Checking in mid-winter break

With basketball having the last week and change off, the announcement of Robert Turbin having come and gone and Bobby Wagner's draft status remaining excellent, there hasn't exactly been a whole lot of news to report on here at The Sagebrush Spot.

In regards to the game against Mississippi State coming up Saturday, this can be a good measure of exactly how far the basketball team has come in the past month. They've had some quality practice time to prepare and to get better themselves. Now we see what it's amounted to.

As for the rest of the WAC, Hawaii looked like the team to beat this past week while Nevada was still looking solid. New Mexico State got thoroughly embarrassed at home by New Mexico. So basically, every team we thought would be contending has looked great at times and mediocre at others. Hawaii and Utah State seem to be catching hot streaks right before conference play starts, while NMSU has people wondering if their early part of the season was a fluke.

WAC play starts soon, and these questions will turn into answers. The last preview we get of the Aggies before they officially begin the drive for five is Saturday.

Come next week, The Sagebrush Spot will be back in full-force, and it's going to get reeeeeeeal fun!!!

See you in 2012!!!

Bobby Wagner getting the love from CBS

While Robert Turbin has been grabbing headlines for his decision to go pro, another all-time great has been quietly sneaking up draft boards. Bobby Wagner, the top tackler in both USU and WAC history, is currently projected as the No. 3 best inside linebacker prospect in this year's draft by CBSsports.com.

While many casual football fans might not have heard Wagner's name a whole lot on SportsCenter over the past four years, anybody watching B-Wagz play knows damn well that the folks in Bristol should have been hyping him up like nobody's business. Wagner's tackling ability and instincts are both at an elite level, while his speed and strength are both very above average as well. If nothing else, the guy just makes plays. Anytime you have a guy who is capable of taking over a game defensively like Wagner can, you're going to have a solid football player on your hands.

Some might say that Wagner's size is a concern, but again, if scouts watch film on him, they'll see he plays bigger than he actually is. And let's not forget that there are plenty of guys with marginal size that have turned out to be superstars. Once upon a time scouts were skeptical that Lance Briggs was too small coming out of college at 6'0, 242... Yes, six-time Pro Bowler Lance Briggs, who ended up slipping to the 3rd round of the draft back in 2003.

Much like the case will be with Turbin, a lot of Wagner's draft status will hinge on how well they perform in the combine and team workouts. If Wagner still measures as one of the fastest inside linebackers, seeing him land in the second round is a very real possibility.

This is going to be a story to keep an eye on, as Wagner could really catch a lot of attention and score some quality airtime on ESPN and NFL Network. It'd be an awfully nice way to see arguably the best defensive player in Utah State history carry on his legacy.

Heroes get remembered, but legends never die!!! Turbin is going pro.

Once upon a time, Robert Turbin said in an interview that a big part of the reason he chose to come to Utah State was because he wanted to be the kind of guy who helped turn a program around. There were plenty of other places he could have gone, but despite even the lowest of lows for the USU football around that time, Turbin still came to be an Aggie.

 Five years later, "Mission accomplished" might be the most fitting way to describe the career of No. 6 at Utah State.

In the season prior to Turbin's first year at USU, the football program bottomed out. The Aggies won just one game all season and lost by an average of nearly 28 points per game. There was essentially zero appeal or excitement surrounding the program.

Starting to look golden, showing flashes of greatness and dominating Kent State, 81-62

Not much of a shortage of these kinds of trophies at USU...

My boy Tony Jones over at The Salt Lake Tribune may have already summed up Thursday's game as best as it could be.

"If Kent State went man-to-man, Grim went to work in the paint. If the Golden Flashes went zone, Medlin shot them out of it. Whatever defense they played, Reed flew around and wreaked havoc."

This is the same Tony Jones who was saying not much more than a month ago that Kent State might be USU's toughest home test this season and probably the most likely team to hand USU a loss in the Gossner's tournament. And all of that hype was totally valid after the way Kent State started the year. Opening with a win on the road at West Virginia and coming into this week with their only loss being to a top-50 RPI Cleveland State team, KSU was looking like a team to be feared.

Grim dominates day two at the Gossner's

Day two of the tournament wasn't all that different from day one in a lot of ways. The first game was close, and the second game was essentially dominated by Utah State. This time though, the Aggies didn't do the whole drama-queen thing down the stretch by letting the team they were blowing out back into the game.

This time around, it was mostly the upperclassmen (and Ben Clifford) who led the way in the scoring department. It was the first game since Texas A&M-CC that the two seniors were the top-two scorers on the team.

Morgan Grim came out swinging from the start of the game and didn't slow down at all. St. Peters' defense seemed very much aimed at not letting Preston Medlin light them up like he did UT-Arlington. What they forgot was that leaving Grim to go one-on-one down low is generally not going to end well for them. But even outside of that, Grim was putting himself in the right places at the right times to create scoring chances around the basket, and just as important, his teammates were finding him.

Brockeith Pane had himself a solid game as well, scoring 12 points in only 20 minutes of play. Kind of seems fitting that just one day after mentioning how dangerous this team could be if both Pane and Grim were to get to equaling their output from earlier this year, they go and step up the very next night to lead the way in a blowout.

And for the first time this year, Ag's are on a winning streak!!! USU wins, 73-69

See that rim up there? I just went to town on it... twice!

So, this whole scoring points things is pretty cool, eh? Through the first eight games of this season, USU was averaging 62.6 points scored per game. In the last three... 75.6!!! 

Despite the near epic meltdown by USU down the stretch (Aggies were up by 18 with 3:30 to go), this game was basically in control the whole way for Stew and the crew. Most of this is credit to the 3-point shooting and overall offensive prowess, which was convenient since the defense had what seemed to very much be having and off night. And while it's never encouraging to nearly blow a lead like that in the closing minutes of a game, to still come out with a win and a lesson learned is a positive for a young team.

Deep balls aside, this team is really finding their offensive rhythm, and it's coming from a lot of different places. Danny Berger kept on doing what he's been doing since his redshirt was set on fire, scoring in double-figures for the fourth game in-a-row. Kyisean Reed tied his career-high of 13 points for the FIFTH time, and also had two dunks that incited what had to have easily been the loudest The Spectrum has ever gotten during the Gossner's tournament. Ben Clifford quietly had another solid game too, scoring eight points, grabbing a few rebounds, and making the majority of his shots from the field.

Another ridiculously late basketball post game...

He's starting to just make it look easy

While the majority of USU fans were stuck in the fallout of a crushing loss in the Potato Bowl, the basketball team was happily reminding people that they are rapidly turning into a force to be reckoned with. Seattle was dominated for just about the whole game, ending with a 78-53 final for USU in which the Aggies held Seattle under 30 percent shooting on the night. 

Preston Medlin continued his merciless reign of terror on opposing defenses Saturday, going for 22 points and four rebounds. He also hit 3-of-5 shots from deep to up his 3-point shooting percentage over the last six games to 54.5 percent. He's also shooting just under 82 percent from the free throw line. Really, the stat-sheet has pretty much becomes Pre-Med's bitch since he went 0-fer against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Not sure if that was something that just set him off or not, but he's been a maniac since then.

Now though, Pre-Med isn't looking like the only star out on the wings with Danny Berger putting up his third straight double-digit scoring game. He was also tied for the team-lead in rebounds and steals, while holding sole possession for the lead in assists Saturday. That's the kind of consistency that no other wing player not named Medlin has showed this year, and one would think that a starting spot is about to open up for Berger.

The Bummer in Boise... Aggies fall, 23-24

With the dust settled on what was one hell of a football season at Utah State, the same theme that held true essentially all year held true yet again... Whoever has the ball in the closing seconds of a close game is going to win. That was the case in nine games this season. Five of them were USU wins, four were losses.

At the end of the day, this season was one hell of a ride. For a lot of teams around the country, 7-6 is nothing to be excited about. But for Utah State, it's progress. It's a sign that all the hype of Gary Andersen resurrecting this football program is no longer just talk. It's real and it's happening.

In the bigger picture of things, Saturday's loss has to have left a lingering hunger with the players and coaches who want to go down as the ones to finally get another bowl victory for Utah State. After suffering all the close losses that this team suffered early this season, the change in their mentality was apparent from halftime of the Hawaii game. Their hunger to win took over and carried them to the most thrilling comeback of the year in one of the toughest places to play in America.

We watched this team learn how to win right before our eyes, and even though Ohio managed to make the plays they needed to make in order to snatch away a victory in Boise, the changes in talent philosophy and mentality are what got this team to Boise in the first place, and those things will carry Utah State to more bowl games in the future under Andersen.

For the game itself, there's not a whole lot I feel like I can say that nobody else saw. Everybody watched it, and based on reactions from people after the game, everybody had similar takes on what eventually cost USU the game. Kudos have to go out to Ohio, who was one of the best teams to take the field against Utah State this year and they showed it.

Like I said though, not much to say that we didn't all see watching the game. Some other things will be addressed when final grades are put out by this very site later in the week. For now, rather than agonize over what could have been like we've been stuck doing so many other seasons, celebrate what this season was and the moments that made it so memorable. Also don't by afraid to look forward to next season with some optimism that doesn't feel like wishful thinking anymore.

Utah State football is back. We'll see you in spring ball.

FOR ALL THE POTATOES!!!! Utah State vs. Ohio

Here we go! Back into the bowl landscape for the first time in nearly a decade-and-a-half. To shed a little context on the rarity of this, the last time USU went bowling, members of this year's USU freshman class were just five years old. Since that last bowl season, the Aggies have had a record of 50-111. Just one other time outside of this season has Utah State won five games in a football season since 1997. It's been dark times that we're climbing out of, but if I had to guess, USU will be out of that hole for a little while now with Gary Andersen running this show.

Now though, history can go out the window. Now it comes down to delivering on the football field. Now it comes down to finishing out this roller coaster of a season the right way.

Checking in on the kids at American Fork

Utah State commits Marcel Davis and Quincy Bair rolled into Alta High School with the rest of the American Fork Cavemen Wednesday night, conveniently about a one minute drive from the current headquarters/bachelor pad of The Sagebrush Spot. So why not go check out the kids in person, right?

While the stats from the game might be less than impressive, don't let them take away from a solid showing on the court in what turned out to be a 57-50 victory.

While I could easily try and tell the story of the game, that would end up mostly talking about Austin Waddoups and his 20-point performance. But since Waddoups isn't signed on to wear an Aggie uniform anytime soon, I'll keep the focus mainly on Davis and Bair... But also include my thoughts on Waddoups at the end, because he showed he's worth mentioning.

This kind of stuff is what makes it all worth it

Saw this video posted by a friend on Facebook and totally got chills from it. I think this is a perfect example of the excitement that can be brought to a school, fan base and community when you finally experience some success after years and years of being down.

For Baylor, things are feeling pretty damn good for them right about now when one of their own won the Heisman Trophy for the first time in school history. This coming in the heat of a rise to power for Baylor after generations of being the perennial doormat of the Big-XII conference.

For Utah State, finally having a bowl game to look forward to, a conference player of the year in Robert Turbin, a superstar of a coach who truly wants to be here and plenty more hope for continual good things in the future, I would hope Aggies everywhere can relate to this video and look forward to a time when we'll have our own moment of glory. Maybe it won't be a Heisman Trophy, or a BCS bowl game or something as major as that, but the thrill of enjoying that moment with everyone who powered through those rough times together with you will make everything worth the ride.

Let's play a little bit of catch up

Admittedly, it's been a slow week over here at The Sagebrush Spot. A big part of that was due to being away from a computer for most of the day of and after the Wichita State game, but also there hasn't been much to talk about with football not playing this past weekend.

So let's catch up a bit, shall we?

1) The Wichita State game

Putting my optimist hat on the rack for a night, I summoned my inner realist and basically prepared myself to absorb the shame of a blowout loss. Then Stew and the boys proceeded to remind me why it's never a good idea to doubt them. Wichita State has only lost two games all season, one coming against a top 15 team and the other on a neutral court in overtime. They also thoroughly demolished UNLV just six days before facing USU. Yes, the same UNLV team that knocked off North Caroline when they were ranked No. 1. And this wasn't an upset hangover for UNLV either, with the Rebels having already played another game after the upset.

So for all those reasons, it's not hard to see why one would be skeptical about USU going on the road in a tough environment and making things any closer than the 19-point loss UNLV suffered out there.

Thorny throws up his deuces

Peace out Steve... We hardly knew ye.

In the words of a crappy song by Senses Fail, "Goodbye Steven... You were so young."

For whatever reason, Steve Thornton has decided to hang it up on his career at USU after just eight games, reportedly in order to move closer to home to play ball. No word on if there is any other reason as to why he came to this decision, but regardless of anything else that might be going on, it's his choice to make. Hopefully none of this has to do with any kind of dire family situation like we saw with Antonio Bumpus.

From a basketball standpoint, this hurts USU in the future. Granted, there are still four other wing players left on the team without Thorny in Preston Medlin, Adam Thoseby, Mitch Bruneel, and Danny Berger. Out of that bunch, Medlin is the only one who has shown solid and consistent play. Of the four young guys, Thornton's best had arguably been better than the best of what each of the other guys had shown so far. The "Pooh 2.0" label looked entirely valid, given Thorny's athletic ability and defensive aggression. Even up to this point, Thornton's career had plenty of other similarities with Williams', in that he started a few games early on, showed flashes of excellence, but got a little inconsistent and spent some hard minutes on the bench.

Play improving, roar restoring. Aggies, 63 - community college that is D-1 for no good reason, 54

Anybody wanna argue against this guy being
USU's best player so far this season?

There just might be something to these team effort things that the Aggies have put together four times now this season. Stew ball has been showing itself more and more lately, which is the sign of a good Aggie team in the making. There's still plenty of times when the youth shows through and guys look lost out on the floor, but if that improves each game, we're going to have ourselves a nice little basketball team here before not too long.

Tonight's game came out of the gate looking like a blowout, but progressed into a battle of streaks throughout the rest of the game, but never enough for UV to grab a lead. Biggest thing with tonight was that the Aggies never allowed UV's go-to guys to make a major impact. Isiah Williams was clearly a guy who could be dangerous if he gets hot and Ben Aird is strong and talented down low. Both of them were pretty handily handled tonight, and when facing a team like UV, chances are they don't have those lightning-in-a-bottle kinds of guys who can step up and have a huge game when their stars fail to produce. That was the case tonight. 

Aird still made a pretty solid impact defensively, holding Morgan Grim to just seven points on 2-of-7 shots, but Grim also didn't quite look like he was back to 100 percent from the ankle/curseofthe2012seniorclass/flu. Grim still got his, and really had a solid game as quiet as his points and rebounds seemed to come. It also would have been nice if he didn't have to put in 34 minutes of work battling an injury, the flu and some wretched curse. But, he's a team-player, and got the job done quite nicely.

Mid-Monday links: 12/5

Between making a bowl game and a little student section controversy, Utah State has been all over the national news lately. Then again, this kind of doesn't feel all that unfamiliar when it comes to basketball being in the news. The fact that football is what everyone is still talking about is what is really impressive, and for that, we say...

• GIVE THE MAN A RAISE!!!!
• Robert Turbin is WAC Offensive Player of the Year. Bobby Wagner gets hosed for Defensive Player of the Year (I blame politics... and Karl Benson, obviously). Tyler Larsen, Phil Gapelu, Tarren Lloyd and Levi Koskan join No. 6 and B-Wagz on the All-WAC teams.
• Utah State vs. Ohio in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
• Adam Kennedy gets some national love, and really it's about time. The dude is only undefeated as a starter in D-1.
• Tony Jones talks about the bromance between Kennedy and Matt Austin, but completely fails to mention how many mancrushes are held for those two among Aggie fans... I'd also be very curious to know how many random girls have added AFK on Facebook since the Hawaii game.
• Randy Hollis over at the D-news talks about how happy he is to be eating crow with this year's football team. Really a pretty enjoyable read.
• Even though you could make a solid argument he was snubbed from the All-WAC teams (same for McKade Brady), Kyle Gallagher is WAC Defensive Player of the Week.
• Our dear friends at USUstats.com lay down the solid work being done by Preston Medlin and Adam Thoseby from behind the 3-point line this season. Brian Green would be proud.
• Jake Heaps is passing up all the free s*** players get for a bowl game because he apparently can't wait to get the hell out of Provo. This drops BYU to 0-for-2 on No. 1 QB recruits panning out.

Lastly,  this link gets separated from the others because I believe it's that important. Bookmark, subscribe, or whatever you need to do to get yourself reading Parsing The WAC with regularity. Knowledge is power, and there is no better place to keep up with everything going on in the WAC than this site.

The ledge is worth stepping back from

At this point in the year, it seems like Murphy's Law is repeatedly punching the Aggie basketball team in the face. First Antonio Bumpus gets lost to foot problems again, costing USU a JUCO All-American recruit (the last three JUCO All-Americans for USU were Brian Green, Jared Quayle and Gary Wilkinson, for comparison's sake of how well those kinds of guys pan out). Then, Brady Jardine gets hit with a foot injury. Then Kyisean Reed hurts his knee. Then Morgan Grim is sick and hurts his ankle or something...

Basically, the injury bug is fully engaged in F-you mode right now, targeting the Aggies' most experienced players first, leaving a whole lot of young guys to take the floor and find out how to play college basketball without a whole lot of veteran leadership. Unless you're a team of all blue-chip recruits, you're going to struggle, and that's where this team is at right now. At one point in the game Saturday at Pacific, the USU lineup consisted of Preston Medlin, Adam Thoseby, Mitch Bruneel, Ben Clifford and Jordan Stone. That's two sophomores and three freshman for everyone scoring at home, and one of those sophomores is fresh into D-1 ball, so there was a grand total of one year of college basketball experience in that crew, which was mostly just about 1/3rd of a year for everyone who remembers how little Medlin played back in 2009-10 after Brian Green hit his stride.

Old Big West Rival 65, Aggies 57

Lead the team in points, rebounds and assists?
Don't mind if I do.

I feel like with a team this young, so many injuries and with it still being very early in the year, it is totally unfair to say that the wheels have come off on the season. To say this team needs some air in their tires might be a better way to describe things... Maybe some duct tape on the axles too... And some NoS... Either way, the bumps in the road for this team are coming pretty fast and furious.

I could talk plenty about how USU got beat in rebounding tonight, or how they only had five assists all game, or how poorly the team shot tonight... But those aspects are all pretty obvious, and they are telling as to why this team is struggling.

Underneath all the struggles, there are signs of life from these team if you're willing to see them. Things like the Aggies edging out the Tigers in both points in the paint and points off turnovers tonight. Or things like beating them by 20 in second chance points. Or how even despite being down 17 with just more than eight minutes to go, the team kept fighting. The eventually made it as close as a six-point game in the last couple minutes.

Refusing to lose. Good Aggies 24, bad Aggies 21

Once upon a time it seemed like if the game were close in the closing minutes as the 4th quarter, the other team always found a way to get the best of Utah State. It left everyone wondering "what if" at the idea of the Aggies being able to make the big plays to pull out those thrilling victories.

Five wins in a row and a bowl invitation later, THAT'S "what if". In nine games this season decided by a margin of only one score, Utah State has won five of those games. In the other three games that weren't decided by one score, the Aggies have won 2-of-3. For all this team went through early on with the heartbreaking losses, the fact that they never stopped working through all of that toward being the team they knew they could be says everything you need to know.

Spectrum Magic

Top 10 teams = no match for The Spectrum at its best

Spectrum Magic is something that can't really be explained. It's something that you've either experienced it or you haven't, and you don't really know until you see it right in front of you. It's the kind of thing that can make a seemingly impossible win turn into almost a sure thing. And it's the kind of thing that can pick up a team from whatever hole they might be in and carry them back to greatness.

There's only one team that gets the benefit of having The Spectrum on their side though. One team that knows that the best student section in the nation is on their side. One team that can stare down the barrel of defeat and not even flinch when The Spectrum elevates to its capability.

Closing this chapter with clarity

It's rare that Utah State is the biggest topic in the media in Salt Lake, but such has been the case today. And nobody among that bunch has been working harder than my man Tony Jones, doing what he can to get the scoop from every side of the story.

To get the updates on what Scott Barnes told Tony, hit up @TonyAggieville on Twitter and read the bits about Tony's interview with Barnes.

Other people saying it as well or better

It sucks that "The Protest" is the big issue here, but what sucks more is that the administration made it an issue rather than let The Spectrum be.

Since some people here might not read all the same places I do, and since there's some other people who have done a great job putting their thoughts into words on this matter, I figured I'd just share those.

Cause and effect.... and then some.

*EDIT* - This song feels just so damn applicable tonight! 

Since there have been plenty of rumors and misconceptions about what happened Wednesday at The Spectrum with "The Protest", let's clear up most of those, shall we? And when that's done, I'm going to share some of my own thoughts on this matter and some of the opinions that flew around Facebook and Twitter afterward.

First off, the game against Denver was not lost by the lack of students. Denver is a good team that played great and won. It's as simple as that.

We can only go up from here... hopefully. 67-54, Denver

Tough crowd tonight, but when every attempt
at a run is thwarted, it's tough to get going.

There's really not a whole lot that can be said about tonight's game...

Denver won the turnover battle, got more shots and made more shots. As has been the case far too often this year, USU did not rack up many assists. Much of the credit has to go to Denver on that one. Really most of the credit has to go to Denver. They were everything they were hyped up to be. They played solid defense across the board, shot the ball well, kept turnovers low and let their experience carry them.

This game wasn't lost because of the crowd, or officiating, or anything other than Denver was a very very good basketball team who made every big play they had to, controlled the tempo of the game and had an answer to everything USU threw their way.

Denver did what so few before them have done... Denver won in The Spectrum. A 33-game streak is broken and the team is at a new low point for the season. When it comes to Aggie basketball, there's not much lower than you can get than losing in The Spectrum, so the hope is that things can only go up from here.The potential is still very much there, but so is the youth. Right now, without Brady Jardine especially, the veteran leadership is falling almost entirely on the shoulders of Brockeith Pane and Morgan Grim.

Little mountain town vs. big mountain town; Aggies vs. Pioneers

Tonight's game against Denver looks on paper like a bit of a blast from the past. And I mean that in the sense that Denver's team seems to resemble USU teams of the past in many ways. They've got decent size and decent athleticism, but are very talented at playing basketball, and that's what carries them. They shoot the ball well, keep turnovers low and play solid defense.

What to really make of them is tough at this point seeing as how they thoroughly handled Saint Mary's (who beat Weber State) last week and beat Southern Miss (who beat New Mexico State) the week before that. Then in their last game they got pounded by Cal.

Mid-Monday links: 11/28

This is easily going to be the deepest collection of links thus far in the one month history of The Sagebrush Spot, and why wouldn't it be? This was an incredible weekend for Utah State University. For basketball, things looked maybe as good as they have all season on Saturday night, but the real headliner was football, looking as good as it has in a generation Saturday afternoon. I'd be lying if I said I haven't had some Remember the Titans music playing on my Itunes all weekend with that feeling of "we did it!!!"

Let's get right into the links.

• A slew of football post game stories coming from all my media homies and then some. Kraig Williams at The Deseret News, Tim Olsen at Cache Sports Media, Tavin Stucki at The Utah Statesman, Tony Jones at The Salt Lake Tribune, Wade Denniston at The Herald Journal, and Matt Harris at KSL.com.
• Kraig Williams pulls double-duty, heading straight to Pocatello to cover basketball's 75-62 win over Idaho State. Nate Laursen, Shawn Harrison, and our good friends over at USUstats.com all threw down recaps as well.
• Brad Rock at the D-news and Kurt Kragthorpe at the Trib each had their own pieces on just how huge of a step the Utah State football program took Saturday. Wade Denniston comes up again with another piece on the USU seniors and their legacy they're leaving.
• Tony Jones lays out some details on the chatter going on between Utah State and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, including some excellent props for the USU students from the bowl's executive director.
  
  And now for the Bobby Wagner portion of the links....
• In essentially a no-brainer, Bobby Wagner gets tagged with WAC Defensive Player of the Week by both the WAC and College Sports Madness.
• ESPN.com gives B-Wagz a helmet sticker.
• Sportsbeat Sunday features Bobby's love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 Again, if anything was missed, let me know.

Sunday Shorties: 11/27

USU is bowl eligible, the basketball team rebounds strong and The Sagebrush Spot reaches a milestone.


1) Bobby Wagner

Holy lord this guy is unreal! 15 total tackles and the fumble recovery that thwarted Nevada's attempt at scoring. One hell of a finish for a once-in-a-generation player.


2) Robert Turbin

Threw down a little foreshadowing in the postgame press conferences that he has NFL dreams for next season, and who could blame him? He said that he came here partly because he wanted to be a key in turning around a program, and he's definitely done it. Regardless of what he does, this website supports him, and chances are some long tribute post will be in order if he indeed goes to the league.


3) Second half defense

The performance against Hawaii was pretty impressive, allowing only three points in that second half. They only allowed 10 in the second half against San Jose State and seven points against Nevada. Including the Idaho game, USU has allowed only 17 combined points in the 4th quarter during this four-game win streak. That kind of performance is sure to carry this team to bowl eligibility before not too long.... oh wait!



4) The young guns

Preston Medlin, Adam Thoseby and Ben Clifford combine to score 52 points on 18-of-25 shooting, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Medlin is the oldest of those guys... only a sophomore... So if you weren't sure before about why you should still be excited about Aggie basketball, there's three good reasons right there.


5) 10,000 hits

This weekend The Sagebrush Spot got its 10,000th hit. For a site that is only a month old, can't say I'm feeling bad about that at all! Thanks to everyone who has been here, and hope you like what you read and want to keep coming back!

From growing pains to growing up; 75-62, good guys win.

I am Medlin... Hear me roar!!!

This is why you never quit on your Aggies! As if the 2011 football hadn't already taught a stern lesson to any and all people willing to give up on a team, the basketball team had a nice little reminder for all the doubters on Saturday night as well.

As if losing Brady Jardine wasn't tough enough (and it showed on Tuesday), subtract Kyisean Reed from the picture for a bit while you're at it. That puts the team down two super-athletic forwards, one of whom is the most experienced player on the roster.

So with a tough loss to a sub-par team in its pocket from Tuesday and the injury bug seemingly nipping at the team's heels, it seemed like Preston Medlin took a good look around Holt Arena and basically said, "Screw you guys," to everyone and everything not wearing Aggie blue. Medlin promptly played his best game in an Aggie uniform, working as the backbone to a stellar team effort to essentially control the entire game and dominate the 2nd half.

With the inside game severely shorthanded, Medlin and his new P.I.C. from behind the 3 (Adam Thoseby) basically grabbed the USU offense by the horns, combining to hit 7-of-12 shots from behind the arc and scoring 25 of the team's 32 points. And things didn't slow down in the second half for them either, as the two of them, along with Brockeith Pane, shot a perfect 6-for-6 from 3-point land.

BOWLieve it!!! Aggies 21, Wolfpack 17

With this 12-yard run on 3rd down, Adam Kennedy brought
USU to bowl eligibility for the first time in 14 years.

Think of where we were just 21 days ago... It was Nov. 5, Chuckie Keeton was on his way to the hospital, the Aggies were trailing 28-7 at one of the hardest road games to play in the country and all hope for bowl eligibility looked to be slipping away right before everyone's eyes.

Then something happened... Something happened with this team to which their play since that fateful halftime could only be described as epic. Something happened that changed this team from the kind of team that couldn't win and let 4th quarter leads slip away, into a team that couldn't lose and was automatic with the game on the line in the 4th quarter.

Excellence should never owe an apology

This was one of many signs at the game that showed off the
collective creativity of USU students

If you haven't seen it yet, an apology was issued for the behavior of the USU students at the Nov. 11 home game against BYU. The reasons for which were this apology was issued was because of the chants that USU students came up with and the signs they brought to the game.

My take on this is that it sucks. I understand it from a PR perspective, but that doesn't make me dislike this move any less. First it was BYU issuing an apology for that little scoreboard message they had last year. Now it's USU apologizing for the fans getting into a rivalry game in a big way. Neither of which I thought should have deserved an apology, because this is college athletics. More importantly, this is major in-state rivalries. People are going to smack on rival schools, things are going to get heated, but at the end of the day if everyone makes it home safely, no real harm is done.

Taking their lumps; Aggies go down 58-55 in OT

Out with a bad back is where our boy Grim is going to be if he
keeps having to carry this team like he did tonight.

We've seen production and performance so far this year in the season opener versus BYU, we've seen a decently impressive attempt at a comeback in the second half against Weber State and we've seen the team rally when they fell a man down early in the game against Southern Utah.

Outside of that, we've mostly just seen potential.

This team is still very young, very inexperienced and very capable of putting things together to make for a solid basketball team. But they're not there yet, and until they get there, they're going to take some lumps. Tonight, was one of those lumps.

After tonight, I'm starting to rethink my comparison of this team to the 2006-07 squad might have been the wrong comparison. Things are, at least as of right now, looking much more like that 2008 season than 2007. But really it seems like a mixture of the two more than anything else. There's the underdog status of 2007, and the wealth of youth filling out the roster that 2008 had with the likes of then-freshmen Tai Wesley, Tyler Newbold and Pooh Williams. Really the similarities in personnel are intriguing across the board. If there's two standout aspects that differ from 2008 and 2012 I'd say that the 2008 team could score much better than this 2012 team has shown to be able to so far, but this year's team seems much stronger in both the defense and rebounding departments.

Mid-Monday links: 11/21

Another thrilling win by the football team, another nail biter in The Spectrum against an in-state opponent and another 10-12 years docked off of every die-hard USU fans' lives. But hey, the wins keep coming at least. For now though, let's go around the rest of teh interwebz to see what other people are saying about the Aggies.

• Shawn Harrison over at the Herald Journal details a commitment from a seven-footer who saw what The Spectrum was all about, got stoked on it and is now going to be an Aggie!
• Football snags another speedy linebacker recruit out of Florida. Tony Jones with the info.
• Robert Turbin is getting all sorts of love across the internet. Got named Running Back of the Week by one place, WAC Player of the Week by another, and nominated for Running Back Performance of the Year by another.
• Some place that calls themselves ESPN named Turbin a Non-AQ Player of the Week as well.
• Kurt Kragthorpe talks about the dirty, filthy, no good possibility of having to maybe pull for BYU a tiny bit to beat Hawaii (which I guess could do USU a bit of good), guaranteeing a bowl game for USU if the Aggies win one more game.
• Brady Jardine is out 2-4 weeks, which TSS actually knew the night of the injury, but due to the bro/blogger confidentiality that The Sagebrush Spot has with Jardine, those beans were not spilled immediately. Shawn Harrison at the HJ with the assist on this one.
• Meredith Kinney is still dominating the USU hockey beat, while USU hockey can't seem to miss a beat. Three games this weekend brought home three more wins for the Aggies. Still undefeated on the season and ranked No. 1 in the ACHA West.
• Lastly, BallinIsAHabit featured USU's very own Kyisean Reed in their "POSTERIZED" segment.

Winning ugly is still winning - Aggies 65, T-birds 62

I am Kyisean Reed, and you are not!

After two awfully accurate predictions for the first two games, this one was a total miss. Last time I got cocky and predicted an easy win was before last year's home game against Hawaii in The Spectrum. It wasn't easy and disaster was narrowly avoided.

Apparently I did not learn any lessons from that in the preview for Saturday's game against Southern Utah. Basically the only thing I wasn't horribly wrong on was that Brockeith Pane would have a 2-to-1 A/TO ratio (he finished 4-to-1).

Really, credit to SUU for coming out tough. They hit big shots, played focused and in control and really just kind of looked like they came to shock the world. And they got a huge beam of hope just a few minutes into the game when Brady Jardine left the game with a foot injury, from which he did not return.

After the Jardine injury, the team mostly looked like a chicken with its head cut off for the rest of the first half. On top of their shots not falling, everyone seemed content to be standing around on offense when they didn't have the ball and looking frighteningly out of sync on defense. It was bad enough to incite a legitimate scare. It also was one of those times that we can only help but wonder what was said at halftime by Stew Morrill.

Then came the second half, most notably Steve Thornton and Kyisean Reed. Prior to this game, USU's bench had contributed just 15 total points through the first two games. In the second half Saturday, Thorny and Reed combined to score 20 on their own. Throw in some Jordan Stone, and the Aggie bench totaled 31 points, more than double the previous season total. In a nutshell, Thornton and Reed were everywhere in the second half. They essentially took over the game, and in Thornton's case, took over the No. 8 spot in Sportscenter Top-10.

Who says the Aggies don't know how to win?

If you'd won three games in a row, you'd jump into a
massive dogpile with a bunch of other dudes too!

In a game that was frighteningly similar to the last game between the Vandals and Aggies in the Kibbie Dome, Saturday's shootout had all the back and forth action that we've seen before. And just like we've seen before in that situation, Utah State came out victorious behind a game for the ages from Robert Turbin.

Amazingly, for as many times as the Aggies looked like they were about to let this game slip away, they never once trailed in regulation. And when I talk about all the times it looked like the game was about to slip away, I mean that these turnovers are going to bite this team in the ass sooner or later. But to have come back and still made the plays they needed to in order to pull out this win speaks to how far this team has progressed in the last month.

The boys from the South venture North; Aggies vs. Thunderbirds

Here at TSS, we've been all for supporting in-state rivalries and acknowledging them as such. Southern Utah makes that difficult when looking at the bigger picture, because over the last decade while Utah State, Weber State, BYU and yes, even Utah have all been racking up conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, SUU has been left out of that party. Even Utah Valley have gotten in on winning conference championships, even if that conference is the Great West (which seems to be as much, if not more geographically confused than the Big East). The Thunderbirds haven't tasted conference supremacy since 2001, while all the other teams in the state have been busting out such honors on almost a yearly basis.

SUU doesn't look to join that party anytime soon either. They were picked to finish eighth in the Summit League preseason poll this year and did not put any players on the all-conference teams. Still, they're off to a 3-1 start to the season, beating UC Davis, Bryant and most recently Montana State Billings, where former Aggie Jaxon Myaer is currently playing. SUU barely pulled that game out, winning 63-60 in a game that was tied in the last minute.

Really, there isn't much to be said about this game other than it should be a good tune-up for USU after Tuesday's loss to Weber State. This needs to be a game where the Aggies take those lessons learned and try to improve. As much as I'd like to give credit to SUU, they got beat by San Diego State 70-37, and I can't imagine mercy is the first thing on the Aggies' minds after Tuesday. Not to mention, Preston Medlin is probably going to run a train on SUU again, kinda like the last time he played them. Pre-Med scored his first career points against SUU in The Spectrum two years ago, ending the game with 17 points, which is still his career-high.

Not returning for this game unfortunately is Australian big man Matt Hodgson, who cried on the bench two years ago. His Aussie PIC Matt Massey is back though, and is one of four double-digit scorers for the Thunderbirds.

Honestly though, who SUU has and doesn't have probably won't matter. There won't be many games where I'll feel good about being outright cocky going into a game, but this is one of them. USU is still a good team, and they showed some serious heart in making that game Tuesday interesting, which is an encouraging aspect for them to have.

Prediction: Medlin tops his career high that he set two years ago against these guys, Brady Jardine gets a double-double, Adam Thoseby finally gets a shot to fall and Brockeith Pane has a 2-to-1 A/TO ratio.

Aggies by 18.

Purple Rain... 73-63, Wildcats

This guy did not have a bad game.

To quote myself in the game preview for tonight's game, "Holy hell can they shoot the 3-ball."

That's one of those, "I hate to say I called it" moments, but I think even I underestimated how good Weber State could, or would, shoot it from deep. After a respectable first couple minutes for USU, Scott Bamforth hit his second of a total of seven 3-pointers on the game to break an 11-11 tie. Weber State never trailed again. One would think that a team hitting 3's at the insane rate that the Wildcats were on Tuesday would eventually cool down, but for the most part, we're still kind of waiting on that to happen. Simply put, Bamforth was absolutely unreal tonight.


Weber State appeared like they'd won this game in the first half when they hit 8-of-12 shots from deep, building a 15-point lead at the break. For as incredible as Bamforth was in the first half, Damian Lillard wasn't too far behind, scoring 12 points of his own in the first half. The 29 points they combined to score gave them a two point lead over USU at halftime with just the two of them.

Utah's best is the second test; Aggies @ Wildcats

If you thought BYU would be the toughest in-state team Utah State would face this season, you were mistaken. I've said it before and I'll say it again; Weber State is the premiere college basketball team in the State of Utah this season. At least right now they are. Obviously the season still has to play out, but going into things, this game between two in-state rivals (see what I did there BYU, I gave them credit for being rivals... because they are. Respect) is to see who really are the basketball kings of the Beehive State (BYU fell out of the running Friday in Logan).

Weber State returns almost every crucial piece from a team that went 18-14 last year, including one piece that was out with an injury for most of that season. After Damian Lillard was lost for the year, the burden of carrying the team fell heavily on the likes of returning players Kyle Bullinger, Scott Bamforth and Byron Fulton. Basically every returning player on Weber's team has faced the challenge of taking on a higher role than they'd planned on. Now with Lillard returning, this team is dangerous. They're experienced, they're talented and holy hell can they shoot the 3-ball. Throw in a solid transfer in Frank Otis, who scored 13 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in his first game as a Wildcat, and they're looking dangerous across the board.

For the Aggies, their biggest asset right now is still athleticism, which should be helpful in them disrupting Weber's offense and causing turnovers. What USU is going to need most though will be essentially flawless execution on offense, another thing that will be difficult due to the aspect of Randy Rahe's and Stew Morrill's similar systems (or as we've so often called, the "evil twin brother effect.").

Another solid game from Morgan Grim is crucial for USU. Weber's centers have generally not been impact players, and starter Kyle Tresnak is no exception to that trend. But he's also much bigger and stronger than Noah Hartsock, who Grim played fairly well against, so Grim will have to out-talent Tresnak rather than out-muscle him. At the other forward spot, Brady Jardine is going to have to claim ownership early on over Frank. 22-X should have the advantage in every aspect there, so again, it will come down to execution.

Pane vs. Lillard is going to be one of the best match-ups of point guards in college basketball this season. Pane had what is still one of his best games as an Aggie in his USU debut last year against Lillard, but Lillard still put up better numbers. Simply put, Lillard may be the best player USU will play against all season. Watching those two will be entertaining.

Hell, the whole game should be entertaining. If USU pulls off a win in Ogden, that's going to be one to put on the tournament resume as the year goes on. Same probably goes for Weber if they protect their house Tuesday.

Mid-Monday links - 11/14

And if you're wondering, Deonte Burton shot 1-6, and only
scored 5 points in a blowout loss... Pane FTW

Ok, I obviously jumped the gun on calling last weekend a "huge weekend" for USU when the Aggies won an exhibition basketball game and had a comeback win in football. This weekend the Aggies won a big time match-up against a tough in-state opponent and had another comeback win in football. So, this most recent weekend wins the "huge weekend" title based on a regular season victory for basketball. Hockey rolled again too, but that should go without saying at this point.

Here's some looks back at what was...

• Tony Jones tweets that Mitch Bruneel is going to take Steven Thornton's starting spot this weekend. Kinda think this is going to be interesting to follow all year. Both have shown tremendous flashes.
  
• The last time the WAC was dishing out awards for production on the court, he was named the WAC Tournament MVP... Now that we're back, Brockeith Pane picked up where he left off, winning the first WAC Player of the Week award of the 2011-12
  
• Meredith Kinney runs down USU hockey's most recent blowout, while BYU throws down major spin coverage in their paper's interpretation of the 9-3 Aggie win.
  
• Gordon Monson pretends to talk about how bad BYU's point guards were Friday, but really just tries to continue the love fest with that Fredette guy. No mention of how well USU replaced the production of their own graduated superstars
  
  UPDATE!!! - A few that I missed, or just forgot earlier
  
• Kurt Kragthorpe has the counterattack to Monson's story with is own bit about USU's superstar point guard.  
• Three votes in the AP Top 25 poll!

Again, if there were links I missed, throw them down in the comments.

Sunday shorties: How's that for a weekend?

Let's throw down just a few other tidbits before the weekend officially ends. Still a few minutes until midnight, so let's do this thing.

1) Adam Kennedy
Not too shabby of an encore performance for the junior quarterback after the legendary comeback at Hawaii. It wasn't quite as smooth of sailing as things went on the island, but completing 21-of-27 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns is pretty impressive for a first career start. The interception wasn't a good one, and the fumble was something that needs to be avoided, but I'm willing to blame half of that on the rough weather conditions. At the end of the day, homeboy is 2-for-2 on 4th quarter comebacks. I'll take it.


2) Kyisean Reed
Still blown away by his rebounding in the second half Friday.


3) #OccupyTheSpectrum
If you did this, you are awesome. No two ways about it.


4) Weber State on Tuesday
As big of a game as BYU was, this one should be bigger. Most college basketball writers (myself included), believe that to start this season, Weber State is the team to beat in the State of Utah. Yes, you heard me right. Don't take them at all lightly. Last time around the students bought up tickets in sections L and M. Stick with that plan. If those sections sell out, buy up K and N after that.

Another day, another comeback victory...

sNOOOOOOOOOw!!!!!! This was the field at kickoff time.
Kudos to Scott Barnes for grabbing a shovel (literally, he did).

... Only for the second straight game, it was Utah State making the comeback, not the ones blowing a lead. It was also just the second time USU has trailed going into the 4th quarter this whole season, which the Aggies are now 2-0 in those games, which I can definitely deal with. "If it ain't broke", right?

What maybe is most impressive about this is that for the majority of the game, the Aggies were trailing by two scores. But when crunch time came about, Adam Freaking Kennedy (AFK) locked the offense down and was again making all the right reads and all the right throws downfield. That Turbin kid wasn't too shabby either.

The five turnovers are a little bit upsetting, especially since Stanley Morrison pitched in three of those in about two minutes time. And it's really too bad because outside of that, Morrison had a pretty good game. I don't think I'm the only one who had "WTF" run through my head when Morrison was USU's quarterback for a big chunk of the second half, but they were moving the ball pretty efficiently for that little bit. The experiment basically ended after the Morrison fumble though.

Taking care of business; Aggies win 69-62

That 67-60 prediction of mine wasn't too bad if I may say so.

Recap
Whatever comes to mind when you think of BYU, you can't ever say it doesn't provide for some great basketball when the Aggies and Cougars meet up to do battle.

And a battle it was.

For just more than 33 minutes of basketball, neither team led by more than five points, and for the most part, that margin rarely was above two points. The difference in the game was basically one scoring run. With the Aggies trailing 38-42 midway through the second half, riding a three minute scoring drought, Steven Thornton decided he'd had enough of the whole "not scoring" thing that his team was doing and sliced through the Cougar defense for a much-needed score. That basket was the first of an 11-0 run by USU that cranked the volume up to levels that could only be described as "Spectrumesque."

Like it or not, it's a rivalry now

Nobody at BYU cares about playing Utah State, eh?

For generations now, BYU fans have written off Utah State as something of insignificance, relentlessly claiming that Utah State vs. BYU is not a rivalry. And once upon a time, given the several decade long slump of USU football, they had at least a basis for argument.

But regardless of primary rivalries (Which in this state is between the Utes and Cougars, as much as 54-10 would beg to dissuade anyone from believing that's as close as it used to be), any in-state match-up matters when its two teams at the same level of the NCAA. When BYU and Utah play, it's a rivalry. When Utah State and BYU play, it's a rivalry. When any of the above and Weber State play (in basketball at least, because of the whole "same level" thing), it's a rivalry!

Starting things off with a bang; Utah State vs. BYU

Well this is one hell of a way to get things started, isn't it? For just the second time since the 2005-06 season, BYU leaves their skirts in the dresser drawer for an evening to put on their big boy pants and come to play in a place that everybody with any sensibility knows they are scared like hell to play. The last two games against these teams have been battles of a pair very experienced teams. One of them was a more or less a blowout (2009-10), while the other was an incredible game with an ending tainted by a bogus intentional foul call (2010-11).

This year couldn't be more opposite. Both team are largely inexperienced and burdened with replacing the go-to guys they've relied upon for the past three seasons. There's a couple star-quality players on each side, as well as a few experienced role players. Basically there's mostly just a ton of question marks surrounding both teams.

#OccupyTheSpectrum

Once upon a time we referred to the gathering of people waiting
for games as the town of "Morrillton"... this is more like a city.

If there was ever any thought that excitement about the basketball team might drop off with the graduation of the winningest senior class in school history, forget it. If you thought people wouldn't be as stoked on a team that now carries underdog status, you're wrong. And if you thought that the USU student body wouldn't keep on outdoing itself with every passing year, you clearly have no clue who you're dealing with.

Two years ago when BYU came to play in The Spectrum, they came with baggage. This was their first game back in Logan in five years after they had refused to come the last time around. This was a game that we'd been foaming at the mouth over for several years, and for a couple hours on a Wednesday night in early December that year, The Spectrum was louder, more frenzied and more chaotic than any riot, war or sporting event in the world.

Rebuilding or reloading; Comparing 2007 to 2012

2006-07 was one of the most memorable seasons, due largely to some major underdog status, and 2011-12 looks
to be similar in a lot of ways becau... wait! Why is Brian Green in the bottom of that photo???

Spectrum magic took on a whole new meaning in the 2006-2007 season. After years of dominating the Big West Conference, USU his the ground running in the WAC, finishing the regular season in second place behind only a top 25 ranked Nevada team and took that same Nevada team to overtime on their home floor of the WAC Tournament championship game. From day one, they exceeded expectations in the WAC, eventually earning an at-large bid to the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Then there was some major turnover on the roster. Nate Harris, the only USU player ever to be named 1st-team all-conference three different seasons, was gone. Cass Matheus, the super-athletic shot-blocking center, was gone. David Pak, one of the few point guards in USU history to lead the team to two NCAA Tournaments, was gone.

When the season began, the 2006-07 season looked like it would be that one rebuilding year that Aggie fans had long dreaded the agony of enduring. Stew Morrill's streak of 23-win seasons and, at the time, seven consecutive postseason appearances looked like an impossible feat to extend. For the first time in nearly a decade, Utah State basketball was considered an underdog.

The result of that season was one of the most memorable seasons in history.

Going into that season, the Aggies returned one all-WAC guard (Jaycee Carroll), another experienced wing player, capable of also running the point (Durrall Peterson), and the team's ace off the bench from the prior year who was undoubtedly ready for a starting role at forward (Chaz Spicer). The rest of the team was filled out with junior college transfers and role players.

For everything that team lacked in talent and athleticism, especially compared to a WAC that was loaded with those two aspects on other teams, Utah State made up for it all with heart. On top of that heart, they had grit and they were monumentally clutch when the game was on the line. The closer games got, the higher the volume at The Spectrum was cranked up.

Now, here we are again in that underdog status after four straight years of WAC championships, Utah State finds themselves carrying the perception of an underdog. The team has one all-WAC guard (Brockeith Pane), another experience wing player, capable of also running the point (Preston Medlin), and the team's ace off the bench from last year who is undoubtedly ready for a starting role at forward (Brady Jardine).

While the 2007 team had the advantage of an elite scorer, they lacked size, strength and athleticism across the board. The starting center for that team was Steve Ducharme, who was graciously listed at 6'7 and wasn't very bulky, just to give an example. There was essentially nobody on the team who ever showed a capability to drive past a defender and finish around the rim, and to top it off, you could probably count the total number of dunks on the season on one hand.

That is not the case going into 2011-12. Anytime Brady Jardine isn't the most athletic player on your team, that's a good sign. Between Jardine, Pane, Kyisean Reed, Steven Thornton and even E.J. Farris and Morgan Grim a little bit, USU is loaded with guys capable of beating a defender off the dribble and creating opportunities to finish at the hoop. While Medlin might not quite be Carroll when it comes to scoring, he is a plenty capable scorer who looks like he'll provide plenty of veteran leadership already for this team (and he's from Carrollton, Texas... do with that what you want). And with the scoring potential of guys like Thornton and Adam Thoseby, Medline doesn't have to be Carroll, but he'll still get his anyway.

And about that whole size down low thing...

What it comes down to is that 2007's biggest deficiency was the ability to defend, and while 2012 has more freshman and sophomores on the roster who will be counted on to contribute big minutes, the team's athleticism and size should make them much more of a defensive force down the season.

This year's team will probably lose a game or two they should win and win a game or two they should lose, just like in 2007. What's really going to be fun is when those games that USU has won by blowouts the last few years are suddenly nail-biters in The Spectrum, that place is going to be off the freaking chain!!

If nothing else, coming up from underdog status to shock the world for a 5th straight WAC title when everyone else thought this year would be their chance to shine would be possibly the most epic thing of all time.

Highs, lows and I don't knows - Football, 11/8

Watch me crank that soulja boy and Superman these hoes!

The highs:

Adam Kennedy - I'm thinking AFK's halftime pep talk from the coaches went about like this...

BALDWIN: "Hey, so we know you could count your passing attempts on the season without having to take your socks off and with a mitten on one of your hands, but Chuckie is done for the game. Would you mind coming in and leading us to a win at a place we haven't won at since Coach A was in diapers?"

AFK: "Do you know who the hell I am?"

In all seriousness though, that was a performance for the ages. Was there a single hole in Kennedy's game? I say nay. His throws were on the mark, he knew when to cut loose and scramble, he... well... He just got it done. No two ways about it. There's a reason why he and Chuckie were neck-and-neck for the starting job in camp. If anyone took the time to watch AFK's highlights from junior college, the thing that stands out most is how noticeably he improved his game from his freshman to sophomore year. In other words, he may be slow to catch on, but once he does, he catches on strong.

Seeing as how Chuckie will probably have some missed reps in practice this week, and maybe even for overall safety's sake, Kennedy deserves the start Saturday. I know I want an encore performance, and I'm pretty confident that AFK is capable of delivering.

Mid-Monday links - 11/7

This whole "WAC champs" thing is getting awesomely repetitive.

After a pretty huge weekend for USU, it only gets bigger this coming weekend with the basketball season officially beginning in the biggest of ways Friday, football going for win No. 4 Saturday afternoon at home and the hockey team has another in-state doubleheader this weekend, wrapping up Saturday night at home against Weber State.

In other words, it's going to be a bit of an ultimate sports weekend with three home games all happening within about 24 hours up in Logan. Probably shouldn't miss that.

While you get excited though, here's some links to enjoy.

•  USU soccer has completed it's 2011 running of a train on the rest of the WAC (USU athletics)
  
• Chuckie Keeton has been released from the hospital... You may now all collectively exhale. (USU athletics)
  
• Meredith Kinney throws down a recap on the continuing domination of USU hockey. (The Utah Statesman)
  
• Also from the best damn campus newspaper at USU, Ry Bay tells the epic tale of how his life changed at The Spectrum. (The Utah Statesman)
  
• And in case you missed it from a few days ago, Kraig Williams wrote one hell of a feature on Brady Jardine (22-X) that you really should read. It's just a great story, written by a great guy about a great guy. (The Deseret News)

If there's any links you think I missed that should be on here, throw them down in the comments and I'll put them in the main post when I get a chance.