Football plays first of two home games
The last time Arkansas State walked off a football field, it was after a crushing 55-0 loss to Mississippi.
The Indians will be looking to erase the bitter memories of the loss Saturday in Logan against Utah State, which are aiming for a fresh start of their own after losing six of their first seven games.
The game starts at 1 p.m.
“The only thing I can say is that we have dug ourselves into a heck of a hole,” said Utah State Head Coach Mick Dennehy.
Special teams problems have plagued the Aggies the last three games, especially in the punting game where bad snaps have led to short fields and easy scores for opposing teams.
Arkansas State Head Coach Steve Roberts echoed Dennehy’s frustration with his team’s performance.
“Everybody is disappointed [with the loss to Mississippi,” Roberts said. “We’ve got to change a lot of things between now and the Utah State game if we want to have an opportunity to win.”
The Indians (3-4, 1-1) had an extra week to prepare for the Aggies because of a bye.
Dennehy said Arkansas State seems to run a different offense every week, but he doesn’t expect too many surprises.
“It is a lot to prepare for, but we have seen pretty much what they do,” he said. “We won’t know what they are going to do, but we will line up and play against it.”
Both the Aggies and the Indians defeated their only common foe so far this year, Louisiana-Monroe. Utah State beat ULM 28-10 while Arkansas State won 44-41 after trailing 23-9 at the half.
Arkansas State’s game against its mascot-sharing rivals, the Louisiana-Monroe Indians, was the only Sun Belt Conference foe ASU has played so far. Because of scheduling conflicts, the Tribe’s 54-7 blowout loss to Tulsa also counted as a Sun Belt game.
Dennehy said the Indians are pretty straight-forward on defense.
“They are not a particularly hard team to prepare for in terms of what they do,” he said. “It is more a matter of executing and staying on blocks and giving your running back a chance to gain yards and helping your quarterback to have enough time to be comfortable enough back there to throw the football.”
Aggie quarterback Travis Cox leads the conference in total offense and passing. USU’s offense got a boost last week with the return of senior tight end Chris Cooley.
Utah State’s offensive line will have to deal with defensive tackle Jon Bradley and nose guard Corey Williams, who Dennehy called “two outstanding defensive linemen,” in order to protect Cox.
Even with solid pass protection, Cox will need to be wary of Indian senior cornerback Johnathan Burke, the Sun Belt conference interception leader with six picks. Utah State’s Terrance Washington is tied for second with three.
Aggie wide receiver Raymond Hicks said Utah State needs to emphasize moving the ball without causing self-inflicted wounds.
“We need to come out on offense and execute and quit hurting ourselves,” Hicks said. “We need to get a win after three consecutive losses, we need to bounce back.”
Running backs Shermar Bracey and Antonio Warren lead the Indians offensive attack, while quarterback Elliot Jacobs is their third leading rusher. Jacobs averages 128 yards per game passing as well.
Wide receiver Mike Cox leads the team in catches and receiving yards per game, averaging 41.
Utah State linebacker Nate Putnam said the Aggies need to focus on the game at hand.
“We have put everything that has happened up to this point, we have forgotten it, and right now our only concentration is on beating Arkansas State,” he said.
Utah State hopes to leave the special teams struggles that cost the Aggies a chance to beat North Texas in the past.
With long snapper Matt Wiser sidelined by an injury, the Aggies’ snapper-by-committee twice gave the Mean Green the ball inside the 10-yard line, including North Texas’ first offensive play of the game.
“You don’t realize how important a player is until you lose him,” Dennehy said.
Wiser will not be available for Saturday’s game. Nick George, the Aggies’ regular short snapper, came in against North Texas after the early mishaps and made adjustments to help punter Ben Chaet get off his punts.
Dennehy said he still has confidence in his team.
“I believe strongly in our players,” he said. “I think their effort and the fight that they have demonstrated, in a lot of cases, is good enough to win, if we can overcome the two or three little areas that are just killing us.”
-royburton@cc.usu.edu