USU Football Preview: Colorado State
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Utah State Football (2-4) looks to spoil homecoming for Colorado State (1-4) at Canvas Stadium on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Aggies will try to “go on a run,” as quarterback Cooper Legas said following their victory over Air Force.
“We had a great week of work and prep for (Air Force) and played our best game,” head coach Blake Anderson said. “We got in the win column and hopefully it’ll be something that can propel us into more wins.”
Just like the Aggies, the Rams will try to capitalize on a breakthrough win last week to stay in the hunt for the Mountain West Championship.
“They’re gonna come in with a lot of confidence,” Anderson said. “They got over the hump, they found a way to win — and so we know we’re gonna get their best shot. We’re gonna get the best they got.”
Right now, Colorado State’s defense is its best weapon. In their win over Nevada last week, their defense scored two touchdowns — a pick-six and a scoop-and-score — in the first quarter and held the Wolf Pack to 14 all game, allowing kicker Michael Boyle to drill a 43-yard field goal to win as time expired.
Watch out for defensive lineman Mohamed Kamara who has 10 tackles-for-loss for a total of 38 yards lost through 10 games. He also leads the team in sacks with 4.5 for 31 yards.
There’s also leading tackler, linebacker Dequan Jackson who has 36 total tackles, two of them tackles-for-loss. He’s joined by linebacker Cam’Ron Carter who has 34 total tackles and has recovered a fumble this season.
Offensively, wide receiver Tory Horton is putting up solid numbers this year. He has 491 yards and five touchdowns on 32 receptions this season.
At quarterback, the Rams will reportedly give Giles Pooler his first career start. The redshirt freshman walked on the team in 2021 after playing most of his high school career at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins. His first start parallels with USU’s starting quarterback Cooper Legas, who got his first career start at BYU, less than five miles away from his alma mater Orem High School, earlier this season.
But according to Anderson, Utah State can’t focus on what the opposition lacks on offense and instead needs to continue its improvement.
“We can’t really focus a lot on them,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to just keep improving and getting better. It gives us a chance to compete.”
That rings true with what some may call lucky wins that the Aggies have recorded over Colorado State in the last few years.
In 2018, a so-called “Fail Mary” ended the game as a Rams wide receiver committed illegal touching before catching a negated Hail Mary that would have won CSU the game.
The backside of the scoreboard at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado. Photo by Heidi Bingham.
In 2021, the Rams marched down the field in the final minutes of the game and made it into field goal range, while trailing by two points. Colorado State chose not to spike the ball with seconds remaining and rushed a special teams substitution and kicked a field goal that missed instead.
The victory in 2018 was USU’s first win at the newly built Canvas Stadium and Utah State will have a chance at their second in as many games tonight. The Aggies have won three straight over Colorado State and will look to make it four starting at 5 p.m. on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM and CBS Sports Network.
Featured image by Heidi Bingham.