It Takes Four quarters to win
What a difference a year makes. After finishing last season near the bottom of most NCAA defensive ratings, the Aggies came out with something to prove against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. For two quarters, the defensive squad that returned all 11 starters from last year did just that.
In the opening two quarters of play, the defense clearly put the past behind them and made a statement that they are much improved. In the opening half, UNLV amassed a whopping 49 yards on offense and the Aggie defense looked like they could not be beat.
Of those 49 yards, only two came from the arm of Rebel play caller Travis Dixon. UNLV’s only score came on a 48 yard field goal after an Aaron Lesue fumble. The Rebels were 0-6 on third down conversions and were seemingly confused by Utah State’s defensive schemes. Utah State was able to record two sacks and clearly had the Rebel offense reeling.
Unfortunately in football there are four quarters.
UNLV came out in the second half and showed by their offensive play a sudden look of confidence and poise that was non-existent in the first half.
USU Head Coach Brent Guy said, “We were doing some stuff (in the first half) that was hurting their passing game on the outside and with some of our front stuff. I think they did a good job of checking it and letting (Dixon) run the ball inside.”
It may have been the water at halftime, or perhaps adjustments from the coaching staff, but the freshman signal caller came out ready to play. When Guy talks about Dixon checking and changing plays, he couldn’t be any more on. Watching the game from the sideline you could see a look in his eyes that he was in complete control and showed excellent field vision. If he wasn’t running for a first down he was checking at the offensive line and hitting open receivers for big plays.
UNLV Head Coach Mike Sanford, who you will recall, comes from the Urban Meyer coaching tree, attributes Dixon’s change of play due to his competitiveness and offense adjustments.
“I think he’s a competitor,” Sanford said. “He wanted to win you know, and along the way we did some things and made some adjustments.”
Aggie linebacker Jake Hutton, who recorded eight tackles and one sack, feels that the defense just made mistakes and got out executed.
“I don’t know if it was so much of them changing, they executed a little better and we just made mistakes,” he said.
In the second half, the Aggie defense gave up 265 yards total offense, including 139 yards through the air and 126 on the ground. Although for the game the Rebels only converted on 3 of 14 third down conversions, it was the big plays that changed the game.
“We did great on third downs defensively, but we gave up some big plays in critical situations and that’s when UNLV got the majority of its yards,” Guy said.
The main play that comes to mind was when there were less than three minutes left in the game and UNLV had the ball on the Aggie 36-yard line. With third and five the Aggies needed a stop to force UNLV to kick a long field goal or try for it on fourth down. Dixon completed a six-yard pass to Ryan Wolfe and essentially ended the game for the Aggies.
“Obviously it’s disappointing; we need to come up with big plays like that,” Hutton said.
Although the defense struggled at times in the second half and did give up some big plays, some Aggie fans should take solace in the fact that it was an improvement from last year. Unfortunately, the road ahead does not get any easier and Guy needs to use this game as a learning tool and the players need to take the positive and use it as motivation for the rest of the year.