LOGAN — The offense shined in a 46-play scrimmage at Romney Stadium Thursday night, which marked an end to two-a-day practices for the Utah State football team.
"I thought the kids came out and bounced around pretty good," said USU head coach Mick Dennehy said. "I thought the exchange was pretty good. I thought there were some bright spots and obviously some things we need to continue to work on. I thought our defense was at a disadvantage tonight in terms of this was really the first extensive work that they have had the opportunity to tackle guys in the open field."
The offense exploded in Thursday's late scrimmage as three USU quarterbacks combined to complete 22-of-29 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns, and the Aggie backs gained 91 more yards on just 17 carries.
Redshirt freshman running back Roger Fernandez produced 55 yards rushing on eight attempts, while also leading the team in receiving with four catches for 70 yards. Fernandez opened the scrimmage's scoring going 48 yards on a screen pass from Jeff Crosbie and then added a 14-yard scoring run to cap the practice session. All-American candidate Emmett White saw limited action and gained 16 yards on his only carry.
Crosbie, who is slated to back up Jose Fuentes, led the Aggie signal-callers by completing 11-of-14 attempts for 131 yards and the 48-yard touchdown pass to Fernandez. Travis Cox, a redshirt freshman hit on 7-of-8 attempts for 52 yards, while Fuentes connected on 4-of-7 attempts for 31 yards, including a 20-yard scoring toss to Marshall Sanders. Chris Stallworth scored on a 20-yard run and David Fiefia added a 5-yard TD run.
"It has been a really good camp because we have guys that are not lazy and even though they are hurt and tired they are still going," said Dennehy. "Their minds are way, way tougher in terms of they are still going as hard as they can go. They are not taking plays off. They are not resting and they are not letting things affect them. If we are better at one thing, it is that and that will make us a better football team."
Linebacker Jesse Busta led the defense in tackles with six, while Bryan Jackson, Andre Bala and Tony Newson all had three stops. Tyler Olsen finished with two tackles for loss, including one sack, while safety Steve Tate notched two sacks.
The Aggies are scheduled to practice Saturday and then begin game-week preparations Monday. They open the season Saturday at Utah in a 6 p.m. game at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Season and single-game tickets to Utah State home and selected road games are available on line at www.UtahStateAggies.com or by calling the ticket office at 1-888-U-STATE-1 or 435-797-0305.
E-mail: sor@desnews.com