Keeton, Ags not conservative against Mountain West foe
Utah State ended its streak of heart-breaking losses in a big way Saturday.
The Aggies were finally able to find a balance between a juggernaut of a rushing game and little-used passing game, on their way to a convincing 63-19 victory over Mountain West Conference foe Wyoming on Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium.
Despite falling behind 12-0 early in the first quarter, the Aggies were able to rebound and score on eight straight possessions — the Aggies did not punt until late in the third quarter.
The Aggies were able to get a balanced attack against Wyoming, which was something USU hasn’t been able to do all season. USU rushed for 318 yards, while passing for 230.
Head coach Gary Andersen said his staff felt it was an opportune time to open up the playbook more and give quarterback Chuckie Keeton a chance to use more options.
“Chuckie was very good today,” Andersen said. “We opened up the offense a little bit for him. We felt like it was time and a great opportunity. Dave (Baldwin) and the rest of the offensive staff did a great job of getting him prepared to be able to handle that, and Chuckie played very, very well.”
Keeton had a break-out night as part of USU’s offensive explosion. Keeton was 15 of 20 for 213 yards and had five touchdowns passing. Keeton’s five touchdowns and 213 passing yards all came in the first half. His 213 yards equalled his career high, which occurred against Auburn. His five touchdowns eclipse his former season total. The freshman phenom now has nine passing touchdowns on the season.
“We all know he is a talented young man,” Andersen said. “He’s tough to deal with in certain situations, and I felt like he managed the game. Even though it was more wide open, I felt he managed the game and played at a high level with a great supporting cast.”
Keeton’s first touchdown of the game came on a well-executed screen pass to senior running back Michael Smith from USU’s 47-yard line.
Keeton connected with five different receivers on the night, including tight ends D.J. Tialavea and Tarren Lloyd. His touchdown passes to those tight ends were the first and second touchdown passes caught by tight ends this season for USU.
“It was great to see him deliver and great to see some other young men get involved in the throw game,” Andersen said.
Keeton completed four of his five touchdown passes in the second quarter. He found junior runningback Robert Turbin on a fade route from 19 yards out to put the Aggies up 21-12, and he later connected with senior wide receiver Stanley Morrison from eight yards out to push the lead, 35-19.
“I was very excited,” Keeton said. “All week we worked on it. It just gave us confidence not only in our passing game, but we knew we could run the ball. Our offensive line got more confidence and our receivers got a lot more confident because they knew that they were going to be leaned upon to make some big plays, and it worked out for us.”
Smith rushed for two touchdowns and Turbin rushed for one. Sophomore running back Robert Marshall, who hasn’t seen much playing time this season but saw a lot last season, rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown on nine carries
“Our offense is very complex so, even if you a get a couple of weeks to prepare for it, you never know what you are going to get,” Turbin said. “There’s always something new going in. We stick with a lot of the same stuff, but there’s always something new going in — something different to try and open things up. We did that tonight, and we were able capitalize and score a lot of points.”
Keeton said he was not troubled at all that the coaches had not opened up the playbook for him up until this point.
“I just have to run whatever our coaches want us,” Keeton said. “I know the offense isn’t built around me, it’s built around our offense. We have great running backs and great receivers, and we got to use our receivers a little bit more today; and it worked.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu