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.

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.

Preseason Previews and Vibes, Part 2: Offense

Part 2 of 4: Offense

Moving on with the preview, you may notice that this preview has changed from a three-part series to four. That's because there's more to making a great football team than just offense, defense and special teams. What is that fourth aspect? Well, if you don't know already, you'll find out by Wednesday at the latest. For now though, let's preview the offense.

QUARTERBACKS
It took Brent Guy 34 games before he got to five wins at USU... Adam Kennedy pretty much started out 5-0, and he's going to be the backup this season. Got your head wrapped around that?

Chuckie Keeton showed how good he was throughout plenty of the first half of last season before getting injured, where Kennedy stepped in and kept things going as strong as ever. Now, with a full offseason of work and a new offensive coordinator who looks like he's open to actually throwing downfield, Keeton looks ready to dominate. Really both guys look like they could be all-WAC quarterbacks this year, but Keeton has the edge, and if you're beating out a potential all-WAC guy for a starting job, you're probably doing something right.

Preseason vibe: Stoked as hell, with maybe a sprinkle of all-time great status about to happen

10 crucial Aggies: No. 9 - Kellen Bartlett

In last season's run-heavy offense, the tight ends were used primarily as extra offensive linemen to blast open holes for the Aggies' stellar run game. While D.J. Tialavea and Tarren Lloyd only combined for 19 catches, 173 yards and three touchdowns, they were a dominant blocking duo and crucial in helping make the run game operate at a high level.

This year is a different story though with the offense looking to lean much more heavily on throwing the football. With that, a receiving threat from the tight end position is crucial, and there's nobody more primed to be that guy than Kellen Bartlett.

After missing all of last season with an injury, the team gets back probably the best pass-catching tight end to play at USU since Chris Cooley. Bartlett only caught 15 passes for 222 yards as a junior in 2010, but he showed flashes of excellence throughout that year, enough so to generate some serious hype before last season.

Sadly though, injury derailed that, and while Tailavea and Lloyd were great in their roles, neither are near the pass-catching threat that Bartlett can be.

If he's able to bounce back to what he was, especially with the better passers that USU has under center these days, Bartlett should have a monster year. The playmaking ability of the wide receivers is monumentally crucial to this season too, but having a great tight end to dump off short passes to can really give the offense versatility it needs in the passing game.