Aggie football aims to start first winning streak of year
And they call this the Sun Belt?
Fighting to stay in the Sun Belt Conference race, Utah State and Middle Tennessee square off in the snow Saturday in a matchup of second-place teams.
The Blue Raiders (2-6, 2-1) will play for the first time ever in the state of Utah, and only the second time against the Aggies. Last November, MTSU won 45-28 at home in the final game of the year.
Linebacker Nate Frederick said Utah State needs this game to keep itself in line to contend for the Sun Belt title.
“We both have the same records coming into this game and if we want to have a chance to be in position at the end of the year, with that opportunity to win the Sun Belt, we need to win this game,” Frederick said.
Coming off a 49-0 blowout of Arkansas State, Utah State is looking to start its first winning streak of the year. The Aggie offense found its rhythm against the Indians while the defense forced seven turnovers. Frederick also blocked the first punt of the year for USU and the special teams eliminated the mistakes that had cost them chances to win games.
Utah State also won the field position battle for just the second time this year, both of which resulted in Aggie wins.
Aggie quarterback Travis Cox said the team hopes to use the Arkansas State game as a springboard to continued improvement.
“Our confidence had been shot a little bit,” Cox said. “Having a big victory like that hopefully will shoot our confidence up there and we can finish off the season with some wins.”
Utah State, like Middle Tennessee, needs Sun Belt unbeaten North Texas to stumble in order to have a shot at a Sun Belt championship. The two teams fell to the Mean Green on consecutive weeks in October, with USU losing 37-27 two weeks ago and MTSU 33-28 last week.
Cox was named USU Athlete of the Week for his performance against Arkansas State, throwing for 260 yards and three touchdowns in only three quarters.
Aggie running back David Fiefia and tight end Chris Cooley also turned in solid performances, scoring two touchdowns apiece.
Defensively, six different Utah State players recorded interceptions, one of which Terrance Washington returned for a touchdown.
The Aggies will have to slow down the Blue Raiders’ no-huddle offense and junior receiver Kerry Wright, ranked fifth in the country in receiving yards and leading the Sun Belt in both catches and yardage.
Wright said the Blue Raiders need to reevaluate their team objectives after dropping the game to North Texas.
“We have to refine our goals a little bit,” he said. “We’ve got to have pride and try to win these next four games. You have to hope that North Texas loses a game and we get the opportunity to be co-champions.”
Middle Tennessee Head Coach Andy McCollum said his team will regroup after the loss.
“Before, it was all in our control and now it’s not anymore. What is in our control is how we play these last four games,” he said. “We’ll pull back together this week. We have a tough trip to Utah State. But, we have some tough guys, too. We have seniors with only about 25 days left to play and they want to finish up strong.”
Blue Raider quarterback Andrico Hines threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more TDs against North Texas. Hines’ 23 completions and 33 pass attempts were both career highs, but team rushing leader Eugene Gross was held to 50 yards on 14 carries.
Utah State Head Coach Mick Dennehy said Hines and Wright are both threats the Aggies will have to contain.
“[Hines] is a big, strong kid that can beat you in a number of different ways. Andrico is a guy that makes so many plays,” Dennehy said. “The thing that concerns you the most with him and presents the biggest problems with him is that he has an unbelievable awareness in terms of escapability and where he is at. He is a scrambler that really nobody has been able to corral. Kerry Wright is about as fast a kid as we have played against. He has been their go-to-guy. We are going to have to do a great job of defending him.”
Wright caught 10 passes for 144 yards against UNT and could surpass the 1,000-yard mark with 121 yards against Utah State.
Middle Tennessee fell behind 17-0 to the Mean Green but came back to make the game interesting. The Blue Raiders’ two Sun Belt wins came against New Mexico State and over Idaho in overtime.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu