This is an odd one. For the vast majority of my life, Utah State has been a blip on BYU's radar. It's nice of them to schedule the Cougars on the Friday before General Conference every year so as to avoid conflicts with meeting times, but I can't recall ever being even remotely worried the Aggies would win that game.
In looking back at the overall series, I do see the 2002 score was BYU 35, Utah State 34, but as I've mentioned before, I was out of the country during that season. The only wins the Aggies have had against BYU in my lifetime were 1.) 11 days after I was born and 2.) October 30, 1993. That was a long time ago.
So it's weird to come at this game feeling like it needs actual analysis. Like there's a real chance Utah State can win this game. And after a week one narrow loss to Oklahoma, the Aggies looked like a real threat.
And after a 38-17 thumping of the Idaho State Bengals (the closest college football team to me), they looked slightly more legit.
However, Fresno State beat them 41-24 and the San Diego State Aztecs ripped them 41-7.
So never mind.
The Aggies do have two running backs averaging over 4 yards per carry; Derrvin Speight and Michael Smith are not terrible, and anyone not terrible is going to move the sticks against this BYU defense.
Senior Diondre Borel is something of a running quarterback, and we know how well the Cougar linebackers can deal with that kind of talent (hint: not all that well).
I don't expect Utah State to go nuts tomorrow, but if they score less than 21 points I'll be stunned. And considering BYU is averaging 15 points per game this season, that means the offense needs to step it up if the Cougars want a win.
No dropped passes. No overthrown balls. Fewer fade routes and more stuff over the middle. Run the hurry up more often; Heaps has looked best when he's snapping the ball in under 10 seconds, for whatever reason. And more Quezada.
If these things happen, I see BYU breaking out and scoring 34 or more Friday.
If these things don't happen, look for another embarrassingly low point total and the Aggies' third win in 30 years against their rivals to the south. If you can call it a rivalry.
2 comments:
I was at the 2002 game. I believe (I could be wrong, but this is how I remember it...) the Aggies scored all their points in the first half, and then BYU came back with a vengeance in the second. It was very, very sad. And quite cold. But you know, Logan. Almost frozen wasteland.
The game is on ESPN3 right now...this is almost unwatchable. The worst part is, BYU looks apathetic. Not running hard, don't seem to be emotional at all about getting their rears kicked. Reminds me of the Redskins games I've been watching the last couple of years.
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