Let's never talk about this night again...

This song seems to have the kind of somber feel that is going on right now... So if you care for music while you read, click ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj75Arhq5ho

If any Aggie fans told themselves at any point recently that it couldn't possibly get worse, the universe just delivered them a hearty bitch slap.

From the start, USU wasn't in this game. The eternal optimist in me hoped that maybe they could climb out of a massive hole much like they did back in a 2007 game against Oral Roberts to pull off a hard-earned win against the odds.

Basketball recruiting picking up for USU

With only one senior on this year's basketball roster and already three players locked in from the fall signing class, most everyone had assumed the Aggies were done recruiting for the 2013 class.

Not so fast though...

Last week, Stew Morrill got another commitment for the 2013 class, and then another over this weekend for the 2014 recruiting class. So let's run down what we know so far!

JOJO MCGLASTON - 6'4 shooting guard

Rumor had it before the New Mexico State game that the coaching staff wanted this guy pretty badly. Described by one person as a smaller Kyisean Reed, McGlaston is a stud athlete who can get way up in the air and shoot the deep ball. He's got a quick highlight reel here that you should see. 

Someone with his athleticism should be able to score the ball in a handful of ways, but maybe more importantly, become a lockdown defender. If nothing else, he appears to be in the mold of the kinds of athletes that Utah State will want as the Aggies move to the Mountain West next year.

Bracketbuster Saturday brings out Aggies' best

It's somewhat becoming a trend that post game write-ups from those Saturday games are going to come around much later than others. That whole "Saturday night" thing just gets in the way. You know how it goes.

But how about them Aggies, eh?

More and more these guys are looking like a strong, determined, cohesive unit. The kind the could catch some fire and shock somebody come WAC Tournament time. The weak points of this team seem to be shrinking, while the strengths are getting stronger.

And Saturday's game against Illinois State might have been the best example of it all yet this year. As has often been the case since this became an eight-man team, these guys won by playing pure Stew Morrill basketball. Good shooting, tough defense, sharing the ball, etc.

Aggies beaten at the buzzer again.

SHIT!!!

Not much else needs to be said.

Missed 3-pointers, missed free throws, and too many turnovers cost the Aggies their first win in Provo since the 2004-05 season.

NOTES

• Officiating took all the fun out of this game for quite a while. In their defense, both teams were playing aggressive as hell. A lot of those fouls were legit, and plenty other were very weak. It put guys from both teams in major foul trouble, which is a huge disadvantage for USU being pretty much a seven-man team right now. 51 total fouls called... It was annoying.
• Giving up an offensive rebound to give BYU that final possession is inexcusable. Should have been the Aggies looking to get off a shot in that spot.
• Jordan Stone was an absolute man out there. Easily the best he's looked in his career, scoring nine points, grabbing three rebounds, dishing two assists, and blocking four shots. Just as important, he never looked nervous or out of control with the ball.
• There's plenty of good and bad on the stat lines for both Spencer Butterfield and Marvin Jean. On the bright side, the combined for 32 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists. Down side is 4-16 shooting from deep, and eight turnovers. All things considered, they played well. Certainly well enough to win, but the defense by BYU was in their faces in to make things difficult.
• Speaking of turnovers, 18 on the game is bad. In games of this caliber, you can't do that and expect to win. Way too many of them can as a result of taking unnecessary risks too. That's got to be fixed by the WAC Tournament if this upset special has a chance of happening.
• Jarred Shaw vs. Brandon Davies was one of the big storylines going into this one. Shaw won that battle without question.
• USU shooting 17-27 from the free throw line is the difference maker in this game. If they had just made 74 percent of their free throws, USU wins.
• Marcel Davis needed to be more of a factor in this one. For how well he's been playing, it's tough to hold much of anything against him. Zero assists though is at least a tiny bit troubling.
• Tyler Haws just seems to be a whiny little bitch. Dude is incredibly talented, but just seems to be all-around unlikeable. I was never able to say the same about that other high-scoring guard who's playing for the Kings now, at least not based on my limited interaction with him via front row heckling.
• In maybe the biggest bit of irony of all time, BYU students chanted "Rogain" at an opposing player... In other words, fuck them and their bubble.
  
• All things considered, it's a hell of a fight put up by the Aggies. No moral victories though. USU should have won this one in Provo. Second loss at the buzzer in a week is brutal too.

Todd Orlando joins on as USU defensive coordinator

Two months after being hired on as head football coach, Matt Wells finally has his defensive coordinator. And by the looks of things, it was worth the wait! Wells had said something along the lines of, "Why make a good hire today when I could make a great one tomorrow?"

After losing a defensive coordinator responsible for leading one of the best defenses in the country in Dave Aranda, the pressure was on to make this hire count, and from looking at things, this appears to be a home run!

Todd Orlando joins the staff, adding what looks to be another defensive ace to the mix. In his career he's coached a top 10 defense in two different seasons, been in the top 30 another time, been to a BCS bowl, and spent the majority of his career coaching at a level on par with what the Mountain West looks to be.

Orlando's time at Connecticut should bring a handful of new recruiting ties to areas around the Big East, or at least what used to be the Big East. More importantly though, his two years at Florida International should bring a little bit more to work with from one of the most crucial recruiting areas in the country.

For right now, not a ton is known about Orlando or his coaching style, but more will likely surface in the coming weeks, or at worst, by the time spring practices are underway. To have someone with his track record to go along with the returning talent on the defense, it looks like an all-around great hire.

With Orlando handling the defensive coordinator duties, as well as coaching safeties, the only position coach still needed is a running backs coach and the staff will be complete.

Shaw plays the role of the warden. Good Aggies win!

Rivalry games... Gotta love em!

There's just something about that feeling of pure hate when you see that opposing team even warming up. It's like a whole new reminder of what you despise when you finally see them in person. Then it seems like pretty much everything they do just pisses you off more.

But a 19-5 lead can quickly turn all anger into joy, and that's what Utah State built early against New Mexico State. Then things suddenly took a swing into NMSU's favor, and it seemed to coincide with when Sim Bhullar went to the bench. After Jarred Shaw established early on that he was going to attack Bhullar down low and make him respect the mid-range jumper as well, Bhullar was largely ineffective. Shaw's mobility was the biggest advantage (outside of actual talent) that he had over Bhullar, and that was the difference maker in the paint.

Really outside of that run NMSU made following the 19-5 lead and the last minute of the second half, the Good Aggies never really seemed to lack total control of this game. They moved the ball well, shot well, limited turnovers, were aggressive while staying out of foul trouble... Pretty much everything a team needs to do to win against a bigger, faster opponent.

I only say "pretty much" because of how bad that last minute of play was for USU. I can't imagine managing that all any worse than they did. Tenale Roland looked like he was completely unaware of the 10-second rule, dribbling backwards more often than forward. And the team as a whole was way too content to just hold on to the ball in the face of a trap. And then the one time they get it up court, it ends up in the hands of Jordan Stone, sending him to the free throw line for the front-end of a 1-and-1 (which you could guess how that one ended up).

Valentine's Day heartbreak in overtime

The Valentine's Day heartbreaker

My biggest compliment about Utah State's play in the last few games is that they've been playing tough defense, efficient offense, and really just all-around Stew Ball.

Denver does all those things too though, and their team is healthy, so we knew this was going to be a tough one.

To Utah State's credit, there were a handful of times where it looked like this game was on the verge of getting away from them, but the Aggies manned up and kept it within reach.

REGULATION ENDING
The Aggies gave themselves plenty of chances to come out winners tonight. Most of those chances came at the free throw line, and unfortunately, they struggled pretty badly from there.

A-train keeps rolling at San Jose State

Hey look! A picture of a train!

This one was never even close...

For the past few games now, USU is playing pure Stew Ball. The Aggies are shooting great from the field, keeping opponents' field goal percentages down, and even cutting down on turnovers quite a bit from where they've been for the bulk of this year.

The end result? A team who many would criticize as being undersized and athletically inferior going out and dominating teams that might look better on paper. Stew Ball at it's finest.

If you're not falling madly in love with this team right now, I'm not sure you'll ever be satisfied

63-36, final.

Up next is the biggest weekend of games of the year, with the roadie to BYU coming up after that. Let's just go ahead and call these next three games "The Reckoning".

Utah State scores on Signing Day 2013

Changing of coaches and changing of hearts were the big stories of the last month and a half of recruiting for Utah State football. This year was different in the sense that the Aggies had a whole bunch of commits already pretty early in the football season, rather than things going down to the wire.

And despite the coaching change for USU, pretty much every recruit without family ties to members of the Wisconsin coaching staff held true to their commitment to Utah State.

Maybe above all else though, this recruiting class looks to contain a lot more players highly-recruited than we've seen in years' past. Rather than beating out upper-level FCS teams and bottom-tier non-BCS schools for recruits, the Aggies won a handful of recruiting battles against upper-level Mountain West schools and even some quality BCS conference programs.

THE RECRUITS
If you've followed this at all, you're probably pretty up to speed on the names of everyone joining the program.

If not, here's the official list from Utah State Athletics: OFFICIAL SIGNING LIST

Or if you want a list including some other players who are known to have verbally committed, but either have not yet signed, or are headed straight to missions, USUfans.com has another detailed list with some more key names on it: USUfans SIGNING/COMMIT LIST

KEY POSITIONS
This time last year, myself and plenty others were left wondering a few things come signing day, namely why certain positions weren't being recruited more, while others seemed to have an absurd amount of guys at those positions. Then we went 11-2 and everything worked out just fine, so this year I'm just going to keep it all positive.

Rather than break down every individual recruit, let's touch on some key positions that I'm feeling good about.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Things were great at the top for the O-line last year, with arguably the two best offensive linemen in the WAC in Eric Schultz and Tyler Larsen, while Jamie Markosian wasn't far behind. Depth was much more of an issue, perhaps not evidenced any better than in what Wisconsin's defensive ends did to Kevin Whimpey. And while the protection on the blind side got better throughout the year, the lack of other viable options to plug in there was a concern.

Returning all five starters for 2013 is a huge plus, but four of them will be seniors, meaning the pressure will soon be heavily on a lot of these young guys. Joe Malanga and Tyshon Mosely are the two who seemed to garner the most attention in the recruiting scene, with each receiving plenty of interest from some PAC-12 teams. Cody Boyer, Andrew Chen, and Brandon Taukeiaho each should have the potential to step up and make a name for themselves too.

This is a spot that needs a few of these young guys, as well as guys from last year's signing class to really make an impact in practice this year to give coaches some confidence to plug them right in come 2014.

WIDE RECEIVER
With Matt Austin and Chuck Jacobs gone, the team badly needed to fill those voids. Guys like Travis Reynolds, Travis Van Leeuwen, and Jojo Natson will all be counted on to step up, but to completely fill the roles of Austin and Jacobs is a hell of a lot to handle.

Both Ryan Watson and Ronald Butler could be big time players next season, so the quick solution to things is with those two. As far as the future is concerned, Hayden Weichers has blazing speed that could see him eventually filling a similar deep-threat role that we saw in Jacobs the last two years. Tyler Fox is an all-around good athlete as well, who could easily be another player much like Reynolds.

DEFENSIVE BACK
Will Davis, McKade Brady, and Terrence Alston were all regulars in the defensive backfield last season. Jumanne Robertson also graduates, while Quinton Byrd's status isn't 100 percent clear for next season. Regardless, these positions needed a little bit of experience brought into the mix, but also some trust put into the younger guys on the roster (looking at you Rashard Stewart, Ladale Jackson, and Devin Centers).

Adding two junior college defensive backs in Marwin Evans and Jeremy Morris is big, and if I'm taking guesses, Evans will be opening the season at free safety. Morris should fill right in for Alston as the nickle corner, with Devonte Glover-Wright expected to fill the shoes of Willy-D. \

Myron Turner is a guy who could turn out a whole lot better than anyone expected given his recruiting situation. Often times, once a player commits somewhere like he did to Washington State, the media attention stops on any national level. Stay tuned with him. As for Zach Swenson, he's got a big body already, and after a couple years of spreading the good word he should be nice and mature to make an impact in the future for this team.

TIGHT END
Short and sweet on this one... Both Wyatt Houston and Dax Raymond have great size, and appear to have great all-around ability. One comes here right away, one goes off on a mission to spread their eligibility out. Tight end has become a pretty crucial position for this offense, so to keep on bringing in guys with good size for blocking and plenty of pass catching ability, that's huge!

SUMMARY
Plenty of other potential stars in this mix, not to mention guys who didn't immediately sign who are also heading on missions with the intention of coming here upon their return.

Two big things to remember from here...
   1. There are sure to be another later signing or two in the coming months. Signing day is just the beginning of the period, so not every recruit signs on this day.
   2. Finding under-the-radar walk-on talent has been critical to the rise of USU football, so don't underestimate new guys you see on the roster next August who weren't announced today.

Probably going to talk a lot more about the signing on The Front Row Show later tonight, so keep an eye out for that come Thursday morning!

Aggies dominate at Seattle!

For the second game in a row, Utah State was pretty much completely in control over a team that took the healthy version of this team to the wire in The Spectrum.

In a nutshell, this team looks to have found its way. They're playing together, they're more focused, they're playing tough defense... It's coming together for them!

Earning a Sweep Dance given the situation this team is in is nothing short of impressive. Doing it as convincingly as they've done it is nothing short of bad ass. Thinking of what they can do with the way they're playing is nothing short of exciting.

Above all else, I'm in love with this team right now!

Slump busted. Aggies roll at Idaho!

Memo to the Idaho Vandals: He is Jarred Shaw and you are not.

Last time against Idaho, a (mostly) healthy USU team needed an epic comeback and overtime to pull off a win at home. With that in mind, one would think that this game on the road was a blowout waiting to happen, especially when you consider that Preston Medlin and Kyisean Reed combined for 39 points in that game.

No blowout for the Vandals on Thursday. Never even a lead for the home team. Utah State never trailed in this game, riding some stellar shooting and solid defense to the team's first win since the injury assault.

And no player was more crucial to that than Shaw! Going into the game, many might have argued that Idaho's Kyle Barone was the WAC's best big man. Anyone who watched that game would probably argue differently now.

Gone is the longest losing streak of Stew Morrill's tenure, and to add to it, the rest of this team has a quality win under its belt. If they earn themselves a sweep dance this weekend, they just might earn themselves a nickname. I know the "Elite Eight" has been thrown out there, even if it's a little over-complimentary. Also heard "The UnderAgs", which I like. "Eight Men Out" is one that comes to mind too. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Seattle gave plenty of fits to USU at home too, so we need an encore performance by the man in the middle against them.

For now, proud as hell of this team for finally getting a win through this storm they've been weathering. This underdog role is something none of us are really familiar with, but these guys are playing their asses off to make each game interesting, so seeing them come out with a win and representing USU is pretty damn excellent!