Matt Wells’ perfect gameplan: Week 6 takeaways

Matt Wells’ squad won its fourth in a row and third by 25-plus points this season. Blowouts typically don’t offer much in the way of solid information but there’s actually a lot to think about following the 45-20 domination of BYU in Provo. With that said, let’s get into it.

Dominant running duo

The Aggies really have something going with Darwin Thompson and Gerold Bright. Against BYU, they combined for 170 yards on 31 attempts (5.4 per carry) and this wasn’t anything but an anomaly. Both players rank in the top five in yards per carry in the Mountain West with Thompson leading the conference at 8.3. Both also rank in the top 10 in the Mountain West in rushing yards.

Since the Michigan State game, Thompson and Bright have traded off 100-yard rushing games, a phenomenon never seen before in program history. It’s also the seventh time in school history that two running backs have had more than one 100-yard rushing game.

Unfortunately, Saturday was actually the first time the two didn’t combine for at least two rushing touchdowns in a game, though Bright got one touchdown via the air on a gutsy fourth-and-goal call from Matt Wells.

End zone air raid

Jordan Love has never thrown a lot of touchdowns in his career. In the first six starts of his career he had just six touchdown passes. Even this year, he averaged barely over one TD pass per game leading into Saturday’s game. On Saturday, he tossed four touchdowns (and ran for another) in just 28 attempts. Statistically one in every seven passes he threw was a touchdown.

USU quarterback Jordan Love, throws the ball downfield against BYU in the Aggies’ 45-20 win in Provo.

The lack of touchdown passes is not an argument against Love’s performance this season. It’s really a matter of the coaching staff running the ball when in scoring position. In the red zone the Aggies have run the ball 34 times compared to 10 pass plays. It’s why the Aggies rank seventh in the nation in rushing touchdowns with 18.

Matt Wells pulls a Belichick

In Week 11 of the 2014 NFL season the 7-2 New England Patriots and 6-3 Indianapolis Colts faced off in a highly anticipated game. Tom Brady had averaged 327.3 yards in his last four games to go with 16 touchdowns and just one interception.  And in a crucial matchup, against a top AFC foe, what did head coach Bill Belichick decide use as an offensive gameplan? He handed the ball off 37 times to undrafted running back Jonas Gray who, to that point, didn’t have 37 carries in his CAREER. The Patriots went on to win the game 42-20 on the back of Gray’s 201 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.

So why did I tell this story? Because four years later, Matt Wells did the same thing Belichick did. He went into a crucial game with a hot-handed QB in his back pocket and proceeded to run the ball down his opponent’s throat.

Jordan Love threw just 28 passes the entire game. He had fewer attempts in the games against New Mexico State (27) and Tennessee Tech (26) but he also left those games early. Against TTU his 26 passes all came in the first half before he was subbed out with the team up 45-6.

Wells’ top-notch preparation was further exemplified by the fact that he reversed the script in the red zone and especially inside the 10-yard line. Before the BYU game, Utah State had run 26 plays inside the 10. Only three of those plays were passes. On Saturday alone, Love threw the ball five times inside the 10 going 4-of-5 for 16 yards and four touchdowns.

No running for you

Contrary to Utah State’s dominance on the ground on offense, BYU couldn’t gain a yard running the ball. That sounds like a hyperbole but, excluding Zach Wilson’s garbage time 26-yard scramble against the third-stringers, the Aggies held the Cougars to less than a yard per carry. To be more specific, 13 yards on 15 carries or 0.86 yards per rush. Five of BYU’s 16 rush attempts were for a loss, essentially one in three rushes went for negative yards with the longest (again excluding the garbage time run) being just five yards.

This season Utah State ranks 28th in yards allowed per carry (3.4) and are tied at 17th in rushing touchdowns allowed (5).

Protecting the ball

Believe it or not, Saturday was the first time this season the Aggies did not turn the ball over once. USU turned the ball over twice in each of their first four games for a total of eight on the year. It was also the first game where the Aggies didn’t fumble once. Five of Utah State’s turnovers have come via the team’s seven total fumbles this year. Hopefully that’s a trend in the right direction.

Under-utilized Eberle

Dominik Eberle warms up on the sidelines of the game against Tenn Tech on Sept. 13. Eberle tied a career high with seven PATs in the Aggies’ 73-12 win.

It’s not really a bad thing to under-utilize a kicker. In this case, it’s actually a good thing because it means Utah State is finishing long drives off with touchdowns instead of stalling deep in opposing territory. Dominik Eberle, after kicking seven field goals in the first two weeks, has attempted just two in the last three games (both were made and both were from 40-plus yards out). Eberle’s main job lately has been mindlessly kicking endless extra points. In fact, he is one of just two kickers, joined by Alabama’s Joseph Bulovas, to kick six extra points in each of the last four games.

This all bodes well for the Aggies’ offense, but it doesn’t look good for Eberle’s chances to win the Lou Groza award.

Points explosion

This team is on pace for an unprecedented number of points. The school record for points scored in a single season is 454, set in 2012 by the Chuckie Keeton-led team. Right now, USU is on pace to break that record against Hawaii, the Aggies’ ninth game on a 12-game regular season schedule. The 12 game pace Utah State is currently on is at 602 points. Include a bowl game and it climbs to 653 which would rank first in 2017. Going further to include a potential Mountain West championship game and USU would be closing in on the NCAA season points record (723) by scoring 703 points.

Utah State won’t hold the 50.2 points per game average through 13 or 14 games. Games against Boise State, whoever they’d face in the MW championship game (assuming they actually made it there) and a bowl game will not be great opportunities to score 50 points.

Still, the Aggies could easily still set a school record for points. Their next six opponents have given up an average of 32.7 points per game. The best defense USU will play for the next month and a half is Wyoming, who has allowed 25.5 per game (but has also given up 30-plus points three times and 40-plus twice in six games). If Utah State held that 32.7 average through the next six, the team would have 447 points — seven short of the record — with Boise State and a bowl game to add to that total.