For the first time since he arrived at Utah State two years ago, John L. Smith got to split the team, sit back and see how the Aggies did playing against the Aggies.

And, not surprisingly, the Ags gave their third-year coach something to smile about when all was sadi and done."Anytime you break it up like this," Smith said, "it's going to be an even game."

In this case, it was the White Aggies coming from behind to beat the Blue Aggies 21-14 as American Fork native Bryce Higbee threw for two touchdowns. He set up the first score with a 42-yard gallop down the sideline.

"He hasn't had a lot of snaps," Smith said of the redshirt freshman. "But he did a good job."

His 57-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Brumfield proved to be the deciding score with 1:27 left.

The Aggies finally got to split the team into to two squads for the spring game for the first time since Smith arrived because the number of athletes is slowly getting to the point Smith would like to see. "We started out without any injuries," he said. "That was the biggest factor (in having a successful spring.)"

The start of the spring game, though, looked like it would be anything but an even matchup.

Junior running back Melvin Blue scored a pair of touchdowns to give the Blue squad a 14-0 lead.

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Those scores came as part of quarterback Matt Sauk's 260 passing yards carried the Blue to an impressive start.

The White defense, though, wasn't ready to give up and held its ground as Demario Brown (50 yards on 13 carries) and Higbee evened the game.

Now, Smith will take the rest of the summer to see what holes remain to be filled and hope the recruits he has coming in over the summer will provide enough talent to defend USU's co-Big West Championship.

"We're still lacking a little bit in the secondary," Smith said.

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