Football: Bouncing back
Around this time last year, within a week of the exact date, the Colorado State football team celebrated its third and final win of the season in Logan.
On Saturday, the Aggies will have a chance to avenge the 35-34 double-overtime homecoming loss, a thorn in the memory of some Utah State players and coaches.
This time, the Rams will have a different look with a new coaching staff.
Colorado State offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin spent the previous three seasons running the offense at Utah State. Now apart of head coach Jim McElwain’s inaugural Ram staff, Baldwin has guided CSU to a 1-2 record with the lone win coming over in-state rival Colorado, 22-17.
Senior wide receiver Matt Austin said there are a lot of hard feelings for this game from last season’s gutting loss, but thinks Baldwin is a great coach.
“Most of the guys are here that he recruited to come here,” Austin said. “We’ve just got to go out there and show him why he didn’t throw the ball last year as much, wide receiver wise. We’ve just got to go out there and show him and prove him wrong at Utah State.”
Utah State head coach Gary Andersen said a strong familiarity with his old assistant will not likely result in an advantage for either side.
“I’d say it’s a wash,” Andersen said. “The scariest thing for me walking into this game is trying to figure out which way they’re going to go. Dave will change to get his best personnel in the game. I don’t think it’s an advantage either way. We’re going to do what we do and go out and play football.”
The Ram offense has been fairly pass-heavy this season. The only rushing touchdown of the season was taken in by quarterback Garrett Grayson, who leads the team in scoring. The sophomore from Vancouver, Wash., has tossed touchdown passes to five different receivers, none of whom have scored more than once.
“It’s definitely going to be a different matchup on the back end,” said Aggie safety McKade Brady. “It’s around 70 percent of the time they throw the ball. So on the back end especially, we’re going to have to be assignment sound.”
The CSU air attack is a stark contrast to the Utah State defensive style, plugging gaps with the safeties to hold opponents to an average of 50 fewer yards rushing than passing.
McElwain said the Aggie defense has done well and will make a nice addition to the Mountain West Conference next season.
“It is eye-popping what they did up front to a very big and powerful offensive line, both obviously at Utah and at Wisconsin,” McElwain said. “That’s a credit to what they’re doing. You stop the run and make a team one-dimensional and they’ve done a great job of that.”
Defensively, Colorado State is led by sophomore linebacker Aaron Davis. Davis has 26 tackles this season and played in 11 games as a freshman during 2011.
“They are very sound, they are very well coached,” Andersen said. “They’re in the right places and don’t give up a lot of big plays. It’ll be a big challenge going on the road and looking to get that road victory.”
Aggie sophomore quarterback Chuckie Keeton will shoulder much of that challenge. Keeton has completed 68 percent of his 91 passes for 701 yards and six touch
downs. He has thrown one interception all year.
Keeton is also the team’s second-leading rusher behind senior running back Kerwynn Williams, who has 201 yards and a touchdown this season.
McElwain said Keeton is very talented.
“The thing you don’t want to do is let him break contain and make those big runs,” McElwain said. “It’s hard to turn your back to him on defense and put him under technique with the two-deep, two-man kind of stuff, because he’s one to run then.”
Andersen said Keeton is more comfortable and poised than he appeared in his true-freshman season a year ago.
“The more opportunity knocks, the more he’s taken opportunity and doing good things with it most of the time,” Andersen said. “He doesn’t feel like he has to make an 80-yard play every single snap.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colo.
“We owe them one from last year because they stole one from us here,” Brady said. “We really want to get them this year.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @stuckiaggies