Utah State athletic director Cam Walker has been on the job for only 11 months, but he has already heard plenty about one particular night in Logan.

The night in question: Sept. 7, 2012, when a sea of USU fans rushed the field after the Aggies’ defense came up with a fourth-and-goal stop to secure a 27-20 upset over Utah.

For Utah fans, it is a game worth forgetting.

In Logan, it’s become local lore.

“I was not surprised to learn that the game is really, really important to them,” Walker told The Salt Lake Tribune. “As I’ve talked to some Utah fans, I’ve also heard some of their memories. It feels like that game’s important to them as well, and so it’s impactful.

“I know the year we beat them in overtime here is still legendary. I have probably heard more about that game than any other.”

That is part of what Walker believes has been lost in college football’s modern landscape.

The Utes’ move to the Pac-12 brought Utah’s athletic department into the big leagues, so to speak. It also helped make the Battle of the Brothers — a series that dates back to 1892 — a bit more of a rarity.

Before the teams met in 2024, the Utes and Aggies had gone nine years without playing each other.

So that makes the game this Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium a little more special.

For Walker, that history matters.

And so does the future.

“I do think it matters, and I think it matters still,” Walker said. “We obviously have to play our part and be competitive. I think in this day and age, we’ve watered down a lot of things, and rivalries [are one of them].

“We just kind of say, ‘Unless you’re in the CFP, it doesn’t matter,’ and I think that it does matter, and I think it matters outside of just those games. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be showing all these bowl games and all these nonconference games at all. There’s still huge interest.”

And that includes the new Utah head coach.

Morgan Scalley was on Utah’s coaching staff that fateful night in Logan 14 years ago.

“Any time you get to play the in-state schools, there’s something on the line,” Scalley said. “You never take it for granted. I was in Logan when we lost to [former USU quarterback Chuckie Keeton] and that crew.

“They want to win this thing. You have recruiting on the line; you have bragging rights in the state. So, at the end of the day, that’s always going to be important when you’re playing those in-state schools. I love the rivalries, whether it’s BYU or Utah State.”

Walker sees the rivalry similarly.

He points to the fact that fans can drive from Logan to Salt Lake City in roughly 90 minutes rather than book a flight to watch their team play somewhere across the country.

And many of the players and coaches on both teams have Utah ties. Walker plans to spend some time before Saturday’s game meeting with Utah State alumni who live in Salt Lake City.

And he doesn’t want the relationship between the schools to stop with football.

Walker would like to see Utah State play Utah in basketball, too.

“These games are important, and the fan bases get up for all of these games. And I think it matters to the kids. And, as a land-grant institution, I think it’s part of our mission to represent this state and to do what’s best for it,” Walker said.

There is an economic argument, too, Walker said.

Instead of spending money to bring an outside program into Logan or traveling across the country for a nonconference game, Walker thinks Utah State and Utah can play each other instead.

“We could pay guaranteed money to get somebody to us, or we could just drive to each other and not pay out a bunch of money to all these outside schools, so I think even economically it makes sense to the state,” he said.

As for the game itself … Utah is the heavy favorite coming off a 43-10 rout of Arkansas.

But in-state games can get weird. Case in point: Tulsa beat Oklahoma State to open the season. The Cowboys went on to top Oregon the next week.

Do the Aggies have some similar magic of their own up their sleeves? After all, they came a failed Hail Mary short of upsetting then-No. 19 Washington last week in Seattle.

Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall, meanwhile, knows plenty about Utah from his time coaching BYU.

And Utah State has already proven that strange things can happen when these two programs meet.

“I think it just builds a natural excitement around the game in a really positive way,” Walker said.

“People are interested and invested. The immediate question I always get is, ‘When are they coming here?’ As for the community, I think campus is incredibly important — there might be more programming and stuff around the Utah game than, you know, any other game, including homecoming.”

And that, perhaps more than anything, explains why a 2012 game that Utah would rather leave in the past is still being told to Utah State’s athletic director 14 years later.