Three years ago this week, Chuck Shelton - upset mainly by the attitude toward him of the former school president, who was leaving at the end of the school year anyway - announced his resignation as Utah State football coach. With four games left, he said he was gone when the 1991 season concluded.
The Aggies won his last four games for a 5-6 record, 5-2 and third in the league, and Shelton left successor Charlie Weatherbie with a player core that included future All-Big West first-teamers Jermaine Younger, Joe Jacobs, Mike Lee, Warren Bowers, Jed DeVries and Rich Tylski. Among Shelton recruits still with the Aggies are starters Abu Wilson, Paul Gustafson, Gary Brown, Shawn Griswold, Robert Holmes, Willie Jackson, Travis Schow and Donald Toomer.Shelton's in his third season at University of the Pacific, and after bitter losses by a field goal each to his old Aggies in '92 and '93, Shelton's Tigers may be in the best position yet to finally give him a measure of revenge.
Utah State (1-2, 2-5) visits Pacific (2-1, 4-3) at 3 p.m. MDT Saturday.
Wilson redshirted Shelton's final season at USU and is "indifferent" about playing his former coach but looking forward to returning to his home Bay Area.
Pacific's only Big West loss was to league-leading Nevada. The overall mark is its best start since 1986. Another victory would give Pacific just its fourth five-win season since 1977, its first three-win Big West campaign since 1978. UOP is on a four-game home-win streak (3-0 this season). It won its last two games, outscoring BWC opponents Northern Illinois and Arkansas State 71-28.
The Tigers (393.9-yard average) and quarterback Craig Whelihan (253.7) are both second in league total-offense standings, and Whelihan's second in pass efficiency (117.12 rating), while Joe Abdullah is second in league scoring (6.86), third in rushing (96.0) and fourth in all-purpose yards (129.1). Jeff Russell leads the league in interceptions with five.