Aggies in need of urgency on offense against Hawaii

Will somebody please put an end to the ghastly nightmare that the USU football program is suffering through?

Seriously.

Somebody?

Anybody?

Might I suggest it be the team itself. Well, more specifically, the coaches.

Oddly enough, I’m still behind this team in its rummage around for something seemingly so simple as a victory. That’s because I’ve been behind them from the time I was in diapers. But the difficulty in defending them and the sweat they put into each letdown is getting old-especially with the incredibly conservative play-calling in the fourth quarter against the University of Utah.

It was bewildering to see the Aggies, though down three touchdowns with 6:27 remaining in the game, go with what looked more like a lazy-summer-day offense than one resembling the words “hurry up.” Maybe that’s too harsh. I don’t really know since I’m not a grown man who has dedicated his life to coaching the sport of football. But you can be the judge.

The Aggies’ second-to-last drive began with a four-yard run by Aaron Lesue, followed by a Lesue one-yard gain, followed by a short side pass to Lesue for a one-yard loss. Only on the proceeding do-or-die, fourth-and-six was when a critical nine-yard pass was made, this time to tight end Rob Myers.

Next play? Leon Jackson lost two yards on a scramble. Then Derrvin Speight made that up with a three-yard rush. And, finally, after nearly four minutes had disappeared from the game clock, Jackson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Otis Nelson. The two-point conversion was cashed in to make it only a two-touchdown/two-point conversion deficit.

USU recovered the onside kick and started its final drive from its own 40. Now, remember, at this time only 2:33 was still on the game clock.

The Aggies’ first play? A Speight rush for only one yard. The game clock continued to get shorter. On the second play, the call is for another Speight rush-this time, again, for one yard. In the meantime, the time was still ticking. Jackson took the ball himself on the next play for five yards, after which the Aggies called their final timeout.

USU returned to the field to face a fourth-and-three with 1:53 left. Jackson scurried for four yards to keep the drive alive while game time was slowly getting buried in the snow. Then came the really big play, the one that should have been called long, long ago: a 31-yard pass completion to Aggie moneyman Kevin Robinson, a huge play that put the Aggies 18 yards away from the end zone, but a tad late, wouldn’t you say?

What followed was the unsurprising demise the program has gone through for who knows how long. Jackson’s next pass went for Robinson at the far right corner of the end zone, but it was well defended by the Utes. Jackson then scrambled again for five yards. On the final fourth-and-five, the call was a short pass to Speight that lost four yards and cemented the fifth loss of the season.

The loss after loss after loss after loss doesn’t get any easier. Amazingly, it feels worse and worse, darker and darker each time.

Next week at No. 16 Hawaii, the Aggies should spread the field on offense, throw some long passes to Robinson and others to at least make it exciting. An electrifying loss is better than a boring one.

We’ll see the real mettle of this team Oct. 20 at Romney Stadium vs. the Nevada Wolf Pack. By that time, the Aggies will have been routed by 16th-ranked Hawaii and been through a bye week of rest. So far Utah State has fought to the end of games and seemingly not given up, which is noble. But at 0-6, will the Aggies display some form of give-up-itis?

“It’s starting to get to me a little bit, but I can’t focus on that,” Robinson said Monday. “I’ve got to focus on a new game every time I go out there and just do my best every game. I can’t go around thinking about the last game and how we lost it, or how we lost the game before that. I’ve just got to realize that a new game is a new game and hopefully I can do something better this time so that we can get a win.”

Let’s all hope so. After all, there will still be six games to go-three of them at home.

Sammy Hislop is a junior majoring in public relations. Let him know your thoughts on Aggie football at samuel.hislop@aggiemail.usu.edu