The Utah State HURD is gathering national attention, and taking shots at BYU

Student sections. They make the college athletics world go round. The energy. The atmosphere. The deafening screams. The delusion?

Student sections have long been a staple of collegiate sports. Capable of lifting the home team to a higher plane of existence, while in the same stroke banishing the opponents into the depths of hell for two halves, four quarters, and an eternity of agony. Without this dedicated section, basketball arenas would feel like the NBA, football stadiums would feel like the NFL, and every setting would be completely devoid of character.

BYU prides itself on its student section, dubbed the "Roar of the Cougars" (or ROC), which has long sat atop lists of the best student sections in the Beehive State.

Recent buzz surrounding Utah State's counterpart, known as the HURD, has stoked the flames of delicately phrased and respectful online discourse between mutually respectful parties.

I'm totally joking, the internet went berzerk. Did you believe that such a topic could ever fly through X without resistance?

It began with the Aggies' home win over Boise State, where a last-minute four-point play lit the Spectrum on fire.

Immediately, claims of being the best student section in the state pricked up the ears of the Cougars down south, who understood the ROC to offer the best atmosphere in Beehive hoops. BYU fans shot back, with the hopes of silencing their neighbors in Logan.

The spark became a forest fire--everything in its path would be destroyed. Nothing we could do would stop this inferno now. USU began digging as far as 2019 to attack the ROC. Scrambling, fumbling, desperately clinging to any remaining advantage, the Aggies were finally competing with the Cougars--they wouldn't go away easily.

Last season, college basketball analysts shared their amazement at the brutal environment created by the ROC.

Jeff Fuller took to the radio to praise the ROC, stating, "College basketball talking heads like Seth Greenberg and Jay Bilas have recently said that the Marriott Center is the toughest road environment in the Big12"

Once BYU brought football into the equation, the argument was dead. How could you see a stadium this large, this packed, and this full of energy, and still believe that Logan is brewing something even more unique? Only the ROC.

Does Utah State have a point in this argument, or is BYU's ROC still the dominant force in this state? If anything, the most hilarious aspect of this entire battle has been Utah's silence. What a rough year for that school in Salt Lake City.

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