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. 

Utes are still an uphill battle for the Aggies

Poke your head around the internet. It seems like a whole lot of Utah State fans have got a win on Thursday for the Aggies written in ink. After an 11-2 season in 2012, returning a ton of talent on both sides of the ball, and a win over the Utes in the second game of last year, you can understand where that excitement is coming from.

If you ask me though, this is still an uphill fight for the Aggies. Here's why...

1. HISTORY
Not going to dive any further back than last year with the history of the series. Neither team's current state is at all reflective of where they were even just three years ago.

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!

Practice moves over to Romney Stadium on Tuesday

To calm a lot of people's nerves, Tuesday marked the first sighting of wide receiver Ronald Butler practicing with the team. Due to the rules stating that players must have x-amount of practices before adding shoulder pads, and then full pads after that, Butler was limited in what he do, but it appears everything is sorted out now.

Things are starting to look more crisp all around as guys look to have the bulk of their rust shaken off after a few practices. Now with contact entering the mix, you can see just how competitive so many of these guys are. Even after some plays are blown dead, you'll see ballcarriers still running, while defenders are still trying to stop them, and both sides trying to get the best of one another. Things get a little chippy at times, but after those little shoving matches are over, you've still got two guys competing at a high level. Pretty alright if you ask me.

Shoulder pads enter the mix for third practice

On day one of practice, the theme was mostly to get a feel of where guys were and see how they progress as camp rolls along. Monday in the third practice of camp, shoulder pads entered the mix, along with a light amount of contact.

There's still obviously plenty to keep an eye and position battles to be won throughout camp, but there are still observations to be had. So here's what I spotted on Monday...

• Alex Wheat looked okay when camp opened on Friday. Monday, Wheat looked like the best of all the wideouts. He's practicing hard, catching balls, and even made a few very eye-opening catches in one-on-one drills against the cornerbacks. Much like how Rashard Stewart was the my star of Friday's practice, I'd dub Wheat as Monday's overall standout.

First practice is in the books

Took my own picture for once

Finding too much excitement in a first practice is something I was guilty of in my younger years. These days though, I've learned well enough that a first practice is exactly that, and shouldn't come with too much excitement or worry. There are a lot more practices to go and plenty that can change.

Still, there are observations to at least be had and impressions to take away. What is exciting to keep an eye on is if the good aspects can be sustained and if the sore spots can be improved upon.

So after a day of casually observing the first practice, which only included helmets, here's some bullet points...

Training camp opens in year one of the Matt Wells era

The self-imposed (or self-enjoyed) summer hiatus is complete. The Sagebrush Spot is back!

With football beginning practice Friday, there is finally some good, solid, hard news and excitement to write about. It's been a long summer, filled with plenty of laziness (or rather, not filled with much at all)... Let's just get right down to what's on my mind as camp opens.

PRESEASON TOP 25 VOTES
No big surprise here, just pretty cool to actually see it. I've got to think that if Andersen was still here, we'd have fallen somewhere in the 22-25 range, but hey... Start the season with a few wins, and Wells could suddenly be steering the ship of a top 25 team early in his first season.

Utah is going to be a tough-as-hell win to pull off, but if this team can do it, that right there might grab enough attention to climb into the top 25 if a few teams in front of USU lose/struggle.

What to watch for during spring ball: Defense edition

Yesterday we ran down things to watch for and players to keep an eye on over on the offensive side of the ball. Today it's the defense's turn with part two of this spring primer for things you're going to want to be on the lookout for if you hit up any practices.

Let's get to it...

Defensive line

 - Much like the offensive line, this unit has a handful of seniors. The likes of Ricky Ali'ifua, Tryn Mesarch, and Eric Berntson need to show they're capable of pushing for reps as soon as this season.
 - No Al Lapuaho anymore, but given what both B.J. Larsen and Jordan Nielsen showed to be capable of last season, there might not be much of a dip here, if any. These two should both be providing plenty of quarterback pressure in the scrimmages this spring. How they do against the run is what they've got to prove they can do as well as Lapuaho.

What to watch for during spring ball: Offense edition

Here come the Aggies!!!

Chuckie Keeton is going to be the quarterback, the linebackers are a dynamite unit, and the offensive line returns all five starters.

Those are things we know to start spring football, among several other things, but there's plenty left out there that we should hope to see settled by April 20. At the very least, we should be hoping to see some guys step up and impress the coaches to give an idea about who will compete for the open position battles before fall camp.

So here's part one of a two-part series of what and who to keep a close eye on during spring football in 2013. Today is offense. Let's get at it!

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.

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!

Matt Wells running a train on some recruiting!

It was only a few years ago that the idea of beating out schools like Nevada, San Jose State or UNLV was considered a pretty epic recruiting victory for Utah State.

Now the Aggies are beating out big time programs like Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oregon State for some big time prospects. Along with that, quality in-state players seem to be more and more stoked to come to Utah State these days too.

This past recruiting season has been an odd one for USU though. For starters, the amount of early commitments to the Aggies was very much out of the ordinary. In the past, the bulk of USU's commits would come about late in the recruiting season. While plenty of great fits and great players came of it, it often had the sense of USU getting guys that few other schools badly wanted.

Now, USU seems to be the place that many players badly want to be.

Another wild card in this year's recruiting is the coaching change. A lot of these early commits had initially committed to former head coach Gary Andersen. That apparently has resulted in minimal changes though, with a handful of those recruits reaffirming their commitment to Utah State and new head coach Matt Wells. All in all, this is shaping up to be a great class that could set USU up for plenty of future success.

Wells picking coaches left and right now

We're almost there... At this point it looks like we just need a defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, and a running backs coach. Not many ideas about who those might be at this point, so stay tuned on those.

As for the coaches we know about, let's run each one down...

KEVIN CLUNE - Linebackers
This was one of the big ones! Obviously retention from the old staff was a priority on several fronts, and maybe none bigger than Clune. All you need to do is look at his body of work and they guys he's coached up to stardom! And even above that, the depth that the Aggies have had at the linebacker position appears pretty excellent as well. In the 3-4 defense, the team needs the linebackers to be stellar, and they have been under Clune.

It's been speculated that Clune could also end up as the pick for defensive coordinator, so we might still be hearing more about him this offseason. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Having him on staff still is huge!

KEVIN MCGIVEN - Offensive coordinator, quarterbacks
The first handful of staff additions were guys retained. This one is a guy re-hired to the Utah State staff. There had been rumors that Matt Wells was struggling to find an offensive coordinator, what with him being an offensive guy himself and undoubtedly wanting a say n things offensively. With that in mind, McGiven looks like a pretty good hire in this spot.

He was a member of Gary Andersen's original staff at USU as the quarterbacks coach, helping coach Diondre Borel to a breakout season in 2009. One has got to think that he and Wells will be working together quite a bit on both offensive scheming and coaching quarterbacks, but if the defensive duo of Andersen and Dave Aranda taught us anything this past season, that can be a tremendous benefit to the program.

With the success McGiven has had as an offensive coordinator on previous coaching stops, as well as having worked under former OC Dave Baldwin during some of Baldwin's better days. Hopefully he took plenty of notes on the things Baldwin did well and was able to be critical of the shortcomings, much like the hope was with Wells a year ago when he stepped into the OC role.

LUKE WELLS - Co-offensive coordinator, tight ends, recruiting coordinator
Matt's bringing little bro to the staff, and little bro is bringing with him a little bit of big time coaching experience. Luke started his coaching career under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, also sharing the sidelines with the likes of Mike Leach and Mark Mangino. From the looks of things, this could be a pretty big hire for USU.

Looking at the numbers from Luke's time as the tight ends and wide receivers coach at Iowa State, they generally had pretty balanced receiving unit much like Utah State has had the past few years. And while it obviously would be great to have an unstoppable go-to wideout, being able to always put out a consistent unit can be a huge asset.

As for recruiting, it'll be interesting to see what he and the rest of the staff are able to do with the rest of this recruiting season. There aren't a ton of scholarships to go around right now, so you'd have to hope that they're going to aim pretty high with some of these guys.

MARK WEBER - Offensive line
This one hasn't been officially announced yet, but rumor has it that it's a done deal. On a staff of quite a few young coaches, Weber brings a ton of experience to USU. He's coached all over the country at a handful of quality programs (and even some not so quality ones like BYU).

Really don't know a ton about him other than he's got a ton of experience in a bunch of different conferences, so you've got to think he's adaptable to changing styles. We'll probably learn more about him in the coming days when his announcement is officially made.

OTHER COACHING NOTES
USU's official website has listed a few other members of the coaching staff. Among them are Steve Mathis and Mark Andersen. Mathis was essentially the right-hand man of Gary Andersen for the bulk of his time at USU, and it's a bit intriguing that he's sticking around. Mark Andersen is Gary's brother, listed on the roster as the Director of Football Operations/Business Management.

David Fiefia and Kite Afeaki are also listed on the coaching staff too. Fiefia as an offensive graduate assistant and Afeaki as defensive administrative assistant.

The assistant coaching carousel spins on...

With the hiring of Matt Wells now official, the next big questions involve who he will pick to round out his coaching staff.

If continuity is an option, I think you take that and roll with it. And apparently, there could be a little bit more continuity than we initially though with Wisconsin apparently wanting to keep some of their current assistants on staff, potentially closing the door in Madison for a few guys who Gary Andersen wanted to take with him. This details that all a bit: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/68309/wisconsin-could-keep-some-assistants

Among the positions possibly being retained at Wisconsin are defensive coordinator, defensive line coach, strength coach, and offensive line coach.

For Utah State, that would leave Dave Aranda, Frank Maile, Evan Simon, and T.J. Woods as potentials to remain on staff. While Aranda could still very likely move on to some other job, keeping him would be a godsend to next year's season. Maile and Woods have both been great as well over the past two seasons and would be very valuable retentions to the coaching staff. As for Simon, we've seen the entire team get a whole hell of a lot bigger and stronger with him here. I say give the man a raise and reason to stay!

Matt Wells to be the Aggies' next head coach

Multiple sources have indicated that all the speculation is true about Matt Wells stepping in as the next head coach of Utah State football.
After just two years with USU, Wells has apparently made enough of an impression on the administration to work his way into this position, even being called by some people as a younger version of Gary Andersen.

If that truly is the case, then USU should be in a great position moving forward, especially since Wells is a guy who is Aggie-bred and could hopefully assemble a quality staff of guys also very familiar with the school and the program.

Regardless, this gives the Utah State program some crucial continuity moving forward. Wells has been a huge part of the success of the past two seasons, has done a tremendous job both as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, and apparently has some serious ties to many recruits in various areas. Plus, as it's been stated before, Gary Andersen didn't start really winning lots of football games until Matt Wells was on staff at USU. Prior to Wells, Andersen's coaching record was 8-16. With Wells on staff, USU had a record of 18-8.

Doubtful that they're THAT directly related, but there's at least something to it. Not to mention, Wells helped develop both Adam Kennedy and Chuckie Keeton into stud quarterbacks in his and their first years at Utah State.

The coming days will be filled with rumors and speculation about assistant coaches, recruiting commitments, which will be kind of fun to see. And hopefully it can inject some excitement into people about the program moving forward and put some of the hurt of the last couple days to rest.

It's also worth noting again that as far as Utah State becoming the next Boise State is concerned, we're just following the script. Boise State lost Dan Hawkins after the 2005 season and hired offensive coordinator Chris Peterson. Things only ended up getting better for them.

How things shake down for the Aggies... We'll see. The uncertainty of outcomes is part of what makes going to games so much fun. So if Wells is able to come right out and keep the show rolling next season, this program's momentum just might grow too powerful to stop!

Welcome to the big job Matt Wells. Let's keep this show rolling!!!

Dave and Matt are standing pat

The worry of the dream season's staff departing for other opportunities was already there even before news broke of Mike Sanford heading off to take the head coaching job at Indiana State. Dave Aranda has done a masterful job with the defense at USU this season, while Matt Wells has shined plenty as well during his first year as offensive coordinator.

With the success we'd had, there was the hope that at the very worst, some of the guys below Wells and Aranda on staff would have been well-groomed enough to step up and take the reigns. If at all possible, the hope was to keep Wells and Aranda on board for another year given how well they each did. But for assistants, opportunities are going to be out there, especially in Aranda's case with him having previous experience as a D-coordinator.

And those offers were very much out there too! Reports have said that Aranda was a frontrunner for the defensive coordinator jobs at both Cal and Texas Tech, with rumors even flying out there Sunday that Aranda was indeed heading to the Red Raiders.

In Wells' case, Kyle Goon and Tony Jones teamed up in reporting that Wells had been pursued by North Carolina State.

As it is now, it looks like holy trinity of Andersen, Wells and Aranda want an encore in 2013. The three of them will be back at Utah State for at least one more season, and hopefully plenty more!

Now we have one more year of these guys together, making every one of them that much more prepared to step up and succeed if more is asked of them at USU, or should they eventually try to find success elsewhere. It also gives the younger assistants more time to work and learn under each of them, with the same benefits hopefully paying off in the future.

Really just to sum it up... This is HUGE for Utah State to retain these two guys!!! Maybe, just maybe we have something special enough going on that they stick around even longer than just next year too! 

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.

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.

Football: Highs, Lows and I Don't Knows - 10/11

Talking any more about that game last Friday is something I don't think I'm alone in dreading. But part of moving forward is getting better on where we were previously lacking, and hopefully keeping up what we've been great at.

So let's just get into it, and please excuse the inordinate amount of Lows this week, but really they're kind of relevant.

THE HIGHS

Linebackers - Kyler Fackrell was the WAC's Defensive Player of the Week, which speaks for itself, as if his 10 tackles and interception weren't enough. Zach Vigil added 10 tackles too. Jake Doughty, Bojay Filimoeatu and Tavaris McMillian all were solid too, reaffirming what we already knew about this unit.

Safeties - McKade Brady finally got a fair crack at BYU this year and finished with a game-high 14 tackles. Brian Suite racked up nine stops of his own, again, reaffirming what we already knew about this unit.

THE LOWS

The defensive line - I doubt I'm alone in hoping that the USU defensive line takes last Friday personal. The only place to go from that game is up. Aside from not really getting any push all game, USU didn't register a single tackle for loss on Friday. And that was against a BYU offensive line that has been pounded by injuries this year.

Dropped passes - Too damn many of them... I hate to single a guy out, but Chuck Jacobs has got to get the routine down of catching THEN running. He's going to cause tons of problems for opposing teams when he has the ball in the open field, but it seems like he's trying to look upfield before he's secured the ball. Rough game for everyone though, not just Jacobs.

Matt Wells - Maybe I was overly ambitious in the whole idea of Wells bringing the best of both worlds of what Dave Baldwin did well, while patching Baldwin's holes. Wells has still been good at keeping most games out of reach from other teams. Every team in the country is going to struggle scoring at Wisconsin or at BYU like the Aggies did, but we shouldn't have struggled THAT bad. Hopefully this is just part of the learning curve for him taking over a whole offense for the first time this year.

Second half turnovers - This shit has got to stop... Another turnover on the first possession of the third quarter, and a really costly interception on the Cam Webb pass. That kind of stuff will take USU right out of almost any tough game. Some serious refocusing needs to be done there.

THE I DON'T KNOWS

Chuckie under pressure - It's sometimes easy to forget that only now does Keeton have a whole season's worth of games under his belt after missing half of last year. Still, like at Wisconsin, Keeton was all over the place with a lot of throws against BYU. Obviously it's not easy out there, especially against such tough defenses who are good at pressuring quarterbacks. Still, the team needs a few more of these passes under pressure to be completions rather than balls that the receivers can barely adjust to, if at all. Still young though, and he should continue to improve.

The running game - I mean... What happened? I expected BYU to hold USU to maybe only 80 yards or so on the ground. Held to 41 though?? Something like that kind of has to fall on the whole offense, and really is maybe the most head-scratching thing about Matt Wells' calling. Was there really no hole in that defense that we could have exploited for a few more yards on the ground?