Oct. 5, 2018 USU vs BYU Football-56

Underappreciated All-Stars: Utah State vs. BYU

Football is often referred to as the ultimate team sport, yet we often only focus on a handful of players as the key to a recent victory, and even among those players we only recognize a handful of plays. In reality, there are countless numbers of players and unseen plays that are absolutely crucial to a team’s success, yet these rarely receive the recognition their play deserves. Every facet of the game has these underappreciated all-stars, and this column seeks to recognize them. After every Aggie game, we’ll take a look back, win or loss, at the unheralded players responsible for Utah State’s success. These are the Underappreciated All-Stars.

OC David Yost’s play design

Let’s give some recognition to offensive coordinator David Yost. The record for points per game in a season in Utah State history was set in 1961 when USU scored 38.7 points per game. Yost’s offense is on pace to shatter that record, with the Aggies currently scoring an astounding 50.2 points per game. Part of that is due to the influx of talent from the recruiting classes of recent years. A large reason is also because of Yost’s designs.


Take a look at Bright’s 2-yard TD reception in the first quarter, for instance. On 4th-and-goal, the coaching staff knows it needs a play with multiple options for Love. According to head coach Matt Wells, Bright is not among the first reads on this play. The idea is for QB Jordan Love to be able to scamper into the end zone on his own, or throw to Aaren Vaughns in the flat, or one of Ron’quavion Tarver or Jalen Greene in the back of the end zone. Bright’s inital purpose on this play is misdirection.

Look at the linebackers at the snap, they’re drifting to their right, following Bright in anticipation of a jet sweep. To their credit, BYU reacts well once the play-action fake is detected, and smothers the options in front of a rolling-out Love. By then, however, Bright’s damage is done. The BYU secondary and linebackers and already frantic trying to regain the steps lost following Bright’s fake, and that chaos allows Bright to run a simple swing route to the left side of the field, where neither Austin Lee or Zayne Anderson (numbers 11 and 23 for BYU, respectively) pick up in coverage.

Love’s lack of hesitancy to make this throw is how you know this very throw was made sometime during practice. As soon as Love sees his rollout options are covered, he plants and turns to throw to Bright. That’s not an ad lib play. That’s knowing his final option on the play. And on fourth down, he knows it’s his best option.

Great play design by Yost. Great offense by Yost.

Darwin Thompson’s performance on the opening drive of the second half

Don’t underestimate the importance of Utah State’s opening drive in the second half. Most of the momentum is with BYU at this point. BYU outgained USU 93-45 in the second quarter, and with the added penalty yards, had moved the ball 151 yards to USU’s 15 since the Aggies went up 21-0. Even with the missed field goal to end the half, the Cougars are threatening to make this a game if the Aggies don’t respond.

The first play of the drive was almost the response, but Love’s touch pass bounced off Jordan Nathan’s fingertips. Oftentimes, that might spell the end of the drive. The next play call perhaps indicated a more conservative approach to the drive after the missed deep shot: a halfback dive up the middle. This drive, however, is where Darwin Thompson flexes on the entire BYU defense. The junior RB took five carries on this drive, and turned them into 54 yards. On this first carry, he bounces the handoff to the edge and plunged through several Cougar defenders for the drive’s first down.


Utah State’s offense largely depends on speed, but it’s tough for that speed to take effect unless the offense starts moving the ball. That initial first down acts as a form of inertia, as an offense in motion tends to stay in motion. The Aggies wouldn’t face a single third down on this drive before Love found Greene to put USU up 28-7.

Thompson dominated for much of the drive, including his 31-yard run that put the Aggies into the redzone.

https://twitter.com/TheGrandDanny/status/1050185978684497921

Thompson racked up 109 yards rushing on the day, his second 100-yard game of the season, and is averaging an ungodly 8.3 yards per carry. Thompson came with exorbitant amounts of hype, and has so far lived up to every inch of it. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before we start pondering Thompson’s place among the great Aggie backs of recent memory.

Carson Terrell’s 40-yard reception in the first quarter

To start, what the hell is BYU doing here on defense? Sure, Tarver may be out for this play, but the deepest Cougar on defense is lining up seven yards from the line of scrimmage, and is skewed so far over to the trips side of the formation so as to be completely removed from any other part of the field. This isn’t a particularly elaborate play from Utah State, just a simply play-action fake and Terrell running a seam route, but there is NO ONE deep to pick up Terrell after he glides past the linebackers.

These are the plays that Terrell will have to make with Dax Raymond out for over a month. There are plenty of other weapons on this offense that Terrell will not (and probably should not) be asked to become the focal point that Raymond is. But he’ll have to take advantage of the opportunities he gets when defenses key in on other areas of the field. Terrell frequently dropped catchable balls during his freshman season, but has shown marked improvement so far this year.

Thankfully, the schedule isn’t horribly tough for USU for the next few weeks, but it will still serve as an opportunity for Terrell to showcase his full repertoire of skills. He certainly has them; it’s only a matter of consistently executing them. Friday night was a successful first step in doing so.

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