Aggies accept invitation to Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
For the Utah State football team, this season has been one for the record books. -curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu
Saturday, the Aggies added to the pages with another handful of firsts and several other milestones to boot.
“Being a champion is a great thing for these kids,” said USU head coach Gary Andersen. “To have it outright, that’s a big time, big deal. I’m so thankful and grateful to be here and to be part of this university, for the opportunity that Mr. Barnes and President Albrecht gave me four and a half years ago and to be surrounded by these kids.”
With a 45-9 drubbing of Idaho at Romney Stadium, the Aggies clinched their first ever WAC title and the school’s first outright league title since 1936. Additionally, it was USU’s first-ever undefeated season in the WAC and the first time the squad has gone undefeated at home since 1982.
And perhaps most significantly, the Aggies hit the 10-win plateau for the first time in school history.
“We started this week with the term ‘never,'” Andersen said. “There were so many things that they could do that had never been accomplished at Utah State and they won today. It was a great opportunity for me to part of these kid’s lives.”
This season’s seniors are 16-7 at home under Andersen, who is fifth all-time at USU in wins with a 29-23 record overall in his four seasons at the helm.
But for Andersen, it’s all about the players.
“These kids have come so far,” head coach Gary Andersen said. “They put high expectations on themselves at the beginning of the year, starting Jan. 7. I’ll never forget the day when they broke out of this room right here saying ‘WAC champs.’ They’ve said it hundreds and hundreds of times since then and now it’s true.”
Despite first half struggles, the Aggies got the job done against the Vandals to send the seniors out on top. Senior running back Kerwynn Williams recorded his third straight 100-yard rushing game and finished with 150 total yards.
Fellow seniors Bojay Filimoeatu and Will Davis had two of the Aggies’ three interceptions, and Davis took his fifth interception in as many games 59 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead to help a struggling offense.
Despite setting up the first three scores of the game, Davis said the defense played better later on.
“I felt like in the second half that we played a lot better,” Davis said. “Turnovers were huge. We haven’t had that many turnovers in a game: It is always our goal to get three turnovers a game and this was the first time this year that we got it. Our defense definitely stepped up the second half. We finished it off right even though we gave up nine. You always want that to be zero but we did what we did and won the game.”
Sophomore Chuckie Keeton finished 17-of-25 for 133 yards and two interceptions, but defense was up for the challenge and forced four turnovers and recorded three sacks in the win.
The end result was another lopsided win, a No. 20 ranking in the AP poll, the team’s first-ever appearance in the BCS standings at No. 24 and an official acceptance to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on December 15th.
“I’ve been talking about it, I was almost positive we were going to go back there, mostly because of the fan base,” said senior wide receiver Matt Austin. “That’s one of the biggest things. If there’s one thing that I love, it’s our fan base. I feel like it’s a good opportunity for us to go back to Boise. It’s going to be even better. It’s going to be great, I’m excited, and we just need to win. That’s our goal. It’s a great bowl, we just didn’t come out on top last year.”
The Aggies will wait to see who they will face in the Potato Bowl, most likely Kent State, Northern Illinois, Toledo or Ball State out of the Mid-American Conference. But after the amount of success this season, for Andersen and the Aggies, nothing short of a bowl victory will satisfy.
Twitter: @CurtisLundstrom