Bring on ‘Bama
It’s been seven years since the Utah State football team won its season opener, and although Saturday’s matchup with Alabama won’t make things easier, the Aggies say they are up for the challenge.
“I love challenges and it’s a big challenge,” said senior cornerback Jerome Dennis. “Alabama’s a big school with great tradition. It’s exciting and I’m anxious to get out there.”
A win Saturday would mark the first win in a season opener since 1997 and would also stop an eight-game losing streak on the road, and a six-game non-conference losing streak.
This will be the first ever meeting between Utah State and Alabama. USU’s record is 4-3 against first ever opponents under head coach Mick Dennehy with wins against Southern Utah, Central Florida, Connecticut and Troy State. The three losses they suffered were against South Florida, Middle Tennessee and University of Louisiana -Monroe.
Utah State has, for the second straight year, selected season captains. Quarterback Travis Cox (No. 4) will represent the offense, linebacker Robert Watts (No. 30) for the defense. Cornerback and kick returner Jerome Dennis (No. 20) will represent the special teams.
They have also selected game captains against Alabama – offensive lineman Elliott Tupea (No. 78), and cornerback Cornelius Lamb (No. 29).
“Looking at where we were at last year, how we finished and how we played, I think we’re one of four or five teams in the Sun Belt Conference that’s capable of winning it,” said Utah State Head coach Mick Dennehy. “That’s our ultimate goal – to win the Sun Belt Conference.”
Still, there are some bright points from last year that Aggie fans have to look forward to against the Tide.
Travis Cox only has to pass for 186 yards in Saturday’s game to eclipse the 3,000 yard mark for his career. He threw for 12 yards as a freshman, 11 yards as a sophomore and 2,791 as a junior.
“As far as stats go, I don’t really worry about that,” Cox said. “But I do expect to be able to run the team and do the right things and not make mistakes.”
Cox also hasn’t thrown an interception in his past 65 pass attempts and only one in the last five games of last season. In those five games he threw for nine touchdowns compared to only one interception.
“Travis was probably a little bit of a surprise last year,” Dennehy said. “The coaches and players had all kinds of confidence in Travis Cox, but the fans didn’t have much of a chance to see him play and there were some questions. I think Travis answered most of those questions with how he performed.”
USU’s captain linebacker Robert Watts ended with double-digit tackles in the last three games of the season. He had 14 tackles against New Mexico State, 17 against Troy State and 15 against Idaho.
“We made some huge strides last year [defensively],” Dennehy said. “If you’re going to be great on defense you have to stop people from running the football and I think it is an area that our kids will take great pride in trying to accomplish this year.”
Defensive lineman Ronald Tupea is scheduled to make his team-best 31st consecutive start as well as his team-best 31st career start.
The Aggies are quite inexperienced at the running back and wide receiver positions but that doesn’t seem to be worrying anyone on the team too much.
“Probably early on there will be some getting used to the transition from high school football to a Division I football team,” Dennehy said. “I think at some point in time this year they are both going to be very good football players.”
Dennehy was referring to Chris Forbes, who will be the No. 1 tail back on the depth chart, and Beau Herbert, who will be his back up and will see a significant number of snaps throughout the season.
“I think camp has gone really well for the offense,” Cox said. “The receivers are probably the biggest surprise; they are playing really well as a core.”
The Ags will kickoff their season against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. at 6:05 p.m. Saturday.
-kcaustin@cc.usu.edu