Ags look to burn Tigers
Saturday, Sept. 3, at 10 a.m., Utah State will take the field in their first meeting ever with the defending national champion Auburn, in Alabama. The Tigers were ranked No. 19 in the preseason AP poll and No. 23 in the USA Today “Coaches’ Poll.”
“(Auburn) will be really good,” USU football head coach Gary Andersen said. “They could pick up the phone last year and have pretty much anyone in the country come and visit their program so I’m sure that they’re going to have quality athletes.”
Those quality athletes Auburn recruited will come in handy. This year the Tigers lost all but five starters from the team who won the national championship a year ago, including Heisman trophy winner quarterback Cam Newton and defensive end Nick Fairley.
“There are a lot of positions out there,” Auburn football head coach Gene Chizik said. “We’re anxious to see how they prepare and how they play in front of 90,000.”
It will be interesting to see how Utah State plays in front of so many people, too. Romney Stadium seats a mere 25,513 — approximately a third of Jardan-Hare Stadium.
“The environment that we are walking into is going to be, probably, from what I understand, one of the best in the country,” Andersen said.
Unlike the Tigers, USU has much of the team intact from the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Running back Robert Turbin led the team in rushing two seasons ago, and is back from an injury which kept him out of action last year. Creating room for Turbin to be such a force will be a veteran offensive line led by sophomore center Tyler Larson and seniors Funaki Assisi and Philip Gapelu at guard.
Chizik said the experience USU has across the board will cause problems for Auburn’s young team.
“Offensively, they have a lot of returning starters,” Chizik said. “It’s going to be a challenge for our defense. Everything starts with the offensive line, as we know. They have some veteran guys up front, which will be challenging for our young defensive line.”
Aggie quarterback Chuckie Keeton said he is confident in the offensive weapons Utah State has in receiver Matt Austin, Turbin and others.
“I have faith in who we have around us,” Keeton said. “Not just in the skill positions but our offensive line as well.”
Lining up at defensive back positions to stop the Aggie corps of receivers will be sophomores Chris Davis and Demetruce McNeal, junior T’Sharvan Bell and senior Neiko Thorpe.
Aggie wide receiver Chuck Jacobs said he hasn’t noticed any of those four on film.
“We’re all human,” Jacobs said. “It’s really just going out there and doing my assignment and executing.”
Offensively, the Tigers will be playing a few running backs in juniors Philip Lutzenkirchen and Onterio McCalebb, as well as sophomore Michael Dyer, who was named the Offensive MVP of BCS National Championship Game last year, after rushing for 143 yards.
Andersen said he expects Dyer to be a big part of the Auburn offense.
“Michael is very elusive with power,” Andersen said. “He has great speed; he has tremendous ability to get to the edge of the defense and hurt you.”
Linbackers Bobby Wagner and Kyle Gallagher will handle things from the defensive side of the ball, causing problems for Auburn’s young quarterback Barrett Trotter. Perhaps most vital to the success of the South Eastern Conference power will be how well Trotter performs in his first start for the Tigers.
Chizik said he is excited for Trotter to make his first start. “He doesn’t need to try to be Cam Newton,” Chizik said. “Really and truly, that’s about the length of the discussion. I think he understands that.”
Also causing problems for Trotter and the Auburn line will be a potent defense fronted by junior college transfer Al Lapuaho, at the nose tackle position.
“We have linebackers blitzing,” Lapuaho said. “We have cornerbacks and safeties blitzing, the offense won’t know what we’re doing and I think we’re going to do good things from the front.”
The past two money games for Utah State were at Oklahoma in 2010, and at Texas A&M in 2009. Both meetings ended as close games — USU losing to the Sooners, 31-24, and the Aggies of A&M, 38-30. Kennedy said the players who remember those games know what it is like to play in such a hostile environment.
“I think people should expect a team that’s going to come out with confidence,” Kennedy said. “I don’t think anyone around here is too scared. After playing last year, obviously I wasn’t here, but the guys playing at Oklahoma and listening to them talk about it, that was a huge, huge deal for these guys.”
Competing is one thing, but what will the outcome be? Will Utah State get over the hump and actually pull out a victory from a game against one of these power
house teams?
“I truly expect to win,” Keeton said.
— tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu