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.

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 - 9/4

Week one is in the books, with week two being a big one coming up. I'm of the belief that the USU coaches kept things pretty simple as to not show too much on the game film for Utah to scout. The Utes undoubtedly did the same thing too, so Friday should be full of surprises.

But even despite keeping things simple, let's still try and break things down a little bit.


THE HIGHS

Chuckie Keeton, Matt Austin and Joe Hill - Chances are that any time you get a quarterback throwing for 300+ yards, a receiver with 100+ yards, running back rushing for 100+ yards, all with a good defense backing them up, you'll probably win. This trio was awesome all game, and two of them are only sophomores. We knew Keeton and Austin would tear it up this year, but with Hill's performance, and even Kerwynn Williams still having a decent game of his own, the running game might be better than we'd thought.

The rush defense - Sure, it was only SUU, and they don't exactly have a good running game, but holding a team to just 2.1 yards per carry is impressive, especially going into this week's game against Utah. John White isn't a power back, but he's fast, shifty and great at finding holes, so stopping him will be no easy task. Still, White needed 24 carries to rack up 119 yards against Northern Colorado. If USU can slow him up, scoring points won't come easy for Utah.

Pass defense - A possible NFL quarterback was 12-of-31 for only 153 yards. That's not too shabby for the defensive backfield. Terrence Alston had a team-high five tackles to go with a tackle for loss and a sack to bolster the resume of Saturday's performance by the DBs. 


THE LOWS

Pass defense - Yep, they're both on the highs and lows! The pass interference penalties, disagree with some of them as I may, are how football is officiated these days. Receivers are given all sorts of freedom to initiate contact and gain separation. Defensive backs can't get away with that, and the sooner they learn that it's life's not fair out there and adjust the amount of contact they make, the sooner they'll see a lot fewer yellow flags thrown their way. The DBs did great at sticking with their guys, but they've got to perfect how to do so without getting flagged for it.

Special teams - A blown extra point, a muffed punt and really just overall unimpressive play didn't offer anything to be encouraged about. Chuck Jacobs had one punt return for 30 yards, which is better than most punt returns we've seen around here for a while. Still, lots of work left to be done here.


THE I DON'T KNOWS

Defensive line - Great at stopping the run, left some to be desired in pass pressure. I'm trying to tell myself that they did what the offense did with keeping things mostly under wraps, but I'm less optimistic here. Still, I think they'll continue to improve as the year goes on, and the run stopping was great on Thursday. So far I'd say they did good, not great.

Turnovers - Kinda was hoping for more of them. Still trying to tell myself that it's because the blitzing packages weren't let loose. Getting pressure on Jordan Wynn can be a game-changer on Friday. His arm isn't strong as it is, so if he's forcing throws on the run or under pressure in the pocket, that could create a couple possible turnover opportunities, which the Aggies will need to capitalize on.

Aggies come out swinging, win 34-3

Not that many of us really thought it would ever be a game, but the Aggies silenced the Thunderbirds pretty handily from the start Thursday night at Romney Stadium. The thunder song from the movie Ted summarizes tonight fairly well (warning, bad words and decent humor in that link)!! Let's compare the first three drives for both Southern Utah and Utah State...

Southern Utah
3 plays, 4 yards - punt
3 plays, 0 yards - punt
3 plays, 5 yards - punt

Utah State
11 plays, 97 yards - touchdown
3 plays, 45 yards - touchdown
9 plays, 98 yards - touchdown

I mean, I guess if we're reaching for positives for SUU, their punter did a great job of pinning the Aggies deep, but it really didn't matter with USU's first unit in there. And the whole game saw a lot of USU's guys from the two-deep getting some serious reps out there.

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. 4 - Matt Austin

As awesome as Chuckie Keeton has looked in camp, and as much potential Kellen Bartlett has as a receiving tight end, no single offensive player has the impact potential for this season quite like Matt Austin. With the importance the passing game will have this season, Austin needs to elevate his game even further and be the dominant offensive threat that most of us believe he's capable of.

What makes Austin great starts and ends with his hands. Trying to compare Austin's ability to catch the football to anyone else is pretty much meaningless. It's been a long time since seeing anyone with his hands come through USU, and it'll likely be a long time before we see hands this good.

But the hands are just part of it. When you get down to the rest of Austin's ability, his other skills are also among the best to come through USU in a while. He's fast, runs crisp routes and is a very good blocking wide receiver. He's about as complete a package as you can get in a wideout.

Depth isn't much of a concern with guys like Chuck Jacobs, Travis Van Leeuwen, Travis Reynolds, Cam Webb, Jojo Natson, etc... Austin needs to be head and shoulders above the rest though. A wideout that can be counted on to be open on almost every play and who can turn a desperate throw by the quarterback into a big play is something every team desires, but few teams really have.

A season of something in the range of 70+ receptions from Austin would mean this offense was getting it done in a big way. Coverages will be focused on him regardless, so the more pressure he can take off the run game and his fellow receivers, the better. And if the offense gets it done in a big way this season, especially with how great the defense has looked in camp, this could turn out to be one hell of a season!

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.