Football team goes to Hawai’i
Having lost four straight games, the Utah State Aggies will take the “mother of all road trips” this weekend to play against the University of Hawai’i, Utah State Head Coach Brent Guy said.
The Aggies ensured they wouldn’t finish with a winning record after their loss to Louisiana Tech last Saturday. Hawai’i, on the other hand, has an uphill road to climb back to .500 with the Aggies, Wisconsin and San Diego State left on the schedule.
After going to a bowl game the last couple of years, the Warriors have had their troubles this year, but they still have a potent offense and have played both Boise State and Fresno State close.
“The biggest thing for them has been, as the quarterback goes and the big plays go, they score,” Guy said. “Defensively, they are giving up some yards rushing the football, but they have a lot of different looks and a lot of different schemes that they give you.”
Jerry Glanville, former Atlanta Falcons head coach, is the Warriors’ new defensive coordinator this year. The multitude of looks Hawai’i has shown hasn’t helped stop the run as opponents average 190 yards per game rushing. Part of that may be the desire to slow down the game and keep the ball away from the Warriors’ offense.
First-year starting quarterback Colt Brennan completes nearly 70 percent of his passes and has thrown for more than 3,000 yards already this year. Guy said their offense is based on the big plays they can get, so controlling the big plays will be important.
Against Louisiana Tech, the Ags had eight explosive plays of 20 yards or more while the Bulldogs had one. But the Ags did turn the ball over four times, so the disparity of big plays didn’t pan out for Utah State. It is a good sign heading into this weekend’s game, though.
“We have got to execute and control the football game,” Guy said. “We cannot let them have the big plays.”
The rushing attack has come on as of late for the Aggies since they’ve rushed for 205 and 106 yards in the last two games. Guy said he would have run more, but the Ags were behind by more than one score for a lot of the second half last Saturday. With the running game working and the Warriors’ second-worst rush defense in the conference, Utah State could be able to control the tempo and clock against Hawai’i.
The trip will be new for many players on the team as Guy said only about 10 players on the team had been to Hawai’i before and some of those are from the islands. The team’s focus will be important as it has been on the road all year.
The Aggies left for Hawai’i Thursday morning and will be spending part of Veteran’s Day at Pearl Harbor. Saturday’s game will be at 9 p.m. Mountain Time, so the players will have a couple days to get used to the few hours difference in time of day.
-krn@cc.usu.edu