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.

Needing To Have A Talk With Bill Busch

Dear Bill,

I didn't want things to have to come to this, because I really do think you're good for this coaching staff... But we need to talk.

SAFETIES
Before I say anything else, let me just say that I think you've done a phenomenal job with the safeties at USU since you've been here. Whether it was in those two years as defensive coordinator or in the last season and a quarter as the safeties coach, that part of the secondary has been killin it!

Both of the starting safeties from your first year here made it to NFL training camp rosters when their time here was done, and we didn't seem to miss a beat losing either of them. Both Alfred Bowden and Walter McClenton turned into solid players back there for you, and it looks like McKade Brady and Brian Suite are going to be a superstar duo this season.

That track record isn't just good, it's great!!

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). 

Preseason Previews and Vibes, Part 1: Special Teams

Chuck Jacobs, alone in the end zone, with people behind him = Touchdowns

Part 1 of 4: Special Teams

Alright kids, it's officially game week, so let's get down to previewing this bad boy!

First up is special teams, which once again doesn't look to be anything too special.

COVERAGE
In theory, this year could see an improvement in the kick and punt coverage teams. As the talent level of the program has continued upward, the guys assigned to special teams should perform better than previous years as well. Between the linebacker and cornerback positions alone, there are 30 guys on the roster, leaving plenty of guys outside of the two-deep that you would hope are hungry enough for snaps that they'll want to make an impact on special teams. There are also a handful of young offensive linemen who could make a splash here.

Main point being though, there are quality starters and quality depth at most positions and only so many snaps to go around. There are also plenty of younger guys who will have a chance to make some big plays on special teams this year. Given the mentality that seems to be around this team now, I'm guessing we'll see a solid improvement in this area over the last few years.

Preseason vibe: Optimistic