A much belated Air Force recap

Well la-dee freakin da!!! Turns out Google finally decided to let me log into my own account that I use to run this here website after a few days of issues that wouldn't allow me to do but two things; Jack and Shit... and Jack left town.

I promise that soon these recaps will start coming after games, or at least the next day, rather than half a week later...

Anyway, let's just get right at it.

SUMMARY
Matt Wells gets his first win in emphatic fashion, going into a tough place to play against a tough team and demolishing them. He may have been outcoached at Utah, but Wells was the guy doing the outcoaching in this one. Every adjustment that needed to be made for the second half was indeed made. 

Most impressive is how much the Aggies dominated the third quarter. That didn't happen much last year, and certainly didn't happen against Utah. The pass coverage in the first half was clown shoes at best, but it at least got its shit together in the second half. Still very very concerned about what they're going to do moving forward, because if they continue like the trend has been through two games, a few teams are going to torch them in a bad way.

NOTES

 - Penalties... Those need to be cleaned up. There were some pretty god-awful calls out there, because apparently a team's welcome present to the Mountain West Conference is a middle finger and a bunch of yellow flags. Still, they could do much better.

 - Speaking of penalties though, that whole "Illegal Snap" call was an absolute lifesaver for USU. The defense was gassed as could be after two long drives by Air Force, the second of which came on an Aggie turnover. That gave them much-needed extra rest as the offense sustained a lengthy drive into the quarter break.

 - Wide receivers were great again. Blow away by this unit so far.

 - Also, that Chuckie Keeton kid is alright.

 - Jake Doughty had another monster game, as did Zach Vigil.

 - A sneaky great game from Eric Schultz too. Seemed like every third play he had his guy buried in the dirt.

 - Still waiting for Joe Hill to mercilessly slay opposing defenses... Also still believe that he will

AH HELL!!! You saw the game. Blame Google for this taking so long to come. Weber State this week. Be there.

After taking time to make sense of it all...

I had myself prepped to deal with a loss against the Utes. Hell, I pretty much predicted it. Still, that one stung, and that sting kept me from wanting to write any kind of post game.

But in honor of me finally putting on an actual shirt for the first time since Thursday night, I figure it's time to recap things from last Thursday.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Both of these teams are good. Very good even. Utah's defense was about as good as expected, while their offense executed fantastically. Travis Wilson showed all kinds of flashes of the potential that made him such a highly rated recruit. And along with him was a receiving group that was also as good as advertised, as were their tight ends. I'm not sure USU is going to face another team this year that has an all-around passing attack possessing the quality of quarterback, receivers, and tight ends that Utah has.

Still, the USU defense wasn't as great as they should have been. I can understand Utah getting a few of those deep passes like they did, but not THAT many. Before this game I had concern about the pass coverage abilities of the USU safeties, but that was really only due to having not seen them do it very effectively yet, mainly Mo Alexander. After that game, the concern is now due to having seen them struggle in that area. In Alexander's defense, he still had 11 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and two pass breakups. So imagine if he locks down that pass coverage aspect of things?

But the safeties were not the only concern. The pass rush wasn't quite what I'd hoped it would be, and Wilson made full use of that. Also, how did Rashard Stewart not get more snaps? I'm not sure I saw him on the field once. After that camp he had, that blows my mind.

WHERE THINGS WENT WRONG
The pass coverage and pass pressure was bad. The run stopping was as good as advertised until the later end of the fourth quarter when the defense had to have been gassed as hell from spending the entire second half on the field.

Three things really shot this game in the foot for the Aggies though...

3. Chuckie Keeton's cramp deep in the red zone
The Utah defense took the field on that play with Craig Harrison in at quarterback knowing with 100 percent certainty that they could sell out on the run. And they did. And it crushed that drive for the Aggies. A touchdown there might have broken their backs, instead the Utes kept USU out of the end zone and themselves in the game.

2. Nick Diaz's missed PAT
Seriously, how the hell does this keep happening? The later minutes of that game are a totally different story if the game is 27-27 and Utah has to play FOR the lead rather than to KEEP the lead. That is piss f***ing poor to miss a PAT in that situation. Not to say the Aggies would have surely won, but the way both teams would have played things out in a tie would have been different than if one has a late lead at home.

1. The onsides kick...
The USU offense was absolutely rolling from the start of the second quarter all the way into the third. So when the Utes finally broke through for a score of their own, they had a little bit of the momentum back. Whittingham has the balls to try an onsides kick in situations to swing momentum heavily his direction. He went for it and got it, and that momentum was completely in the hands of his team after that. 

SUMMARY
The Aggies got outplayed when it mattered, and outcoached for the early and late parts of the game. Not entirely unexpected with a rookie coach in one of the toughest games of the year. Utah is very good and USU should be able to take plenty from this game, just not a win unfortunately.

We saw how good USU can be in certain areas, as well as where they need to improve.

NOTES

 - Chuckie Keeton was simply spectacular... He did everything we knew he was capable of and more. That was probably one of the three toughest defenses he'll face this year, so go ahead and be excited about what else he'll do this year.

 - The wide receivers stepped up. Huge even. Major props to them as an entire unit for what they did last Thursday. Travis Van Leeuwen was the reliable target all over the place that Chuckie needed, Jojo Natson was like USU's own personal Wes Welker and a first down machine, all while Brandon Swindall stepped up as the red zone threat this team needed. Fantastic work by this bunch. If the running game gets going, this offense will be stellar all over again.

 - The top three linebackers lit up the stat sheet like you'd expect... Jake Doughty racked up 16 tackles, Zach Vigil had 10 tackles, half a sack, and a forced fumble, and Kyler Fackrell had eight tackles, two TFLs, a sack, and a forced fumble.

 - Terrell Thompson however, did not register any statistics... That's not okay.

 - Joe Hill was okay, but didn't really make a significant impact. I want to believe he can be close to as good as Kerwynn Williams, but I still haven't seen Hill's ability to bounce off tacklers like KW could. And while I believe Hill has better top-end speed than Williams does, he doesn't accelerate nearly as quick as Kerwynn. In fairness to Hill, Williams also struggled to get big yards against some of the better defenses faced last year, so I'm eager to see what Hill can do against Air Force. 

Post-training camp grades: Offense

Part 2 of 3: Offense

OFFENSIVE LINE
Where it all begins for the offense, and USU has five returning starters. This unit is anchored by a trio of stars in Jamie Markosian, Eric Schultz, and Tyler Larsen; all three guys earned all-WAC honors last season. Kyle and Kevin Whimpey took huge steps forward as the season rolled on in 2012, and while both might be better suited as interior linemen, Kevin still was solid enough at left tackle by season's end.
Depth is still a big question here, and I'm still crossing fingers that Kevin Whimpey can handle some of the bigger guns around the edge that the early part of the schedule will test him with, but there's no doubting the prowess of five returning starters.

Preseason grade: A-

Separation starts showing in second scrimmage

Felt good to be back at the stadium watching the Aggies after a weekend getaway for this guy. Without being able to see the first scrimmage, I can't really speak to what improved since then, but I can comment on plenty more that I saw and liked.

So let's get right to it...

• Not that this was a secret to anybody, but Chuckie Keeton is good. He's really good. And he's getting better playing against this defense. He sees the field so much better than he did even a year ago, he adjusts to throws with defenders crashing in on him, and he still knows when to tuck it and run. He was spectacular on Wednesday.
• Wide receivers looked as good as they have all camp. Jojo Natson looked like Keeton's favorite target, consistently getting open and doing things with the ball once he had it. His size will always be a disadvantage, but he still looks very much like he knows what he's doing out there. Hayden Weichers had a few nice grabs too, including the longest catch of the day when he broke loose over the middle for a 42-yard catch. This unit still has a ways to go before I could say I'm fully confident in them, but the improvement is quite noticeable.
• The second team defense had Jeremy Morris and Tay Glover-Wright at cornerback. From that, you can take it that Rashard Stewart currently has a hold on the spot opposite Lawson on the first team. Still, for how well Morris has performed in camp, and with Tay Swoosh being Tay Swoosh, that position is really damn good!
• Hadn't really heard or seen much from sophomore linebacker Torrey Green, but he had a pair of plays that stood out pretty well. On one, he hulked his way through the line for a tackle for loss, and on the next chased down the ballcarrier all the way to the sideline with some pretty good speed. Somebody to definitely keep an eye on in the future.
• Tyler Larsen didn't play much, and it's not tough to imagine why. Without him though, Jamie Markosian was the backup center of choice, with Sini Tauauve'a sliding into his spot at left guard... just in case you're curious about the actual two-deep on the offensive line.
• This year's camp has seemed like it's had a lot more downs than ups for Jeff Manning, but Wednesday he looked totally dialed-in! His throws were pretty on point, and were it not for one drop and a deep ball that Brock Bird should've had but seemed to kind of just give up on, Manning would have 5-of-5 passes. Been saying it all along about the kid's potential, and today he finally showed a little bit of it.
• Darrell Garretson on the other hand was all over the place. The speed of a college practice seems to still be overwhelming to him, and it shows.
• Three sacks for Kyler Fackrell... Kid ain't bad.

That's all for Wednesday's scrimmage. Let's do it again on Saturday!

First football scrimmage looks like a first scrimmage

There's always a difference between running the team drills in practice and actually getting out in a competitive scenario like a scrimmage. So with this being the first scrimmage of the spring, there was undoubtedly going to be some rust. But that's about where we are every year around this point. This is where the team finds its kinks and starts really sharpening things.

I don't want to go reading too much into things that didn't go well, or getting overly excited about guys who put together a noteworthy performance. It was a first scrimmage. Plenty can change between here and April 20 and plenty likely will. Even after that, a lot more will likely change over the summer too.

Let's just bullet point some observations...

Aggies finish regular season with school-record 10th win

There was one step left in finishing the regular season on a record-setting note for Utah State, and all it took was a win over an Idaho team that is pretty much dead men walking.

The first half opened up a little bit sloppy, leaving a tiny bit of a threat of that letdown that sometimes comes after a big win. The offense was held to a three-and-out on its first possession, then ended USU's second possession with an interception thrown by Chuckie Keeton on the second play.

The defense was getting its job done though, even if they gave up an unsavory amount of yards to Idaho in the first half. Three plays after Keeton threw his first pick, Bojay Filimoeatu got in on pickfest 2012 with an interception of his own, which he broke a handful of tackles to return 48 yards to Idaho's 11-yard line. Three plays later, Kerwynn Williams took a Keeton pass into the end zone for the score.

The defense kept things going, allowing Idaho just one yard before they were forced to punt on the next possession. The offense kept on struggling though, punting again after gaining just 19 yards. But B.J. Larsen got in on the turnovers with an interception of his own, setting up another short scoring drive for the offense, this time with the score coming from Keeton's legs.

WAC CHAMPS!!!!! Aggies beat La Tech in OT

A late arrival and some light rain didn't stop a couple hundred Aggie fans from greeting the 2012 WAC football champions as they got off that plane. Beating BYU in 2010 was incredible. The win over Utah this season brought Romney Stadium to its most epic of levels ever. But this win over Louisiana Tech and this WAC title represent the biggest thing to happen to Utah State football during the incredible rise of this program.

Utah State came out looking primed for a blowout against La Tech on Saturday, scoring on its first offensive play and holding one of the best offenses in the country to only three first half points.

Colby Cameron threw his first interception of the year to Will Davis in the end zone to kill La Tech's last chance at a first half touchdown. Then USU opened up the second half with a short scoring drive to go up 24-3, then recovered a botched ball on the ensuing kickoff which resulted in three more points. With Chuckie Keeton picking apart the Bulldog defense without a shred of mercy, the blowout looked to be on at that point...

But La Tech is in the top 25 for a reason. They're a very good football team, and one capable of scoring a lot of points in a very short span of time, and that's exactly what they did.

Remember, remember the fifth of November...

"Remember, remember the fifth of November, when the Aggies seemed dead but were not...
I plead you with urgence that this Aggie resurgence, shall never be forgot..."

It was one year ago today...

One year ago that the despair and doubt we all knew, and knew all too well, reached its peak of the 2011 season. We had seen flashes of improvement in 2009, followed up by injuries and missed opportunities haunting much of the 2010 season. Then to start 2011, USU established an unwelcome identity as the heartbreak kids, destined to let games slip away in the closing seconds.

With a 2-5 record overall, and an 0-2 start to WAC play, things looked to be headed down an even darker road with a 28-7 halftime deficit and the Aggies star freshman quarterback in an ambulance. Feelings of emptiness, helplessness and hopelessness were in the minds of every Aggie fan at that moment. There was also that terrifying feeling of worry that things actually might never get better. And while those feelings aren't anything foreign to those of us who have been around USU for a while, we still hope that each time around, things will be finally be different. In this instance though, doubt and heartbreak trumped every glimmer of hope...

Weird, a blowout win for football? 38-7, Aggies.

Let's start off with the stat of the game: 27 yards allowed by USU's defense in the 2nd half!

That is insane!!!

Utah State came out swinging once again with a six-play, 51-yard touchdown drive. Then after allowing a l4-play, 63-yard drive by Texas State, Will Davis put an end to that with an interception in the end zone. USU only needed five plays to go 80 yards for another score.

The Aggies had six possessions in the first half, five of them for touchdowns. 35-0 at half, game already in hand.

SECOND HALF
I'm not going to worry about this at all. The offense had already built an insurmountable lead and all that was left to do was to keep the fancy stuff off the film reel and get the second unit some reps. And they accomplished both of those in the second half.

It wasn't pretty, and maybe it would have been nice to see Chuckie Keeton get a sixth or seventh touchdown, but it got the job done. And when your defense is allowing absolutely NOTHING, at least outside of a couple yards when the Bobcats picked off a pass deep in USU territory resulting in their only score of the game.

Another Saturday, another Aggie blowout

Roadrunner shouldn't be smiling

In the last three games, USU has won by margins of 22, 34 and 31, with the most recent coming Saturday on the road at UTSA.

And once again, this one was never really in doubt. Utah State kicked off to the Roadrunners, forced them to a three-and-out, blocked their punt, and scored two plays later.

The tone was set at that point, and another blowout was on.

The Roadrunners gave themselves a glimmer of hope after a great interception of a Chuckie Keeton pass deep over the middle, which resulted in a field goal drive and only the second time USU has given up 1st quarter points this year.

Utah State's defense locked down after that though, holding UTSA to three-and-outs on each of its next two possessions, and giving up pretty much nothing throughout the rest of the first half. In the meantime, USU's offense put points on the board in each of its next SIX drives to take the game from a score of 7-3 to 41-3.

Good Aggies 41, bad Aggies 7

It's funny how a year ago, reaching bowl eligibility was as big of news we've seen for Utah State football in years. This time around, it feels much more like everyone is waiting to see just how high this program can go this season.

With a blowout game like this one, there's not a whole ton to say. Utah State came out and took care of business from the start, and really wasted no time doing so.

It took all of one play for Kerwynn Williams to take a screen pass 76-yards for a touchdown.

Next drive out, USU took a bit longer to score, but still reached the end zone eventually on another big play. That time it was Chuck Jacobs with one of those "Bitch, get off me" type of moments as he and the NMSU defended battled for the ball. Defender fell down, Jacobs made the catch, 14-0 good guys.

The first Aggie drive of the 2nd quarter was another one play drive for 76 yards, this time with Chuckie Keeton breaking out for the big play on the ground.

DEFENSE
Didn't seem much like the defense had a real sense of urgency Saturday, and who can really blame them? They took care of business when they needed to, and that's what really matters.

It didn't seem like USU was blitzing a whole ton, which is alright in these games you know you're going to win. As much as we would have loved to see 14 sacks this week, settling for just a 34-point win will suffice.

Still, it seems like this defense is better at defending the pass when they send some more guys on the pass rush rather than committing to coverage. This is going to be especially crucial against Louisiana Tech, where nobody seems to be able to cover against them. Best bet there will probably be to never give them any time to throw. Obviously easier said than done, but it's something to keep in mind for that game.

KICKING
Can't help but have a whole lot of "what ifs" after seeing Nick Diaz nail 53-yard and 48-yard field goals on Saturday. I'm going to trust that Josh Thompson really did outplay everyone else in practice to earn the job, but after seeing Diaz kick on Saturday, the gap couldn't have been wide enough to keep Diaz out of seeing action until the eighth game of the year.

If Diaz can be at all dependable in the kicking game, especially from 45 yards an out, that could end up being a difference maker in other games this year.

NOTES

• Kerwynn Williams isn't going to stop this reign of terror on the WAC. His numbers to finish this season are going to be pretty eye-popping. Another great game by him.
• Kelvin Lee with a solid showing in garbage time (5 carries for 46 yards). He's gong to have a much bigger role next season, so it's refreshing to see encouraging signs from him there.
• 21 first downs allowed to NMSU... That's not good.
• Kyler Fackrell adds to his legend with a blocked field goal Saturday to go along with eight tackles.
• Will Davis finally holds on to an interception!!! And it was a big one too coming in the end zone. Solid return too on that play. More of these please! Also, solid work on two tackles for loss.
• Tavaris McMillian looks like he's finally turning things on too. Only four tackles, but a pass break-up and a sack make for a solid afternoon for him.
• Great games again by both Zach Vigil and Jake Doughty. These guys both came here as walk-ons and are second and third leading tacklers on the best defense USU has seen in generations. Incredible what these two have made for themselves at USU.
• USU scores again on its first possession of the 3rd quarter (pumps fist).
• 82-3... That's the combined scoring in the 1st quarter of games this year for Utah State... Unreal.
• 45-20 is USU's scoring advantage in the 4th quarter of games this year. Last year the Aggies got outscored 94-89 in the 4th quarter, and most of those games were close ones that didn't have backups getting their cracks at playing time like we've seen in this year's blowouts.
• And while we're comparing this year to last year a little bit, the Aggies have 30 sacks already in 2012. The 2011 team only had 25 total. 

Player of the Game: Chuckie Keeton

The kid just keeps on getting better. Keeton completed 16-of-26 attempts for 257 yards and two touchdowns through the air. On the ground, he racked up 81 yards and two more touchdowns. The numbers speak for themselves, but even above that, he was just calm and in control for the entire game Saturday.

Football: Highs, Lows, and I Don't Knows - 10/16

After last week was heavy on the lows, this week will be the exact opposite. Let's get right at it!!

HIGHS

Defensive line - Talk about bouncing back! Seven tackles for loss, six sacks and really just an all-around dominating performance. With the exception of the last 10 minutes of the second quarter Saturday, USU's defensive line disrupted everything the SJSU offense wanted to do.

Offensive playmakers - Kerwynn Williams might have been the big standout with his three touchdowns, but everyone is deserving of the props. Chuckie Keeton was on point with his throws all game and every one of Matt Austin, Chuck Jacobs, Travis Van Leeuwen and Kellen Bartlett had big catches in different spots, with all of them but Bartlett reaching the end zone. If scoring points against WAC defenses was at all a concern, these guys squashed that on Saturday.

Kyler Fackrell - Just unreal what this kid is doing... More on that here though.

Sack-religious: Aggies ride school-record sack total to 49-27 win

After a 6-3 loss where the USU offense wasn't able to get much of anything going and the defense didn't log a single tackle for loss, there was plenty of redemption to be had for Utah State. The victims of that redemption turned out to be the Spartans of San Jose State.

In one of the WAC's biggest conference games this season, the Aggies got everything back on track, and might have even cranked things up to previously unseen levels, showing more what this team is capable of.

Things didn't start off so great for the Aggies, allowing SJSU to put together a 12-play, 67-yard drive that resulted in a field goal, and the first points allowed by USU in the first quarter all season.

USU bounced back strong though with a 13-play, 86-yard drive of its own to go up 7-3.

Then the Aggies struck again. 14-3
And again. 21-3
And one more time. 28-3.

Utah State mercilessly dominated an entire quarter of football, and on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they seemed to be doing whatever they wanted, and on defense the Aggies completely dominated the line of scrimmage.

Pick your swear words... Aggies fall flat

Utah State got outplayed on Friday.

There's not a whole lot to say about this game other than that, and really that's a good summary of what happened.

To put it into more detail, you can really pinpoint where USU went wrong with just a few different things that went wrong. So let's just get to it, because talking about this game just doesn't sound the slightest bit enjoyable.

NOTES

• Utah State's offense got absolutely stuffed by BYU's defense. The run game never got going, and the passing game was totally inconsistent. The game plan just didn't seem to be up to par, but mostly BYU's defense just played lights out.
• Letting BYU score before halftime was inexcusable. Defense seemed to let up and think they had the clock on their side enough. It was the difference in things.
• Dropped passes were horrible tonight. Chuckie Keeton's throws weren't exactly on target a lot of the time, especially on the deep ball, but there were some big drops sprinkled all over this game.
• Third down conversions by BYU's offense killed USU. Taysom Hill actually made throws, which nobody thought he could do. He also ran the ball well, which we did know he could do.
• The Aggies' defensive line pretty much pulled a no-show tonight. They get essentially no pressure on the BYU passing game, and that ended up having a major impact on things.
• Not a single sack or even a tackle for loss by USU...
• Utah State turned the ball over on its first drive of the second half for the third time this year. In the two games against D-1 opponents where the Aggies didn't turn it over to start the third quarter, they had a three-and-out.
• Cam Webb's decision to throw the ball on that trick play was killer. He might have been able to run for a first down, and instead USU ended a possible game-tying drive with a turnover.
• Josh Thompson still could be better, but he was also the only Aggie to score tonight. Team didn't do him any favors in getting closer in the fourth quarter.

SUMMARY
Sloppy as hell for the Aggies. The offense was flat, the defense got vulnerable with some of the worst timing possible to allow a score and turnovers at terrible spots cost USU some prime opportunities.

Last year's loss in Provo was a result of the mind-blowingly shitty play calling by Dave Baldwin that stagnated an Aggie offense that was moving the ball effortlessly before he sabotaged it. The Aggies blew that game a year ago when they should have won easily.

This year, BYU just outplayed Utah State. They won the game much more so than USU lost it for themselves. That hurts to have to admit, but it's undoubtedly the case both from watching the game, and from looking at the numbers.

BYU fans proved again that they are the shittiest people in the history of sports, and sadly, that's about the only thing that went as expected for Utah State on Friday night.

Football: Highs, Lows and I Don't Knows - 10/3

Look what's become of us... Five years ago, a 35-13 win for USU would have had me rioting in the streets and throwing TV sets through store windows in celebration. Now we've won 9-of-11 football games dating back to last year and I'm finding critiques among all the positives in these wins. Weird what winning can do, but maybe I just see the potential that is so close to being realized.

Anyway, this one's going to be a lot little shorter than last week's, so in the spirit of saving time, let's cut right to it.

THE HIGHS

Chuckie Keeton - Busting out 404 yards of passing will probably be an easy way onto this part of the list. Four touchdowns didn't hurt either. We've seen much he can impact a game when he takes off running with the football, so to see him throw up that many passing yards in a game is awesome to see. He's going to need to bring the best of both worlds on Friday to move the ball against a defense as good as the one those asshats down have (painful as it is to give them credit for that).

Kerwynn Williams - Repeating on the highs is K-Dub with another stellar performance. This time it was with 113 yards rushing and 147 receiving yards as a part of ruthless shredding of UNLV's defense. In a lot of ways I want to say we all knew we had a weapon of incredible power in Williams, but I feel like with the last two games especially, he's gone above even what I expected to see out of him. Dude is absolutely killin it!

Tyler Bennett and Josh Thompson - Yep... Giving the special teamers some love. They got ripped apart a few weeks ago, and for good reason. They both been solid each of the past two games though, and it's made a difference. Now it's time to keep doing it when the stage gets a lot bigger on Friday.


THE LOWS

The Third Quarter - This chart taken from the season statistics tells pretty much the whole story.

Score by quarters	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
Utah State	51	34	14	35	7	141
Opponents	0	16	35	20	0	71

So far this year, the third quarter has been the death of the Aggies. If they can't keep from letting teams back into games in spots where USU should be twisting the knife, another game or two are going to slip away this season. Any one of BYU, San Jose State and Louisiana Tech could easily be losses even without an atrocious third quarter. Keeping up the third quarter trend that's been set through five games makes those three games a whole lot harder than they need to be.

Holding Three Fingers in the Air on Third Down - Alright HURD... We've talked about this before, and for whatever reason it seems to persist. On third down, MAKE NOISE GODDAMMIT!!! Wiggling three fingers in the air doesn't do shit! Stomp on the benches, scream your lungs out and clap your hands; that makes for crazy third downs!! I'm starting to think a sign or two being held up from the front rows outlining this notion will be the only way to fix it. And really, I think it would work.

This is one of those things though now where the team has gone to the next level, as have the fans... But we can't go letting that old habit keep us down as we move forward. Let the habits from the losing days be a thing of the past.


THE "I DON'T KNOWS"

Tavaris McMillian - After having four tackles against UNLV, T-16 has been upgraded from the Lows to the "I don't knows". But this week could be a major shot to jump start this season, or at the very least, leave a major impact on things. With his speed at the linebacker spot, he could be a major player in keeping BYU quarterback Taysom Hill from breaking into the second level in running the ball. And seeing as how Hill has more than 200 yards rushing over the last two games combined, that's going to be an important factor. McMillian could be crucial in that part of the defense.

Will Davis' hands - He got hosed out of an interception in the Wisconsin game, and he's also one of the nation's best in passes deflected. But he's also missed a few prime opportunities at interceptions too, one or two that could have gone for six.

Still, Davis has been incredible as a cornerback this season, and is easily one of the most likable guys on the team. It would be a tragedy to not seem him take at least one interception back for a touchdown this year though. If/when that does happen, my head might explode with joy. But he's got to actually pull in one of these picks.

Lights Out at our White Out

Not so much the white shirts that are beautiful, but more so the packed house!

A whole lot of Saturday's game seemed to be very up and down. And by that I really just mean that USU sucked in the first and third quarters, while dominating in the second and fourth.

Sloppy and frustrating as it may have been though, I'd much rather have us playing great in the fourth quarter instead of letting the games get uncomfortably close and choking it away in the final minutes.

This may sound cocky, but I really do feel like tonight was another one of those "we got this" kinds of games where we are good enough to bail ourselves out of any situation and didn't really open up the playbook much. We have a huge in-state game next week and don't want to show too much, and I don't think we did.

Football: Highs, Lows and I Don't Knows - 9/25

We all know that the past few decades of Aggie football had been some dark times until Gary Andersen arrived.

Just how bad were they though? Let's use three wins as a measuring stick, since that was often as good as it got for USU football since the turn of the century before Andersen came around. And even since GA has arrived, the third win has taken its sweet time to get here. Below is the date in which Utah State finally got its third win of the season for each year over the last 12 years...

2000: Oct. 21
2001: Nov. 10
2002: Nov. 9
2003: Nov. 1
2004: Nov. 20
2005: Nov. 26
2006: 3rd win?
2007: Seriously, what 3rd win?
2008: Nov. 29
2009: Nov. 14
2010: Nov. 6
2011: Nov. 5
2012: Sep. 22

This marks the first time since 2000 that the team's third win has come prior to the month of November. And if you want to know when the last time USU won its third game in September prior to last weekend, you have to go all the way back to 1978.

Sloppy but surely... Aggies win 31-19 at CSU

Oh how far we've come...

Not long ago, a game played as sloppy as that one by the Aggies would have resulted in a double-digit loss, all sorts of regret and lingering thoughts that we might not even win three games that season.

Here we are now though where we mostly played poorly, finished -3 in turnovers, made a handful of other mistakes, yet are still coming away with a double-digit victory on the road. Oh, and we're 3-1.

Things didn't start out all too bad for USU though. The defense was absolutely dominant in the first half and the offense got off to a nice start with a touchdown on its first drive. Colorado State only managed 10 yards of total offense in the first quarter while the Aggies jumped out to a 10-0 lead.

The Rams got one big run for 27 yards that accounted for nearly half of their first half offense, while USU was doing things like busting out a 19-play, 85-yard scoring drive. The Aggies nearly capped off another scoring drive too that would have put them up 24-0 going into halftime, but Matt Austin got a little careless carrying the football and the Rams poked it loose just short of the goal line.

So close... Again...

It’s almost like every Utah State fan knew deep down that if the Aggies were going to win that game, they couldn’t let it come down to kicking. None of the kickers on the roster have shown any consistency, or really even capability to make kicks from anywhere outside of a PAT, and even that is never a guarantee.

As amazing as this team’s defense has been so far this season, and as good as the offense has managed to be despite playing back-to-back games against teams who could very well end up playing each other in the Rose Bowl, we’re one solid special teams performance away from being 3-0

Before I go on though, let’s get one thing clear: DO NOT be the kind of asshole that goes and harasses Josh Thompson at wherever he lives, or dishes out hate on Facebook or Twitter. Yeah, he hasn't been very good at kicker, we’re all well aware of that by now, and to talk about that among company online or whatever is totally ok. He can’t be loving life right now as is, and having some overly-reactive stranger who goes out of their way to tell him he sucks won’t do him or the team any good. Plus, it just kinda makes you look like an asshat if you’re that guy. Just respect the guy’s space. He's still a member of this team, and who knows, maybe he'll come through with some kind of epic heroics later this season (a winning field goal at BYU would suffice Josh). 

Another Day, Another Monumental Challenge

Saturday's game against Wisconsin up in Madison might have the biggest potential positive impact for any single game in Utah State history since, well... last Friday.

Really though, it's one thing to win big games on national TV versus the perennial best team in the State of Utah. That said a whole lot and definitely grabbed a lot of people's attention. If you go into the heart of Big Ten country though, in a madhouse like Madison has, against a program like Wisconsin and pull off a win, it's a whole different level. At that point, not only would Utah State have the nation's attention, but they'd all be hanging on the Aggies' every word.

And the intriguing thing about this is that a win looks like a very real possibility, if not just a straight-up good chance of happening. I'm not about to call it a lock like Eddie George did, because it's not. Also thanks to the O.G. Madden Curse for saying that and probably getting the Wisconsin guys all pissed off at a former Buckeye dissing them. Obviously at this point if USU loses, my blame is landing squarely on George's shoulders.