Utah State football team enjoys time out of Cache Valley
LAYTON – If the Utah State football team is looking for an easy way to make it on SportsCenter, it may have found it. Toward the end of a 90-minute scrimmage against themselves at Northridge High School, the Aggies found their play. With three running backs lined up in a T-formation at the 1-yard line, reserve quarterback Bryan Black faked the handoff, then turned his back to the line of scrimmage and put up a granny shot over his head.
Luckily, the ball ended up in tight end Nick George’s hands in the back of the end zone.
“You’ve got to have a little bit of fun,” said USU Head Coach Mick Dennehy.
He said the play was the creation of special teams coach Jeff Choate, who has run it four times in a game situation and was successful once.
Not exactly the best idea if the game is tight, but Dennehy said it is the type of play a team would run if it were up or down by 40 points.
Aside from the entertaining play, the Aggies were focused on defense. Safety Mike Rosencrans recorded two sacks and a tackle for an 11-yard loss on a reverse. USU, as a team, finished with nine sacks.
Dennehy said the team was also successful in knocking down the short pass attempts, or the Aggies were “doing a losing job offensively.”
The Utah State quarterbacks faired well, as No. 1 QB Travis Cox continued to be sharp, completing six of 10 passes for 126 yards. His highlight of the night came off a 41-yard touchdown pass to tight end Chris Cooley.
Black finished the night 12-for-17 for 81 yards, and Matt Crivello was 8-for-16 for 59 yards.
“There was some good and some bad,” Dennehy said. “What we need to try and develop is some consistency. We seem to do things good for four or five plays in a row, then sloppy as heck for three or four plays.”
David Fiefia had the best rushing average with five carries for 14 yards, while Jerome Eason led all receivers with four catches for 99 yards. The sophomore received a 15-yard scoring catch from Crivello.
Sophomore Ryan Kemp finished the night with 15 yards on seven carries.
Aggies Richard Watson and Tyrone McKinney each recorded a touchdown.
Now that the Aggies are done learning most of the new plays and schemes for the spring, Dennehy said he expects the next four practices to be crisper.
“I’d like things to be clean and perfect … that’s unrealistic,” he said.
Dennehy said he appreciated former Aggie wide receiver Fred Fernandes, who is currently the coach of the Northridge football team, for inviting the Aggies to Layton.
“It’s fun to be able to do this,” Dennehy said. “A lot of people down here [along the Wasatch Front] don’t get as many chances to get over the hill.”
There were about 450 fans in attendance.
Utah State will wrap up its spring drills on Friday with the Blue-White game at Romeny Stadium.
-juag@cc.usu.edu