Utah State football hosts Texas State
Even though the Utah State football team is a heavy favorite in Saturday’s matchup against the Texas State Bobcats, USU head coach Gary Andersen isn’t taking anything lightly.
“This will be a big challenge for us,” Andersen said. “It’s a good football team we are playing. Texas State is very good in option football.”
The Bobcats are led by senior quarterback Shaun Rutherford. The 6-foot, 185-pounder has 288 rushing yards and three touchdowns to go along with his 1,149 yards and nine touchdowns through the air with four interceptions.
Utah State freshman linebacker Kyler Fackrell said playing against UTSA’s option attack will prepare the Aggies well for Texas State.
“I like playing option teams,” Fackrell said. “It kind of simplifies things. It’s more complicated in that you just have to know your assignment, but it simplifies. It’s easier I think to play against an option team because they are more one dimensional.”
Fackrell and the rest of the defense will be up against Bobcat wide receiver Andy Erickson. The junior from Austin, Texas, has three touchdown catches and 385 yards receiving.
It still may not be enough to score on one of the top defenses in the country.
Utah State ranks fifth in the country with 3.56 sacks per game, sixth in scoring defense, allowing 14.2 points per game and 11th in rushing defense, allowing 96 yards per game.
The Aggies have allowed opposing teams to score only twice in the first quarter this season, holding both San Jose State and UTSA to field goals.
Fackrell said he hopes Utah State will keep the Bobcats out of scoring range altogether.
“Hopefully we can keep them out of the red zone,” Fackrell said. “We’ve shown the ability this year to bend but don’t break on defense. We sometimes allow teams to kind of march down the field on us, but then we bow up in the redzone. Hopefully if they do get into the redzone, we’ll be able to bow up and keep them to at least a field goal.”
Andersen said the UTSA offense will present challenges for the Aggies.
“It will be a big, big challenge for us defensively to make the plays, get on and off the field and take care of business,” he said.
Offensively, Utah State is led by sophomore Chuckie Keeton who has 2,355 passing yards and 19 touchdown tosses from under center. The scrambling quarterback from Cypress Creek, Texas, also has 358 yards rushing and three scores.
Keeton and senior running back Kerwynn Williams make up the majority of the Aggie offense. Williams leads the team in receptions, carries and has the second-most total touchdowns at 12.
The duo has helped the Aggies to a 7-2 record and a currently undefeated Western Athletic Conference season.
USU wide receiver Cameron Webb said the team’s confidence level is high and all the players are excited about the season.
“It hasn’t happened here at Utah State for a while,” Webb said. “I just feel like we’re in a good sync as a team. We are still hungry of course and we want to finish out strong, we still have three games left, conference games. It’s our goal to go 6-0 in the WAC and win a WAC Championship and we’re going to keep working hard week in and week out to get that goal.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @StuckiAggies