BYU Football Opponents Preview: Utah State Aggies

Utah State, to put it nicely, is not a very good football team and has not been good since John L. Smith took the Ags to the Humanitarian Bowl in 1997.  The odd thing is that the Aggies regulary put players in the NFL, with the most notable players being TE Chris Cooley and WR Kevin Curtis.

The Aggies last year went 2-10 and had a tough time scoring and stopping teams as well, but the defense should be improved with nine starters back on that side.

This game used to be a yearly rivalry but tapered off until the two schools made a deal that combined scheduled games with the two basketball programs, which is a good thing since the two schools are about a three-hour drive apart.

A side note on the game that will fire up the fans for the home Aggies—the recent announcement that Riley Nelson, the QB who started his career at Utah State, transferred to BYU while on his church mission.  So the fans may bring some extra noise for the visiting Cougars.

Offense: The team returns six starters but lose starting QB Leon Jackson III and their top wide receiver from last year, Koren Robinson—not that those players were stellar.  Robinson was a stud player who is getting looks at the NFL level.  As for this year, their top returning offensive players played and have some experience, but their stats are nothing to get too excited about.

Curtis Marsh RB 302 Yards 2 TD

Derrvin Speight RB 504 Yards 3 TD

Jase McCormick QB 25-40 258 Yards 2 TD 5 INT

Omar Sawyer WR 6 Receptions 96 Yards

The Aggies do not have the returning talent offensively to compete with BYU.  However, their running game of 125 per game last year, while not great, was their best in a few years.  Three of the offensive linemen return, so the running game should be their bright spot.

Their passing game, which was not great last year, will have a tough time breaking in a new QB and new WRs.  The basic point is that their offense will struggle to score points this year.

Defense: Not much better here with the Aggies defense—they gave up 31.3 points per game last year.  Utah State does have nine returning starters, so the defense better come up with big plays and play better overall.  Just by being experienced, this defensive squad should improve on last season's play.  The BYU offense will be very explosive, and it may not matter how the Aggies defense plays—their defense will have a tough time.

Early Prediction: This will get ugly early and often—BYU should win by at least 21 points, and that is being conservative.