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!

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.

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.

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.

The Andersen Legend Grows... Aggies 27, Utes 20

Where to even begin...

There's so damn much to say about this game, and the overall college football experience that it was, that this postgame will only touch the surface. A little side-story will be in order for Saturday or Sunday to wrap things up even more. For now though, I'll try to summarize it as best as I can.

ATMOSPHERE
"Instant classic" appropriately summarizes Friday night at Romney Stadium. And not just in the sense of a football game.

For the first time in a long, we knew this was going to be a game between the Utes and the Aggies. Add the excitement surrounding USU that permeates the air since Gary Andersen arrived in Logan, bringing a solid tailgate scene all afternoon. Fans wearing both blue and red were mingling, having a good time, and really just kind of treating things like a family affair for a "Battle of the Brothers". It started off with everything like a friendly rivalry should be. The line at the gates as a crowded as I've ever seen it with people hungry to get in and get the best seats, and it wasn't long after those gates opened that the entire lower bowl of student section and general admission was full.

The atmosphere was out of control from there. Easily the craziest I've ever seen Romney Stadium, but that's getting its own separate article tomorrow.

Friday though was what college football should be, in almost every way. And it was a collaborative effort by both Aggies and Utes that made it happen.

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

One last scrimmage before it all begins

It wasn't a full-contact scrimmage by any means, but it was close for the most part. Outside of giving defensive players a green-light to light up some of the offensive superstars, the team was going full speed on Saturday afternoon. Receivers still had to work to get open, linemen still had to open holes for running backs and protection for the quarterbacks was still essential for any play to come to fruition.

If there's a single story for this scrimmage, it's that the defense was absolutely dominant! They are fast, instinctive and fly to the ball in swarms. For anyone who remembers watching those Gary Andersen-run defenses at Utah a few years back, this Utah State defense is starting to really resemble that same style. It's really just a total treat to watch.