Aggies enter BYU rivalry game needing win

Of all weeks Utah State could have played BYU, it had to be the week following the Aggies’ got taken out to the woodshed by Air Force. Time will only tell if this fact is a good thing as USU will either turn the intensity up to 11 for this week’s rivalry or shrink at the moment, a team with its spirit crushed after failing to live up to expectations through seven games this season.

There will be plenty of challenges ahead of Utah State this Saturday, not all of them will be brought to the table by the Cougars. USU needs to exorcise its demons on the offensive side of the ball, especially in the throwing game. Jordan Love, once a favorite among G5 players in the Heisman conversation, has not thrown for more than 200 yards in a game since September and hasn’t completed 20 passes in a game since Sept. 21.

“The thing this team needs to do better at is offensively, we need to execute,” Andersen said. “As a whole, we need to execute. We need to look at each other and understand there are 10 guys on that football field that need to produce to allow the 11th guy to be successful. In this case, I’m speaking, obviously, about the quarterback, to be successful. It’s not taking place as a whole, and that includes everybody that’s out there and every coach. I’ll do all I can to help them, but offensively, that’s number one. We have to have an offense that gives us an opportunity to win games against good defenses. We’ve found a way to win some of those games in conference, obviously, as we’re 3-1. We’ve done some good things, and we’ve found a way to win those games. But, we need to have more offense.”

Turning to the matchup against BYU, Andersen focussed on something the Aggies haven’t struggled with, for the most part: defense. Last week, Air Force made mincemeat of the Aggies front seven, rushing for 448 yards and four touchdowns. Outside of that game, however, USU has allowed just 136.2 per game, a number that would rank 41st in the nation. Getting back to that is a priority for Utah State.

“Defensively, we need to be stout in the trenches like we have been all season, except last week. We were not last week, and we got out-physicalled on both sides of the line of scrimmage, hands down. That is not where we want to live. There are no excuses. We’ve done a good job in the other games, even early in the LSU game. I don’t think we got pushed around and just dominated in that game up front. So, we have to be prepared to play against a stout, physical offensive line and defensive line, and do a good job up front.

BYU is not Air Force in the run game by a long shot, both stylistically and in terms of prowess. That figures much into USU’s favor on the defensive side. The Cougars’ top R, Ty’Son Williams is out for the season and their athletic scrambling QB, Zach Wilson will miss Saturday’s game. Since beating USC, the team down south has averaged a less-than-stellar 3.7 yards per attempt in a stretch where BYU has gone 1-3. Though they’re not world-beaters on the ground, Andersen said physicality is still BYU’s style which makes it important for the Aggies to match.

“They want to be physical with you. They want to grind it out on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That’s where we have to answer the bell. At the end of the day, we have to be able to answer the bell with our offensive line and be able to continue to grow up at that spot and use our personnel to our advantage on offense to create plays. We have not been able to do that with any type of effectiveness for weeks.”

This far into the season, usually you can figure out everything you need to about an opponent. But right up until the 11th hour Andersen and crew won’t know who the starting quarterback is for BYU. Last week, Baylor Romney, the third-string QB in Provo, started and led the Cougars to victory. The week one backup to starter Zach Wilson, Jaren Hall, is available for Kalani Sitake. Neither can be underestimated though it’s unlikely either will beat USU with their talent.

Getting a win over BYU won’t change the problems that have popped up in the last few games for Utah State. Nor will it change the fact that the Aggies are fourth in their division in the Mountain West. But this being a rivalry game. The players know it and Utah State isn’t ready to give up the Old Wagon Wheel just yet.