Aggie offense putting up points in the WAC

Maybe mention it’s the football offense we’re talking about in the beginning

The Aggie offense is averaging twice as many points in Western Athletic Conference games – 28 – as they did in nonconference games, but the results are still the same.

So that begs the question: What’s the magic point total?

The answer: There isn’t one.

“Lots of people say, ‘How many points do you need to average, or how many points do you need to score?'” offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey said. “My answer is always one more than the other team. And we haven’t done that yet.”

For Dickey, every game is a different situation, with a different magic number on offense. And his players realize that too.

“If (our opponents) score a lot of points, obviously, we’ve got to score a lot of points,” senior wide receiver Kevin Robinson said. “If they don’t score a lot of points, we’ve just got to score enough points to beat them.”

It all seems simple enough, but it’s not??SAID???. And some of that complexity comes from an offense’s three-headed task to control the ball, minimize turnovers, while putting up enough points to win the game.

“Some people, offensively, their whole issue is scoring a lot of points,” Dickey said. “But if they throw five interceptions for touchdowns and they get beat 52-35, I don’t know that the offense has really done their job.”

The Aggies came out this season wanting to establish the running game and control the tempo of the game and the clock, and were doing that, but they weren’t scoring enough points, he said. After a conversation with Head Coach Brent Guy about diversifying the offense, Dickey said they are trying to stay close to the original philosophy but are working on having more “quick strike ability.”

“We’ve tried to kind of advance our guys a little quicker into some more high risk plays,” he said. “They have a chance to be point-producing, but they also have a chance to maybe not eat the clock up if they’re not effective, and maybe not take care of the ball.”

In the Nevada game, the Aggies had a few of these quick strike attempts.

“Obviously, at this stage, we’re not going to be a track-meet offense, but we are going to be a little more balanced,” Dickey said. “I don’t know if anybody noticed, but last week we took five or six shots deep. We didn’t hit any of them, unfortunately, but we’re going to try it again. We’re going to keep trying to stretch the defense and run, I guess the fans would call them, more fun plays with the chance to maybe trick the defense.”

Designing these fun, or gadget, plays is something new for Dickey, who describes himself as “kind of a hard-headed, old-school, more just ram it up the middle and keep doing it until it starts working” offensive coach. Although it’s different for him, he said he’s enjoying designing some of these new elements of the offense – elements he sees as an important part of the rest of the season for Utah State.

“When you’re 0-7, if you just run it up the middle every play, I think everybody gets a little stale and bored,” he said. “So we’re trying some things that produce points, keep the defense off-balance, get the ball in our playmakers’ hands. And the players kind of enjoy those kind of plays.”

One new spice Dickey has added to the offense of late is a formation that features Robinson at quarterback. The Aggies used it effectively last Saturday, running twice out of it for 12 yards and a first down.

Ultimately, the formation is a new way to get the ball into the hands of the nation’s leader in all-purpose yards per game (208.3), Dickey said. But for Robinson, it’s all strangely familiar.

“To me, it’s just like a punt return,” he said. “You just catch the ball and they go out and block for you, and you just pick a hole, whatever hole you feel like running into. Hopefully it’s the right one and you end up getting out of it.”

Robinson has proved more than capable of picking a hole and using his blocks to great effect, but what about his ability to throw the ball from the quarterback position?

“It’s not bad,” he said about his throwing arm. “But I don’t think they’re going to let me throw it, because we had some bad experiences back in the day in practice, so I don’t know if they trust me during the game anymore.

“I’d say anything over 30 yards we’re not going to make it. But anything under 30, I’m pretty good.”

Dickey said he hasn’t seen Robinson throw the ball much, but he doesn’t seem to be against the idea.

“I feel very confident when the ball is in his hands,” he said. “We’ve got five games left, you may see anything.”

Stay tuned.

-da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu