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The Aggie football team's annual Blue-Gold Scrimmage is set for 6 p.m. today (Aug. 22), with admission free and open to the public.

The scrimmage is the second of two on the Aggies' schedule in advance of the Aggies' Aug. 30 opener, a nonconference game at San Jose State.

The Aggies are scheduled to open play in the Great West Conference on Oct. 11, taking on Southern Utah in ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' homecoming game.

Earlier this week the conference released its preseason coaches poll for the five-team football league, with ºÙºÙÊÓƵ picked to come in second to Cal Poly. The Aggies picked up two first-place votes and 22 points overall, to the Mustangs' three first-place votes and 23 points overall.

League newcomers North Dakota and South Dakota picked up 14 points and 11 points, respectively, while Southern Utah trailed the pack with 5 points.

Cal Poly went 7-6 last year (2-2 in the Great West), while ºÙºÙÊÓƵ went 5-6 (1-3), snapping its string of 37 consecutive winning seasons.

The Sports Network's preseason poll of media and sports information directors also came out this week, putting Cal Poly at 14th. ºÙºÙÊÓƵ was not ranked, but it picked up 22 points for an unofficial ranking of No. 47. The Aggies this year are looking for their first conference championship since 2005.

Lining up opponents for 2009

And, while preparing for the 2008 season, athletics officials are staying busy with plans for the 2009 season. They already announced Fresno State as an opponent, and now have added Boise State to the schedule -- two schools in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), the highest level of football competition in the NCAA. ºÙºÙÊÓƵ is one step below, in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA).

The Fresno State-ºÙºÙÊÓƵ matchup is scheduled for Sept. 5, 2009, in Fresno, and the game with Boise State is scheduled two weeks later, Sept. 19, in Boise. Both will be nonconference games for ºÙºÙÊÓƵ; Fresno State and Boise State belong to the Western Athletic Conference, while ºÙºÙÊÓƵ plays football in the Great West Conference.

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ is receiving guaranteed payments of $225,000 from Fresno State and $225,000 from Boise State, Aggie athletics officials said.

The ºÙºÙÊÓƵ-Fresno State game will be the 18th matchup between the two schools in a series that goes back to 1922. The schools last played in 1952. The Bulldogs have the advantage, 11-5-1.

Boise State coach is former Aggie QB

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ has played Boise State three times, the last time in 1985 when Chris Petersen made his debut as Aggie quarterback. Today he is the head coach at Boise State.

When he went up against the then-Division I-AA Broncos in '85, he was 23 of 33 for 238 yards passing, and he carried the ball 25 times for 63 yards total. The Broncos won 13-9.

The Broncos also beat the Aggies in 1973 and '74, when Boise State was a Division II school.

Petersen finished his Aggie career with 5,555 passing yards and 42 touchdowns. He is entering his third year at the helm of Boise State, where he has compiled a 23-3 (.885) record including a 13-0 mark his first season -- capped by a 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ and Boise State also share other coaching connections. Former Broncos head coach Dan Hawkins, now at Colorado, played and coached with ºÙºÙÊÓƵ, and Viliami Tuivai, a linebacker for the Aggies in 2000 and 2001, is an assistant coach at Boise State.

"I have tremendous respect for their program, with what they've done with Dan Hawkins and now Chris Petersen," Aggie coach Bob Biggs said. "I just think it's a great challenge."

The Fresno State and Boise State games next season will be the fifth and sixth Aggie matchups against top-tier opponents since 2005 when the then-Division I-AA ºÙºÙÊÓƵ beat Division I Stanford, 20-17.

In 2006, while still in Division I-AA, ºÙºÙÊÓƵ lost 46-13 to Division I Texas Christian, now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Last year, as a new member of the Football Championship Subdivision, ºÙºÙÊÓƵ lost 34-14 to San Jose State of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' Aug. 30 rematch with San Jose State is set for a 5 p.m. kickoff in Spartan Stadium. San Jose State, like Fresno State and Boise State, belongs to the Western Athletic Conference.

The Aggies' 2008 home opener is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 13 against Portland State. The rest of the Aggie Stadium schedule comprises a game every Saturday in October, plus the 55th annual Causeway Classic in November.

The Aggies' schedule (with conference games in bold):

HOME GAMES

Sept. 13 -- Portland State, 7 p.m.

Oct. 4 -- Northern Colorado, 6 p.m.

Oct. 11 -- Southern Utah, 6 p.m. (homecoming)

Oct. 18 -- Iona, 6 p.m.

Oct. 25 -- North Dakota, 6 p.m.

Nov. 8 (Causeway Classic) -- Sacramento State, 2 p.m.

AWAY GAMES

Aug. 30 -- at San Jose State, 5 p.m. PDT

Sept. 6 -- Central Arkansas (Conway), 4 p.m. PDT

Sept. 20 -- Montana (Missoula), 12:05 p.m. PDT

Sept. 27 -- Northeastern (Brookline, Mass.), 9 a.m. PDT

Nov. 15 -- Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), 4:05 p.m. PST

Nov. 22 -- San Diego, 6 p.m. PST

The ºÙºÙÊÓƵ ticket office is at Freeborn Hall; the telephone number is (530) 752-1915.

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