Another ugly one, but Aggies win again

There's that old saying that says, "You've gotta slay a few dragons before you can finally rescue the princess." Put plainly, it's referring to hooking up with girls you wouldn't brag to anyone about before eventually finding that one gem to settle down with.

That's how I'm hoping things are going for this Aggie basketball team right now. They just keep knocking out these ugly victories, but eventually things are going to get a whole lot prettier.

In their defense, last year the team was losing a handful of these ugly games. To be 10-1, even if you haven't really tackled any titans, is still a very good record to be sitting on. Much like my feeling was prior to the Gossner's tournament, this team still looks like a group of very talented basketball players who have yet to really come together as a cohesive unit.

They've shown flashes, and I don't think I was alone in hoping that the win against Southern Illinois would be a sign of better things to come. That very well could be the case still and they just had another struggle on the road. Again though, 3-0 on the road now. That's something to be happy about, especially since one of those was against a Santa Clara team who hung around against the No. 1 team in the country over at Cameron Indoor on Saturday morning.

Bair decides to hang up the gym shoes...

Things just got a little bit more complicated for this year's USU basketball team with another player stepping away from the program. Freshman wing Quincy Bair has left the team according to numerous reports Wednesday night.

While not wanting to comment specifically on reasons, Bair at least told Kyle Goon that it had nothing to do with the team. Another report from a credible source stated that Bair has simply lost the passion for playing basketball. If that's indeed the case, tough to really fault the dude for not wanting to go through the rigors of practicing and playing when you're not enjoying it.

Speculation is that Bair won't be transferring to play elsewhere, but feels content with calling it a career in competitive basketball. It's a situation not too unlike running back recruit Tavarreon Dickerson from last year's football signing class. He was a highly-touted running back who decided to walk away from football because he had lost his passion to play.

THIN ON THE WINGS
Bair's departure, along with the injury to Danny Berger and previous departure of Riley Bradshaw gives USU a somewhat stressful situation in the back court for the rest of this season. Marcel Davis and Tenale Roland will hold down the point guard position, but it leaves only the trio of Preston Medlin, Spencer Butterfield and Marvin Jean to hold down the wings.

In other words, foul trouble could seriously complicate things for the team in some games. If either one of Kyisean Reed or Ben Clifford could make ample contributions at the small forward spot in an emergency situation, things will be fine. Still, it's more of a headache than any coach would want.

TOO MUCH OF A PATTERN...
It's been pointed out before that every year, at least one freshman on the roster calls it quits. It's seen the departure of a handful of a guys who turned out to be good players, and more recently guys with the potential to be very good. The circumstances are often unknown, and it's usually safe to assume that much more goes into these decisions than the masses will ever know...

Still, the pattern is officially a tiny bit disturbing at this point.

Maile staying on as part of Wells' staff

Matt Wells has officially begun assembling his coaching staff, starting with the retention of defensive line coach Frank Maile.

Maile has been on the staff for four years now, working the past two seasons as the team's defensive line coach. From the looks of thigns, he'll stay in that role, giving the team much needed continuity on the defensive side of the ball. One has got to think that Maile has learned quite a bit from the likes of Gary Andersen and Dave Aranda over the last few seasons, making him a valuable asset to keep on staff.

And that's without even mentioning that two of his players earned all-WAC honors this year with Al Lapuaho landing on the first team and freshman Jordan Nielsen on the second team. Connor Williams was an honorable mention selection as well.

Maile also has some experience in the areas of strength and conditioning, which could be some welcomed continuity should Evan Simon indeed be leaving the Aggies.

While one position is filled, there are plenty more spots to sort out moving forward. A lot of that will likely have to do with which of USU's assistants from this past season are indeed headed elsewhere and which can be retained. Rumors have been flying around indicating all sorts of different things, so it's probably safer just to let things play out.

Stay tuned to this moving forward.

Marvin Jean answering the call

Marvin Jean never saw more than 10 minutes in a game through the first five contests this season. Spencer Butterfield was the ace off the bench early on in the year while Preston Medlin and Danny Berger held down starting roles.

Jean hadn't played poorly by any means. He hit on 3-of-8 total attempts from the field in the first five games. But he only racked up two total rebounds and two assists, leaving at least a little to still be desired.

When Berger went down, it was inevitable that Jean would see his minutes increase, and with that, the pressure would be on for him to really perform.

And perform he has!

In four games since Berger's injury (is that even the right thing to call it?), Jean has scored eight points three different times. He's also made solid contributions in rebounds and assists during his increase in minutes, which has been 18 or more in each of the last four games.

Aggies ride strong second half to beat UC Davis

Thursday the Aggies had a big lead to start the second half and saw their opponent slowly chip away to make it a game.

Friday was the opposite. UC Davis went into halftime leading 40-39, but in the second half, Utah State took back the lead and slowly widened it as time rolled on.

It was still an ugly game for the most part, but I dare say it was at least a little bit better looking than Thursday's affair. The key to Friday's win was Preston Medlin stepping up as the offensive weapon we all know he is, breaking the 20-point barrier for the first time this season. Maybe more importantly, he looked like he had that assassin's mentality once again.

It's funny how a slump can weigh down on you, no matter how capable of playing better you know yourself to be. But once that slump is broken, everything feels comfortable all over again. That's what it looked like after Medlin really got things going offensively in the first half. It seemed like he knew that if he forced the action on UC Davis, that points would end up on the board.

Sure enough, he went off for 23 of them on 9-17 shooting, while also tying for the team-lead in assists with four. And with Jarred Shaw having his first down game of the season, it was perfect timing for Medlin to step up with a big game like that.

Not a ton else to say about this game outside of its ugliness, Medlin's big night, and maybe mention that in that second half the team looked for flashes like they were starting to mesh some more. We saw a lot of that against Western Oregon, but the chemistry seems to be taking its time this season.

The assistant coaching carousel spins on...

With the hiring of Matt Wells now official, the next big questions involve who he will pick to round out his coaching staff.

If continuity is an option, I think you take that and roll with it. And apparently, there could be a little bit more continuity than we initially though with Wisconsin apparently wanting to keep some of their current assistants on staff, potentially closing the door in Madison for a few guys who Gary Andersen wanted to take with him. This details that all a bit: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/68309/wisconsin-could-keep-some-assistants

Among the positions possibly being retained at Wisconsin are defensive coordinator, defensive line coach, strength coach, and offensive line coach.

For Utah State, that would leave Dave Aranda, Frank Maile, Evan Simon, and T.J. Woods as potentials to remain on staff. While Aranda could still very likely move on to some other job, keeping him would be a godsend to next year's season. Maile and Woods have both been great as well over the past two seasons and would be very valuable retentions to the coaching staff. As for Simon, we've seen the entire team get a whole hell of a lot bigger and stronger with him here. I say give the man a raise and reason to stay!

Sloppy sloppy sloppy, but Aggies hold on

The optimist in me says, "This is what's nice about the Gossner's Tournament. Get some quality experience at home against teams you should beat even on a crappy night."

The pessimist says, "This team is still struggling way worse than they should, and doubts are starting to arise."

I can't help but think back to last year when we opened the Gossner's against UT-Arlington, only beating them by four. By the last game of the tournament, we beat the piss out of a very good Kent State team.

And that was last year's team, who I doubt many people will try to argue had more talent on its roster than this year's squad. Throw in some actual size down low, some more talent and experience on the wings, and a pair of point guards who are both not too shabby, and there's probably reason to stay optimistic.

Matt Wells to be the Aggies' next head coach

Multiple sources have indicated that all the speculation is true about Matt Wells stepping in as the next head coach of Utah State football.
After just two years with USU, Wells has apparently made enough of an impression on the administration to work his way into this position, even being called by some people as a younger version of Gary Andersen.

If that truly is the case, then USU should be in a great position moving forward, especially since Wells is a guy who is Aggie-bred and could hopefully assemble a quality staff of guys also very familiar with the school and the program.

Regardless, this gives the Utah State program some crucial continuity moving forward. Wells has been a huge part of the success of the past two seasons, has done a tremendous job both as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, and apparently has some serious ties to many recruits in various areas. Plus, as it's been stated before, Gary Andersen didn't start really winning lots of football games until Matt Wells was on staff at USU. Prior to Wells, Andersen's coaching record was 8-16. With Wells on staff, USU had a record of 18-8.

Doubtful that they're THAT directly related, but there's at least something to it. Not to mention, Wells helped develop both Adam Kennedy and Chuckie Keeton into stud quarterbacks in his and their first years at Utah State.

The coming days will be filled with rumors and speculation about assistant coaches, recruiting commitments, which will be kind of fun to see. And hopefully it can inject some excitement into people about the program moving forward and put some of the hurt of the last couple days to rest.

It's also worth noting again that as far as Utah State becoming the next Boise State is concerned, we're just following the script. Boise State lost Dan Hawkins after the 2005 season and hired offensive coordinator Chris Peterson. Things only ended up getting better for them.

How things shake down for the Aggies... We'll see. The uncertainty of outcomes is part of what makes going to games so much fun. So if Wells is able to come right out and keep the show rolling next season, this program's momentum just might grow too powerful to stop!

Welcome to the big job Matt Wells. Let's keep this show rolling!!!

Waving goodbye to greatness...

The optimism was so high, so recently. The thought of Andersen, Wells and Aranda all staying for another season was nothing short of a thrill, and almost seemed too good to be true.

Turns out it was...

For a fan base that seemed to pretty well grasp the idea that our time with a coach as great as Gary Andersen would be very limited, it was interesting to see the reactions Tuesday night as news broke.

Heartbreak is a funny thing, and people all deal with it in their own ways, and I think that very much showed in the wake of the news that the man who helped turn Utah State football from a perennial doormat to a top 20 program, was accepting potentially a once-in-a-lifetime offer.

I won't hide the fact that I disagree with those who are trying to tear down everything about Andersen. A lot of the things said about him upset me quite a bit. This is a guy who devoted everything he had to this program for the last four years, raising Utah State football to national prominence. Remembering where we back in 2006 and 2007 when this program lost 16 consecutive games, and comparing that to the thrills of 2011 and 2012, I'm filled with nothing but joy that we got to have Gary Andersen here to do what he's done.

Going back on the announcement from a few weeks back that he would be staying is hurtful. I get it. We had our hopes high, and Tuesday they were brought crashing down. The way it all happened is a huge disappointment, and it is no doubt a bruise on his legacy.

But people had expected all along that Andersen would soon be on to bigger opportunities than what Utah State could afford him. Regardless of the circumstances, it was going to be hard to swallow.

I might not be the majority in this line of thinking by any means, but I think it's times like these where we can make the most positive of impressions on the program we want so badly to see succeed. These are the times where outpourings of gratitude could potentially leave an impression on any future coaches to truly believe we have something special in the works at Utah State. Throwing a guy under the bus after leading USU to its best season ever only harbors negativity, and the less of that we have, the better.

THE NEXT BOISE STATE
This has been a continual talking point about the future hopes for the Utah State football program. It's something that obviously won't come easy, as it's really only been done by one program. You could throw Utah and TCU into that mix too, but BSU is the benchmark there for doing it in such a small market.

For those who thought Utah State's hopes of becoming the next Boise State went out the window with Andersen leaving, you're forgetting one very crucial aspect of the Boise State story... Dan Hawkins.

Dan Hawkins was the head coach that Boise State lost to a big name school after the 2005 season, leaving them wondering if their rise to prominence had come to an end. The school hired Offensive Coordinator Chris Peterson as its head football coach to replace Hawkins, won the Fiesta Bowl, and have been a national power ever since.

If being the next Boise State is what Aggie fans want, then Andersen's departure is just part of the process.

While a head coaching search might not be resolved right away, it's worth noting that Gary Andersen's head coaching record at USU prior to Matt Wells joining the staff was 8-16. With Wells on staff, the record has been 18-8. If continuity is the goal, Wells could be the guy, much like Peterson was as the successor to Hawkins.

Do I think Utah State will find a better coach than Andersen? Probably not. I think Andersen is destined to be one of the best coaches in all of college football for a long time. I think he'll have tremendous success at Wisconsin, and should serve as a proud example of coach that really blossomed at Utah State.

Not too unlike a certain Urban Meyer a few years back when he left Utah. Meyer has gone on to be arguably the best coach in college football of the past 10 years, and the Utah program he left behind has done pretty well for itself too. Kyle Whittingham took over that program and kept them at the high level where Meyer had brought them. Many will claim (myself included) that Whittingham's 2008 Sugar Bowl championship team was a better overall squad than the 2004 Fiesta Bowl team that Meyer was in charge of.

The point is, programs have withstood high-profile coaching changes before to go on to bigger and better things than the would-be legends like Hawkins and Meyer could claim from their time at the mid-major level. Both BSU and Utah had more sustained success than what USU has had in leading up to these changes, but what's to say USU can't go a bit further in overcoming this new challenge?

Respect the process.

I DON'T JUST LIKE YA, I LOVE YA!!!
I'm not bitter at Gary Andersen at all. It is a bummer to lose him, but Wisconsin is an unreal opportunity for him. We very well could see our former head coach hoisting a national championship trophy at some point in the next few years, and for me, that gives quite a bit of a sense of pride in knowing that he was one of us for these last four years.

Andersen has done the job at Utah State that we've only dreamed to see other coaches do. He's made us into a strong program for the first time in generations, and that is something I will forever be appreciative of.

On top of winning a ton of football games, beating the in-state teams, winning the WAC and winning a bowl game, he was just a pleasure to have around. He's a hell of a guy who you can tell really cares about what he does.

Sure, he might be moving on to a new group of players and fans to care about, but I have zero doubt that his love for Utah State players and fans has been genuine all along. To have a guy like that here for four years has been special. And while I've thanked him multiple times for all he's done here, I would give a whole lot for the chance to thank him one last time and wish him well.

No matter how much the unfolding of events may have hurt, the good things he's done outweigh the bad, and the ratio is nowhere even close in that one!

Thank you for everything Gary Andersen!!! To me, and hopefully plenty others, you'll forever be an Aggie legend!!!

Tipping the hat to Tony Jones

Saturday in Boise will forever go down as a special day. Utah State capped off its best season in school history with a bowl victory, but also saw the memorable careers of a handful of seniors come to an end. Some of these seniors were parts of three or four win teams, riding the rise of the program all the way to this year's 11-2 record.

It was also the last day for another guy who has been a big part of Utah State athletics for the last five years. Tony Jones has officially made the transition to his new beat over at the Salt Lake Tribune after a run of bringing as good of media coverage as Utah State University has ever seen. Whether it was his post game stories, player features, breaking news via Twitter, or detailing all the breaking news on the Aggieville blog, Tony was on top of everything. Dude just has a knack for writing about a game or seeing stories about players that most others didn't notice. As a fellow journalist, that's especially impressive to see.

You see, media mas changed quite a bit in the last five years. And while plenty of reporters and media outlets have struggled to adjust to those changes, Tony knocked it all out of the park. And on top of that, he was active on Twitter, accepted Facebook friend requests, and essentially was always open to discussion of USU athletics with anyone willing to strike up conversation.

For a school that has often falt cast by the wayside from the Salt Lake media in the past, Tony Jones always made the Aggies a story worth reading.

Plus, he's a hell of dude to top it all off.

So while one era ends, a new one begins. Monday appeared to by the first full-time day for Kyle Goon's coverage of the Aggies, and if you're asking this guy's opinion, the great coverage hasn't missed a beat at all so far with the blogging and Tweeting. Maybe the best coverage USU has seen is still yet to come and Kyle Goon ends up as the guy to make that happen. But regardless of how well Kyle has taken the passing of the torch in stride, it was Mr. Jones who set the pace.

So with all that said, I think I speak for myself and plenty of Aggie fans when I say...

"Thanks for kicking so much ass at your job Tony Jones. It's been a hell of a ride the last five years, and you deserve all the good things you've got going, and still coming your way. Best of luck down there my dude!!!"

Dave and Matt are standing pat

The worry of the dream season's staff departing for other opportunities was already there even before news broke of Mike Sanford heading off to take the head coaching job at Indiana State. Dave Aranda has done a masterful job with the defense at USU this season, while Matt Wells has shined plenty as well during his first year as offensive coordinator.

With the success we'd had, there was the hope that at the very worst, some of the guys below Wells and Aranda on staff would have been well-groomed enough to step up and take the reigns. If at all possible, the hope was to keep Wells and Aranda on board for another year given how well they each did. But for assistants, opportunities are going to be out there, especially in Aranda's case with him having previous experience as a D-coordinator.

And those offers were very much out there too! Reports have said that Aranda was a frontrunner for the defensive coordinator jobs at both Cal and Texas Tech, with rumors even flying out there Sunday that Aranda was indeed heading to the Red Raiders.

In Wells' case, Kyle Goon and Tony Jones teamed up in reporting that Wells had been pursued by North Carolina State.

As it is now, it looks like holy trinity of Andersen, Wells and Aranda want an encore in 2013. The three of them will be back at Utah State for at least one more season, and hopefully plenty more!

Now we have one more year of these guys together, making every one of them that much more prepared to step up and succeed if more is asked of them at USU, or should they eventually try to find success elsewhere. It also gives the younger assistants more time to work and learn under each of them, with the same benefits hopefully paying off in the future.

Really just to sum it up... This is HUGE for Utah State to retain these two guys!!! Maybe, just maybe we have something special enough going on that they stick around even longer than just next year too! 

All you once knew is shattered

It's not the most common thing for a team to only have one milestone left to possibly reach. For Utah State football though, that's where we are.

Five years ago, we capped off Senior Day 2007 with a 52-0 loss to Boise State, sending off that class with an 0-10 start to that season, and the 16th consecutive loss for the Utah State football program. It was a heartwrenching way to send off a group of guys who had busted their butts and put in their time to represent Utah State on the football field.

Everything is different now in 2012. The idea of being a program that loses 16-straight games is seemingly unimaginable, and that is a beautiful thought to not have!

I only arrived in Boise in time to soak in the pep rally on Friday, mingling with players, coaches and other personnel as we all collectively got prepared to cap off the best season of Utah State football any of us have ever seen. There's just something special about making a trek to some other place with your team and fellow fans. It makes even the most familiar of faces that much more great to see when everyone has the collective feeling that something special is happening.

But it's not like we needed any more reminders that this 2012 Utah State football team was special... They've reminded us of that plenty of times. Still, even before kickoff had come on Saturday afternoon, we were reminded once again.

As USU fans busted out into an epic bowl game version of the "I Believe" chant, you could see the excitement on the team was quite a bit higher this time around. More importantly though, for a handful of seniors, they soaked it in even more as they came to that end zone, arms waving, jumping around in the thrill of the moment.

For them, this was the last time they'd experience that thrill with a helmet and pads on. It was a game they knew was their last, in a season that was USU's best, for a senior class that should be cherished forever.

Never before has an "I Believe" chant meant more to me or held quite the excitement as that one did, and given what was done throughout this whole football season, I wouldn't have it any other way.

For the bulk of the football game, it was more of a battle than I think most Aggie fans expected. So when Kerwynn Williams finally broke loose up the middle, we knew we had finally tipped the scales in the big way we had needed. At that point, we could finally taste victory.

Then Kerwynn put the team on his back for another drive, capped off with Eric Schultz coming from the opposite side of the line to give an extra push to drive the pile into the end zone. And then Kerwynn scored one final time to cap off one of the most memorable performances in Utah State football history.

The season had finished like only one other season in USU history had. 1993 finally had a team to look up to with this 2012 team doing things like no other team before it.

What's amazing is that even the best could still be yet to come with future teams. But when it comes to a season like this, with this new record, and these players, this is the kind of season that gets remembered forever. These players and these coaches reached the status of legends on Saturday, and while there have been many USU football heroes in the past, and surely plenty more to come, it comes down to this... "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die!"

We'll all remember this team for being the ones who really took us to this next level. And while there are plenty of players who are equally deserving of the credit in getting us here, these guys made it all finally happen like we couldn't have even dreamed of just five years ago.

Next milestone up is the last one left... An undefeated season!

Bring on Bowl Weekend!!!

Let's cut right to the chase with statistical analysis about the football game. You can get a nice, professionally done preview in almost any media outlet right about now, so rather than just give another one of those, I want to talk more about the experience of bowl weekend!

But the football game is most important, so let's knock that out real quick...

FOOTBALL TALK
The statistical rankings tell a pretty solid tale. Both Utah State and Toledo have very good offensive units and playmakers. The Aggies are 26th in the nation in total yards, the Rockets are 28th.

Defensively, not as close... Utah State has the 15th best defense in the nation, while Toledo ranks 106th.

So, in a nutshell, the Aggies should score almost at will, while the Rockets will struggle to score just like every other team has against USU this year. They'll still get theirs, but it'll be a whole lot harder to come by. The closest comparison I can make is the San Jose State game, and even the Spartans are rocking both a top 30 offense AND defense.

If you want more of what I think, download the latest Front Row Show, fast forward to 11:55 in the episode, and listen to Josh McDonald and I dominate that bowl preview.

Final score prediction: 42-20, Aggies!

Late-Monday Musings about Aggie stuff

Sooo, last week was a little bit wild. Obviously the Danny Berger story is long from over, but if the response for him Saturday is any indication, his eventual return to the court should be earth-shaking. And it does indeed look like he'll be making a comeback, apparently even possibly this season. Crazy how this is all playing out, but it's looking like it will all finish with a happy ending and a pretty incredible story.

There's plenty more to talk about though, especially with this week being bowl week. So let's get down to what's going on.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING NEWS
Generally around this time of year, things are really heading up on the recruiting front. What's different about this year though is that there's already more than 20 guys committed.

Still, we're going to hear plenty about guys coming on visits in coming weeks, probably much more so right after the holiday break. If I were to guess, just about each guy is going to carry the label of "potential star" as Gary Andersen sells guys on the success and growth of the program so far and the notion that he plans to stick around here for a while. Plus, with so many scholarships being filled already, why not swing for the fences with some players we could never have even dreamed would consider USU five years ago or so?

This past weekend apparently included one of those players with (former?) Utah commit, Vili Leveni. Leveni is a highly-rated defensive end who is second guessing his commitment to the Utes. Based on his tweets throughout his visit, things could be looking very good for the Aggies to land a guy currently holding offers from Boise State, Houston, Illinois, Mississippi State, and Oklahoma State. Seems like a heck of a guy to go with being a hell of a football player.

While on Utah commit is considering a turn to the dark side, a former BYU commit has already pulled the trigger. Hayden Weichers had committed to play for the Cougars a while back, but apparently has been mulling over a change since as far back as the summer. Today, news broke the Weichers is going to be an Aggie, adding another wide receiver to a 2013 class currently loaded with wideouts.

Chances are that at least a few of them will be changing positions when they get to USU, but Weichers looks like maybe the most likely to stay at that spot in the future. If nothing else, a whole lot of people at USU already think this kid is a bad ass for joining the dark side with us!!!

BOBBY WAGNER
Peter King has him tabbed as his Defensive Rookie of the Year at this point. Wagner has been a tackling machine and added two more interceptions to his season stats on Sunday. And I can't imagine him slowing down either.

Funny thing is, I doubt anyone at USU is even that surprised. Dude was an absolute playmaking machine for four years, yet somehow slipped to the second round of the draft. 

I can't imagine the Aggies being short on quality linebackers for a while given the talent already here, and having Wagner as an NFL icon to show off to future recruits, that unit is going to be dominant.

MARCEL DAVIS
Was named as USU's Student Athlete of the Week, and apparently got mentioned by Stew today as having made things very interesting at point guard moving forward... Definitely keep an eye on this one!

COME TO BOISE, NO MATTER WHAT... IT'S BOWL WEEK!!!
It's time to paint Boise blue!! And no, not that light blue crap... That dark kind. The Aggie blue kind. This needs to be a complete takeover.

If you haven't made plans to go up there yet, get on the ball and make them! We need to make this a total home-field advantage. Aggies will undoubtedly outnumber Rockets' fans, but we need to mercilessly overpower them too! We have a chance to create a scene and an atmosphere to truly cap off this season that has represented a giant leap forward for this program into new, never before seen heights.

It's on all of us to make it happen. Not just the crazies among us. Not just those who don't have kids there with them. If you've got kids, involve them in it! They'll probably be stoked at yelling at the other team while the Aggies are on defense. Teach them that this is how we're going to do things at Utah State. We will be nutty as fans, and we will make an impact.

And then after we win this thing, we'll party all over Boise!! Sounds like a hell of a weekend, eh?

Make it happen!!!

Aggies shake off the rust after long layoff

In the case of Danny Berger, it was "Welcome back to the outside world."

In the case of Marcel Davis, it was "Welcome to the show!"

Saturday was USU's first game in 10 days, and the rust was obvious early on. The Aggies turned the ball over on three of their first four possessions, and just looked completely out of sync. Given the long layoff from the court, mixed in with a little bit of trauma and missed practice time, that is all really understandable.

While the Aggies were struggling to score, especially in the paint early on, Western Oregon was hitting shots, forcing the action to do what they wanted, and just all-around making things difficult... We knew that couldn't last long though, and it didn't once the second half got started.

Really this game is summed up in a simple way... First half, sloppy. Second half, crisp and dominant. Final outcome, inevitable.

The team clearly had some emotions running from everything this whole week, and once they shook the rust off, Western Oregon was dead in the water.

And now we play basketball...

The Danny Berger story has no doubt been the focus of headlines all over this week, and for good reason. There were heroes, dramatic rescues, trials, emotions, and all other kinds of things that you usually only see on TV.

At some point though, it had to have hit Stew and the boys that, "Hey, we've still got other games to play!"

Luckily Berger's condition appears to have been rapidly improving. From the looks of things, this story is going to have an alright ending. Eventually though, we've got to get back to doing and talking about what Danny obviously loves... So let's talk some basketball, shall we? If anything is going to help restore a sense of normalcy, playing basketball will be it.

BERGER'S FUTURE
This is a tough one. Admittedly, when I first heard all this news, I thought there was no chance Berger would be able to take the court again in an NCAA game. Having heart troubles can be such a delicate thing, and especially after a scare like he's had, it seemed tough to imagine facing that risk once again.

But doctors are apparently pretty good at what they do, and according to reports of the presser that Berger and his doctors are doing down in Murray, there's a possibility that basketball might still be in the picture!

That right there is nothing short of amazing, and if Berger does indeed get to take the court again in The Spectrum, that's going to be one absolute hell of a moment!!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here... There's still a long road to recovery ahead, and the fact that Berger even might be at Saturday's game is a miracle already! Oh, and will probably be quite the hell of a moment itself (so don't miss it!)

How the rest of this story goes will pan out over the next few months as his recovery continues. Should Berger be able to suit up in an Aggie uniform once again, this year would likely be ended with a medical redshirt and he'd return again as a junior again next year.

ENTER QUINCY BAIR
Rather than go with a three-man rotation on the wings, Stew Morrill said Friday that freshman Quincy Bair will no longer be redshirting this season. That definitely shakes things up moving forward, but with one veteran and two rookies manning the wings, you can't really fault Stew Morrill for wanting to be able to go four-deep on the wings.

Bair brings another solid mix of size and athleticism to the table, much like Marvin Jean does. But when it comes to the possibilities of foul trouble, slumps, or whatever, the safety net of a fourth guy is never a bad thing. Assumption right now is that Bair will be the fourth man in, but with the team only being five games into the season, plenty could change as we move forward.

For anyone critical of Stew's pulling of the redshirt for a guy who might only see sparse minutes, remember that once upon a time it was Preston Medlin only seeing a few, if any minutes per game behind Tyler Newbold, Pooh Williams and Brian Green. Bair might get the chance to redshirt next year much like Medlin did in second season, and have a much bigger role awaiting him after the graduations of Medlin, Butterfield and Jean.

WESTERN OREGON
Welp... Sucks to be these guys. Yeah, the team might be a bit unprepared from the missed practices and trauma of this week. My gut tells me that any lack of prep will be more than compensated for with inspiration to kick loads of asses in honor of their teammate. 

It's going to be an emotional night at The Spectrum regardless, and a whole lot more so if Danny Berger is indeed able to make it up to the game. Maybe, just maybe, this is the will all end up as the kick in the ass to jump start Aggie basketball back into dominance. It would have been nice to not have to face tragedy, but the whole team certainly has a lot more to play for now! Few things will bring a team closer than something like this.

Said it a bunch of times already, but you're not going to want to miss this game!

Berger's condition upgraded to fair

By now I'm sure everyone has seen the picture, but here it is anyway. It's amazing how much a simple thumbs up can mean to people in the wake of tragedy. It's the kind of thing that can incite an eruption from a crowd, such as when a guy is being taken off a football field on a stretcher. In this case, it's the kind of thing that can go viral among Utah State fans.

Earlier tonight, Intermountain Medical tweeted that Danny Berger's condition has been upgraded to fair. That is a huge step forward for him in this whole recovery process. Obviously there's plenty of recovery left to go, but every step matters at this point.

STUDENTS SHOW THE LOVE
A handful of students organized an event on campus Thursday, and apparently going on again Friday to write letters of support and well-wishes to Berger while he goes through this recovery. I wish I could give a solid estimate of how long that process takes with this kind of thing, but I really have no idea. I do know though that having a whole university behind you cheering you on has got to make it that much easier to keep up the fight.

A good solid Hell Yeah to everyone who went out to that today, and for the people who go tomorrow. Also major props to the people who put that together!!

You never cease to amaze me Utah State!

NOW FILL THE SPECTRUM SATURDAY
Danny, in all likelihood, will not be at Saturday's game against Western Oregon. Stories, pictures and video of the experience will all likely make their way to him though. Make signs, show support, yell chants, and just be an Aggie basketball fan this Saturday. Information gets around fast, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet some kind of online album gets put up of all the signs of showings of support for Danny from this Saturday. 

Hopefully the good news continues to come from all of this. It's going to be a pretty special occasion when Danny's able to join his teammates on the bench once again.

#PrayForDanny

This is suddenly one of those times where sports kind of take a backseat to the overall well-being of a member of the Aggie family.

By now you've probably read the bulk of this story about Danny Berger collapsing during practice Tuesday, being revived using a defibrillator, and flown down to Murray in critical condition.

As of right now, that's all we know. There's speculation of other things, but right now, just seems to be speculation. Knowing USU athletics, I assume they are gathering as much info as they know about the situation (emphasis on the word "know") before they put out any kind of release on this. A person's health is a touchy situation, and they're not going to run the risk of putting out anything that still has any speculation left to it.

Tony Jones and Kyle Goon teamed up for this brief report, which includes a bit about Danny's sister posting a positive update on Facebook about him. Hopefully that is a sign of more good news to come.

This is one of those situations that sounds like it was legitimately life-threatening, which is terrifying for Berger and everyone close to him. Sports are a whole lot less important than his health right now, and we can only hope that better news comes out as the night goes on and into tomorrow.

If things are more serious than what we've heard so far, Wednesday's game at BYU should undoubtedly be postponed. But again, we'll see what other news develops.


WHAT THE PAST HAS TAUGHT US
We had some pretty terrifying fears not much more than a year ago about another one of our own when Chuckie Keeton was wheeled off the field on a stretcher in Hawaii. That was another scary moment that left us wondering if he would ever fully recover and be able to get back to his normal life. Luckily Keeton did indeed recover, and everything turned out OK. Let's pray that ends up the case with Berger as well.


OTHER HEART ISSUES
Upon first hearing this news, I couldn't help but think that his playing career would be over. The heart is one of those things that you just can't take lightly, and if it's as serious as things sound, I'm not sure you can ever feel comfortable putting the stresses of Division-1 athletics on a guy's heart again.

We've also seen both ends of the spectrum with heart issues in recent years at USU too. Back in the 2009-10 season, Nate Bendall had a minor heart issue that needed to be addressed, had surgery, missed only one game, and was right back at it.

On the flip side, offensive lineman Christian Browne-Frazier had a heart attack in 2009 and was never able to play again.

For an athlete to have the chance to play the game they love taken away from them is a heartbreaker, but there can be plenty more to life than just sports. Hopefully Berger gets to experience the happier ending to things here.

Regardless of everything else, #PrayForDanny.

Get well soon!

All-WAC teams are out and Toledo is the bowl opponent

AGGIES VS. ROCKETS IN THE POTATO BOWL
You likely have heard already, but Utah State will be playing Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The Rockets produced the nation's 28th best offense and the 105th ranked defense when it comes to total yards. The Aggies on the other hand rank 26th in offense and 15th in defense.

In other words, USU has plenty more than just a slight edge in the yardage numbers.

We'll talk plenty more about this in the next week and a half though.


ALL-WAC TEAMS RELEASED
Utah State lands 14 players on this year's All-WAC teams, with eight of them making their way onto the first team. Gary Andersen was also named as the WAC's Coach of the Year.

First team
OT - Eric Schultz
C - Tyler Larsen
RB - Kerwynn Williams
QB - Chuckie Keeton

DE - Al Lapuaho
LB - Jake Doughty
LB - Kyler Fackrell
CB - Will Davis

Second team
WR - Matt Austin 
OG - Jamie Markosian

DE - Jordan Nielsen
LB - Zach Vigil
CB - Nevin Lawson
S - McKade Brady

A FEW THOUGHTS ON ALL-WAC...
You kind of have to just expect the WAC to totally mess up a few things in whatever they do these days, and this is no different.

First thing: Colby Cameron as the Offensive Player of the Year... The WAC dun goofed on this one. Yeah, I get that Cameron has put up some crazy awesome offensive numbers, but so could a lot of quarterbacks on good teams who stay in the entire game to run up the score on teams. Can you imagine how insane Chuckie Keeton's numbers would be if the playbook was kept wide open all game, with CK still on the field late against the likes of UTSA, Texas State, New Mexico State and Southern Utah? Not to mention Cameron pretty much fell flat in La Tech's two biggest WAC games. Keeton was exceptional in those big WAC games.

The WAC set somewhat of a precedent last year for team success being a factor in the postseason awards when they tabbed Adrien Cole as last year's Defensive Player of the Year over Bobby Wagner. They didn't keep it consistent this year. The team that dominated conference play didn't have either one of the POY awards, and that just isn't right. Keeton should have been the Offensive Player of the Year without question.

When it comes to overall selections, San Jose State led everyone with 16 guys getting picked. Both the Spartans and Bulldogs had nine selections to the first team, while USU only had eight first-teamers and 14 total selections. Dafuq is up with that??

Travis Johnson deserved Defensive POY, so no complaints there. How a guy like Bojay Filimoeatu gets left off of both teams is a mindf*** though. Kellen Bartlett should have easily occupied that second-team tight end spot over Chase Harper too.

Kellen and Bojay still have a trophy to show for this season at least. Still a bit of a bummer to see some deserving guys left out of the mix while the second place team gets two more guys earning all-WAC and the third place team has just as many as USU. I guess you could just say that's the WAC being wack...