COLUMN: Ags continue to struggle against Utes
The Battle of the Brothers. What a great title for a football game. Too bad it wasn’t much of a battle.
Lately, these so called “battles” have been more like hostile takeovers. I would compare them to the United States calling on Liechtenstein just for fun.
For the past six years, the Aggies have lost to their dominate brother. Even worse, they have only won two games against them in the last 16 years. Our older and bigger brother hasn’t shown us much mercy through the years in growing up together.
Utah State’s overall football record against the Utes is 28-71-4. Throw out the ties, and that is a 28 percent winning average.
Ouch.
Though not favorable in numbers, quite impressive is the length of the rivalry. The two teams have played 103 consecutive football games. That puts the Aggies and Utes 13th on the longest rivalry list in college
football.
Not too shabby.
This year’s match wasn’t a total loss. Though the ending score wasn’t too impressive on USU’s part, there were many
positives.
The offense scored 20 points. That is a respectable amount to win a game – sometimes.
Utah State’s offense actually averaged more yards per play than Utah. Problem is that it didn’t get those needed gains at the right times.
In addition, the numerous penalties didn’t help.
But that wasn’t the biggest problem for the Aggies. Something needs to be done in the defensive area. It is true that the Aggies defense had never seen Utah’s new offense, but there is never an excuse for allowing 40 points in a game.
Unless of course, your offense scores 41 points.
Defense wins games. Anyone who knows anything about football will tell you that. This week’s Nebraska game will be an embarrassment if the defense doesn’t show up to play.
I watched Nebraska beat up on Oklahoma State. Nebraska is a running team. They only had one offensive touchdown, but they were playing a preseason top 25 team.
USU’s defense wasn’t very physical last week. If they play the same, Nebraska will literally run them over.
By the way, Nebraska’s win bumped them up in the rankings. Now, they sit comfortably at No. 23. And next week’s game against Arizona State has also improved a bit. ASU is ranked No. 20.
Maybe basketball will earn us a bit of respect from our brothers in Salt Lake City.
Chris Barney is a freshman majoring in psychology. Comments can be sent to chrisbarn@cc.usu.edu