’m thrilled to be working with them.” We’re not going to like each other once they throw the ball up or kick off. “It’s going to be intense, which is awesome. “The icing on the cake is SUU,” Boothe said. He planned and scheduled football around being an independent, hoping it might happen, and when the WAC’s football league finally came to fruition, it did so in the sweetest fashion. Thursday’s WAC expansion was something he never imagined happening this quickly. Trailblazers’ Director of Athletics Jason Boothe said he made the trip to Houston to show his support for SUU for a move that benefits his program as much as it benefits SUU’s.īoothe was telling the truth. “We’ve already been in contact with Southern Utah and Dixie about our rivalry names and reigniting some rivalries that we had.”īoth DSU and UVU had their respective athletic directors in attendance, too. “The thing about continuing the tradition is we’re also creating new traditions,” UVU Director of Athletics Jared Sumsion said. You could argue UVU hasn’t had a true head-to-head rival since joining the WAC’s ranks. UVU may not have football, however, its basketball programs make up for that as it can create a three-headed rivalry on the hardwood. DSU and SUU will be in the West division, while the Texas football programs will make up the Southwest division. The football conferences, for example, will be split into two divisions: West and Southwest. The commitment to Utah-based rivalries has an opportunity to engage fan bases in the southern parts of Utah and the most populous parts near Salt Lake City.įor example, the WAC’s football expansion focuses on very specific regional rivalries. What SUU has in mind is what makes college sports memorable, and sometimes more favorable than higher levels of competition, and the commitment to a regional rivalry cannot be understated. MORE: SUU officially commits to move to the WAC starting in 2022 "This is a really strong Utah, Texas conference with a few schools in that region joining the 12," SUU President Scott Wyatt said. "For us, one of the most exciting aspects of this is the rivalry were going to build with Utah Valley and rebuild with Dixie State." That was a big reason why SUU wanted into the WAC to begin with.
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