To Utah State senior Markell McCain, Saturday couldn't have been a better sendoff. "Yeah, on a winning note. That's all that matters," he said of his final game, a 38-22 USU win.
It couldn't have been any better - unless he could play next year, too.The Aggie defense that gave up the fewest points of any team in the league in the six Big West Conference games only loses five players to senior-itis: McCain, Kenyatta Green, Sean Coleman, Terrence Gaines and Matt Hauk.
That has McCain wishing he were coming back. "We've got a lot of people returning. They're not going to miss a beat. Next year, they're going to be something special," McCain said.
"It's real hard," agreed Green about leaving. He was also, however, thinking of the support this 4-7, 4-2 team that tied for second in the Big West has gotten: "I'd like to thank all the fans that came out," said Green.
McCain had six tackles and two of the four sacks as the Ags confused Pacific's frosh QB with more blitzes than usual. "The blitzes were a special call this week," McCain said.
Junior David Gill was a big part of that defense with 15 tackles, four for loss. That gave him the best-ever season by an Aggie tackler with 168 stops, two more than Al Smith (1986), still a starter for the Houston Oilers.
"I like it," Gill said, "but I wish we could have gone to a bowl game, too."
Gill was humble. "It makes me feel great, but I don't know what scheme they ran. This one is oriented to linebackers. I don't compare myself to him. He's done a lot more. He's Al Smith; I'm David Gill; I haven't done anything yet."
"It was an awesome win," said Abu Wilson, who carried 25 times for 103 yards, giving him 1,476 yards for the season, 58 shy of USU's record, second on the all-time list. Wilson was also second in Big West rushing.
"We won the game. The records weren't as important," said Wilson. "A win would give the seniors satisfaction."