USU itching to get back on the field
After a bye week that allowed the team time to regroup, the Utah State University football team returns to action Saturday against the University of New Mexico Lobos.
Kickoff is set for 3:05 p.m. at Romney Stadium.
The Lobos will look to spoil the Aggies’ homecoming game, just as they spoiled the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ homecoming one week ago.
USU is looking to rebound for the second half of the season after compiling a 1-5 record before the break, while the Lobos have posted a 3-4 record heading into Saturday’s game.
Utah State used their week off to get things back in order, said Aggie Head Coach Mick Dennehy.
“Coming off the bye week has allowed us to do several things,” he said. “Number one, it has allowed us to get healthy. It has allowed us to go back and look at some of the things we have done well and some of the things we haven’t done well, and address those issues.
“I am really pleased with the way [the team has] jumped back into it,” he said. “I know we are really looking forward to playing a very good New Mexico football team on Saturday for our homecoming.”
USU faces a Lobo team that has changed its offensive attack in the last couple of weeks due to personnel changes. Starting quarterback Casey Kelly will start the game, but Justin Millea has forced Lobo Head Coach Rocky Long to find ways to get him on the field as well.
Millea was named the Mountain West Conference offensive player of week last week.
“One of them might be a wide receiver, one of them might be a pitch back, or we can run the option and pitch it to one or the other,” Long said during New Mexico’s press conference this week. “There might be some times in short yardage or in a for-sure running situation that Millea might be in the game, or when we think we might need a little different outlook on the game.”
Either way, Utah State has to prepare for two completely different game plans.
“We are going to have to do a great job focusing on stopping their running game – making sure we have our heads up on their play-action pass,” Dennehy said. “They don’t appear to want to throw the ball a whole bunch. With Millea, I think they threw it eight times last week.”
Defensively, the Lobos present a bit of a challenge as well, due to the type of scheme they run. New Mexico plays with three defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs – a setup not commonly used in football.
With this setup, the Lobo defense likes to apply pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback with extra players.
“I think what you see from them is a defense that I feel like is a pressure defense without question,” Dennehy said. “You are going to see some kind of pressure probably 90 percent of the time.”
New Mexico is having a tough time as well preparing for this game, and has a few concerns on how to stop the Aggie offense, Long said.
“They have a really good quarterback [Jose Fuentes] and a top three-round draft choice at wide receiver [Kevin Curtis],” he said.
Long said he is mainly concerned about covering Curtis.
“We have a way to take him out of the game, but what happens is you open yourself up to everything else that they do,” he said. “BYU double-teamed him the whole game, and he still caught four passes for 68 yards.”
For the Aggies, Dennehy said the next five games are a chance to rebound and show how good the team really is. The New Mexico game is their first opportunity to prove themselves.
“The one thing I am pleased with is that the kids have begun to focus on the University of New Mexico,” he said. “We need to put the past behind us and take everything that we have mentally and physically to make a run over the next five games, beginning with a very good New Mexico football team.”
– jwhigg@cc.usu.edu