Conference realignment often spells the end for rivalries. That’s what was assumed when Utah State moved to the Pac-12. However, the Aggies are ensuring one of their oldest traditions doesn’t become a casualty of the change.

Utah State VP and AD Cameron Walker announced on Monday, February 16, that the Aggies agreed to a home-and-home series with Nevada, adding the Wolf Pack to their 2027 and 2029 schedules.

Utah State will host the Wolf Pack on September 25, 2027, in Logan, Utah, and then will travel to Reno, Nevada, on September 8, 2029. The official announcement came one week after Nevada’s AD Stephanie Rempe hinted at the potential non-conference game against the Aggies.

“We’re going to have to continue to look at it,” Rempe said when asked about a potential non-conference game with Utah State. “We’re all in the same region, which is again why it doesn’t make great sense that this all happened. So, we will look at all of those things. I think we have a couple coming up, and we’re looking at them. I’m sure there will be scenarios where we’re doing that.”

Utah State and Nevada are not each other’s primary rivals. Those spots belong to Utah and BYU for the Aggies. In the case of Nevada, the Fremont Cannon Trophy, in which they play UNLV, will always take precedence. Rather than that intense in-state hate, it’s another kind of proximity that has turned the two programs into rivals.

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Both teams have met 28 times and are tied for the 14th-most played series in program history. The first meeting happened in 1915. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s that this game became a regular feature. More than anything else, it was a matter of coincidence. The Aggies and the Wolf Packs just found each other in the same conference.

They were together in the Big West Conference from 1992-1999. The same goes for the period 2005-2011, when both were in the Western Athletic Conference. Over the last 12 years, Utah State and Nevada have been members of the Mountain West Conference. The Wolf Packs hold a dominant lead over the Aggies in this all-time rivalry, with a 19-9 record across all conferences.

This is the first publicly announced game between the two programs in their nearly three-decade rivalry. And the 2027 matchup will be their first non-conference game, as Utah State is set to begin its first season in the Pac-12 Conference in 2026. 

The upcoming season would be their first season in 13 years without playing Nevada in their schedule. However, the Aggies were urged to add them to their 2027 and 2029 schedules, reinstating their historical rivalry. 

Pac-12 announced Utah State’s 2026 schedule

The Pac-12 announced Utah State’s 2026 football schedule on February 12. The Aggies are scheduled to play four non-conference games and seven round-robin conference games amongst eight teams, with the ninth team being a mystery.

To fill the void, the Pac-12 announced a flex scheduling weekend with one conference game repetition. This kept Aggies in a position where they would only know their November 28 scheduled opponents six days prior to kickoff.

As of now, Utah State’s non-conference schedule includes Idaho State, Washington, Utah, and Troy. Moving to the conference schedule, the Aggies have three conference home games, including October 10 against Washington State, October 31 against Colorado State, and November 7 against Fresno State. However, they’ll travel to Boise State on October 3, Texas State on October 24, San Diego State on November 14, and Oregon State on November 21.

It’s a comparatively more difficult schedule than the previous Mountain West Conference schedule; however, the Aggies came prepared for that during the transition.