Takeaways from the Washington game
Saturday’s game at Husky Stadium was an eye-opener, as Utah State fell 31-17 in another rough outing for the Aggies.
By rough, I mean kind of pathetic. Usually I’d compliment the team on the few things it did well before addressing the quarterback situation, but forget it — I’m diving right in.
1. Chuckie Keeton is done
I’d love nothing more than to eat those words in two weeks, but I seriously doubt I’ll need to. Keeton, despite being an exemplary teammate and all-around good guy, doesn’t have it. In all my time at Utah State I’ve been fed the same tired line about how “when Keeton is on the field he always gives us a chance to win.” I’ve even said it myself a few times. But you know what? That’s just not true anymore.
After spending the long drive back from Seattle thinking about what USU has gotten from Keeton these past three weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that one of three things are at play here.
Possibility A: Keeton is hurt — which is not a stretch of the imagination — and is keeping it from the team. If this is the case, he’s being wildly irresponsible with his own health and selfish, which frankly seems out of character for Keeton. He’s a team player. He’s given everything he has to USU football. I doubt he’d jeopardize the Aggies’ chances just to take a few more snaps. But if somehow this is the case, he needs to be pulled.
Possibility B: Keeton is hurt, and the coaches know it — but don’t seem to mind playing him anyway. This means our entire coaching staff is being unforgivably reckless with Keeton’s long-term health, and foolish with Utah State’s short-term chances at winning football games. If this is what’s happening behind closed doors, Keeton needs benching, and athletic director John Hartwell needs to talk to USU’s coaching staff about priorities.
Possibility C: Keeton’s health is fine, and he’s just playing really bad football. Mediocre at best. He’s not all to blame for the Aggies’ lethargic offense, but he is certainly part of it. If it’s as simple as Keeton not playing well, USU has a proven Mountain West-caliber starter waiting in the wings, and not giving him the start just because of something Wells thinks he owes to Keeton is a questionable decision.
I love watching Chuckie Keeton play football. I wear his number to every game. But there is no discernible scenario that makes sense of this continuing. There won’t be a more opportune time to start getting Hobbs or Myers reps with the first team and prepare for life without Keeton than these next two weeks. Waiting even one more game to see what Keeton has left in the tank not only endangers him, but the team’s shot at a conference title. CSU and Boise are almost definitely the two toughest conference foes USU will face this season, and uncertainty at the quarterback position over the next three weeks may well sink the ship altogether.
2. Pass defense needs leadership
The Huskies went nowhere on the ground Saturday. Generally any time you take a team’s ground game out of the equation, other things fall into place defensively. Not so for the hapless Aggie secondary, as Washington quarterback Jake Browning dissected USU to the tune of 368 yards and three touchdowns.
It’s not like Washington fielded a bunch of scrubs. The Huskies are a good team, and they played well in front of a home crowd more than twice the size of anything the Aggies experience in Cache Valley. But without even checking the box score, anyone watching this game could see USU’s defense struggling to defend the air attack. I don’t believe for a minute Daniel Gray and Devin Centers don’t have the talent to play on level with teams like Washington or Utah. What they lack is the proper communication.
Someone needs to be out there leading guys on the field. Todd Orlando and last year’s two stud safeties Brian Suite and Frankie Sutera are gone. The secondary is in need of on-field chemistry and leadership — two commodities mentioned specifically by coach Wells before the season started. Ideally, the bye week should provide this unit time to learn how to play for one another, and Aggie fans get to see what USU’s defense looks like when both the opponents’ running and passing games are shut down. USU’s safeties have to commit to being more versatile — there’s more to defense than stacking the box and stuffing the running game.
3. Critique coordinators with caution
Most fan criticism of both offensive and defensive play calling is bogus.
That doesn’t mean coordinators should be immune to scrutiny, but I’m extremely hesitant to go that direction this early in the season. Yes, I realize earlier in this very column I called for Keeton to be benched, but the two situations are separate entities.
It’s not yet time to be digging deep into why exactly Josh Heupel wasn’t cutting it in Oklahoma, or why he tried so hard to force-feed Hunter Sharp the ball Saturday, or how much of the Aggies’ offensive struggles can be pinned on him — but that day may be approaching.
It’s usually not good to be reactionary in sports. A successful football season is a process, and Utah State hasn’t even begun its conference schedule yet. In theory, the team is still coming together and has the potential to come roaring out of the gate against CSU for a revenge game after last year’s heartbreaker in Fort Collins.
However, if there are still fundamental issues with moving the ball downfield following the Rams game, it may be time to take a closer look at why the Aggies are next-to-last in the nation, 126 out of 127, in total offense.
— Logan Jones is a junior majoring in journalism. He’s pretty sure coach Wells doesn’t read his columns, which might be for the best since they’ve been sort of negative lately. Comments, questions and hate mail can all be sent to logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu or on Twitter @Logantj.