Bumpy road leads to fifth straight losing campaign
Sure, the Utah State football team didn’t have much success in the win column this season, but it certainly had one of the most action-packed campaigns in school history.
It would be a safe bet to say before the beginning of the season opener against Utah that none of USU’s fans, coaches or players could have guessed what kind of whirlwind was ahead of them.
With the exception of the Division I-AA Idaho State game, the Aggies were severely hindered by averaging 40.75 rushing yards per game through the first five games before hitting the century mark against BYU.
This isn’t to say USU’s opponents were easy by any stretch of the imagination.
USU (4-7) had the luck of playing the Utes at their peak in the season opener, a frustrating 23-3 loss for the Aggies which featured them totaling nine rushing yards.
That was before the Utes ran into a quarterback controversy and had a season-ending knee injury to star running back Marty Johnson. It would be a sign of things to come for USU.
The Aggies next traveled to traditional powerhouse and then No. 8 Nebraska, losing 44-13 in front of 78,176 fans.
Idaho State came to Logan the following week and for the third straight season gave the Aggies fits, pestering USU until the final minutes, although the Aggies prevailed and notched their first win of the season.
Then came a road game at now No. 5 Iowa — a 48-7 de-pantsing embarrassment for USU.
Another dent in the armor came the Tuesday following the loss as junior tailback Roger Robinson quit the team for personal reasons.
The punches kept coming.
A road trip to Boise State provided for an offensive firework show and a 63-38 Aggie loss.
In the middle of all this, USU Head Coach Mick Dennehy’s brother passed away.
Then what would have very well been the ultimate knockout blow to the chin for a lot of teams came Oct. 4 as the Aggies hosted BYU in what might forever be known as ‘The game nobody wants to remember.’
Nobody could have expected the Aggies to completely overpower the Cougars in the first half and take a 34-7 lead into the locker room.
Perhaps it was a confidence overload because nobody could have expected USU to hit the dirt the way they did in the second half and lose what was a sure thing, 35-34.
Even more amazing than this is how the team kept its heads held high and made the remaining five games worth every penny fans paid at the gate.
At fork in the road, Ags headed north
Not only did the Aggies keep chugging away, they played in four games decided by 10 points and won three of them.
“[The BYU] loss was about as bad a feeling after a game as probably any of us have ever really had or experienced,” Dennehy said. “I do think [we] learned from that.
“Things could have gone one of two ways — they could have gone north or they could have gone south. The kids chose to continue going north. It was a character builder,” he said.
The key was the emergence of the defense and rushing game, which helped the Aggies stray from a one-dimension passing offense that opposing defenses yearn for and swallowed down without a bite.
USU gained 107 yards on the ground in an overtime win over New Mexico, winning by one off a missed Lobo extra point.
The Aggies amassed 81 ground yards as they traveled to Louisiana-Monroe for a 51-48 loss.
Coming off its second bye week, USU racked up 182 rushing yards and forced New Mexico State to punt four times for a 32-30 win.
James Samuel tallied a career high 159 rushing yards and the Aggie defense held Troy State to under 200 yards of total offense, helping USU survive a rainy, muddy field at Troy State for a 19-16 overtime win.
The Aggies had a poor showing in the season finale (a 45-28 loss at Middle Tennessee State) as two offensive linemen were ejected. But quarterback Jose Fuentes became USU’s record holder for passing yards in a season (3,268) and Kevin Curtis grabbed the all-time receptions record (174) on a 79-yard touchdown pass.
Sun Belt championship: More than just showing up
Perhaps the biggest victory the Aggies had was their much-needed acceptance into the Sun Belt Conference starting next season.
USU did take on and fare well against three current SB teams this season in Louisiana-Monroe, NMSU and MTSU.
Certainly it gives the team a jolt of confidence for a respectable chance of coming right in and being successful enough for a berth to the Sun Belt post season — the New Orleans Bowl.
“That’s what we’re looking forward to,” said junior running back James Samuel. “That’s why we can’t wait.”
North Texas was the 2002 league champion, but didn’t overpower the rest of the league to grab the top spot. Their 7-5 overall record was shared with NMSU.
Arkansas State, MTSU, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and Idaho rounded out the rest of the standings, but nobody was separated by more than one game from the team ahead.
This speaks volumes for Dennehy.
“It tells you that you’d better be damn ready to play every single week,” he said. “I think our kids should have a good feeling that we can win it [the SB], but that it’s [going to] take more than just showing up for that to happen.”
–samhis@cc.usu.edu