During the first two weeks of football for the Utah State Aggies, it’s been a mixed but mostly negative bag. A rough showing in a loss to Idaho State and a hopeful but still narrow defeat at Washington still left them 0-2.
Getting the obvious out of the way, this is not how the Aggies envisioned their season starting. Sure, a hard-fought loss on the road to a ranked Big Ten school was at least encouraging, the loss to the Bengals, an FCS program, still stings.
That becomes even tougher as No. 17 Utah awaits Utah State in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
As four-touchdown underdogs, how can the Aggies improve their chances and continue their upward trajectory?
First, this will be the biggest test for the defense. It played very well against Washington and its shifty quarterback, Demond Williams Jr.
However, Washington’s offense also struggled against Washington State and was missing its two top-contributing running backs against the Aggies. That won’t be the case against Utah, especially with Wayshawn Parker rolling.
Still, the Aggies didn’t allow Williams’ ability to run the ball break them. It’ll have to do it again on Saturday against the Utes and Devon Dampier.
“Devon, man, I’ve seen some magical things of him,” Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall said this week. The Aggie coach previously coached Dampier at New Mexico.
“He’s so hard to sack. That’s an entire year at New Mexico seeing unblocked players and two and three, and he spins around, and he jukes, and he jives, and he’s out of the pocket, and he throws just the slant, or he’ll pull it down and run.
“He runs for speed and power even though he’s not a big player. He’s just dynamic and a really skilled playmaker, and he makes it look easy.”
Not only that, former Utah State offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven now sits in the booth for the Utes. In the Utes’ dominant win against Arkansas of the SEC, McGiven showed he’s willing to get creative with his play-calling. He can do it thanks to Utah’s versatile personnel, especially when Dampier and backup QB, do-everything Byrd Ficklin are on the field at the same time.
All this to say that Utah State will not only see the best offense so far this year, but also the most creative. Sure, the Aggies’ defense played very well against Washington, but it’ll have to do that and more against the Utes.
Second, the Aggies offense has no option but to step up. Utah State’s turnovers, offensive line struggles, and inability to run the ball have been some of the biggest issues facing this team.
None of that will fly against Utah. The Utes have too talented a defense to give any ground in those areas, and Utah State won’t survive with a one-dimensional offense.
The Aggie running backs, Javen Jacobs especially, will have to find ways to get yards. And the offensive line will have to open up lanes.
“Clearly, the yield and the production is where, it’s fair to go to say, ‘Is it working?’ That answer is no,” said Mendenhall. “So, our traditional — meaning non-quarterback runs — not being efficient or effective to this point. So, we not only need to look at what we’re doing, but how we’re doing it and with whom. All of those are fair game.
“Where we come out of that could look like an overhaul, or it could look just more specific and intentional about how we’re doing it. We’re working hard on that starting (Monday) because clearly that area is not yielding, and we need it to. That’s where we are in the process.”
Mendenhall was also blunt following the Washington game and said, “Quarterback scramble is our only running game.”
Mendenhall isn’t wrong, as the only positive yardage in the running game came from backup QB Grady Brosterhous.
The quarterback situation is something to watch for the Aggies. McCae Hillstead didn’t play against the Huskies because of a lingering injury he sustained against Idaho State. Mendenhall said he wouldn’t reveal who’d be starting against the Utes.
