{"id":22093479,"date":"2018-09-20T17:35:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T23:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usustatesman.com\/?p=22093479"},"modified":"2018-09-20T17:35:50","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T23:35:50","slug":"staff-picks-utah-state-vs-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/staff-picks-utah-state-vs-air-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff Picks – Utah State vs. Air Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaden Johnson – @jadenjohnson00<\/span><\/h3>\n

I thought about re-watching last year\u2019s USU-Air Force game in preparation for Saturday\u2019s matchup, but instead I decided to walk barefoot through a sandbox full of Legos since it was less painful. That game sucked. The Aggies got torched by a third-string quarterback who had a program record 44 carries in his first career start. I do think this year\u2019s USU defense is significantly better than that one, but the Falcon defense is quite a bit better as well. If the Aggies are going to win this game, they need to take advantage of size mismatches by getting the ball to Ron\u2019quavion Tarver and Dax Raymond a ton. I think they will.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah State 34 – Air Force 24<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Daniel Hansen – @thegranddanny<\/span><\/h3>\n

Contradicting the usual standard of a game against Air Force, this game is going to be decided through the air. Both these teams rank in the top 25 in the country in opponent yards per rush attempt. Ground yards will be tough to come by for either team, pushing both teams to rely more on the passing game. That\u2019s where Utah State gains the advantage. The Falcons are completing less than 50 percent of their pass attempts on the season, and got fervently dissected by FAU to the tune of 471 passing yards. USU is coming off a game in which they passed for nearly 300 yards with an 85 percent completion rate, and is allowing only 6.5 yards per pass attempt. Ironically, the Aggies should dominate the Falcons in the air, and it should make for a excellent start to MW play for Utah State.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah State 48, Air Force 23<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thomas Sorenson – @tomcat340<\/span><\/h3>\n

An argument can be made that this is the most important game Utah State has played since the San Diego State game in 2015. The Aggies made that trip to SoCal with sky-high expectations and dreams of an eventual conference championship on the heels of the massacre of No. 21 Boise State the week before. Instead, the Aztecs snuffed out the Aggies in a game that was over before the pizza delivery guy arrived. The season spiraled, then the next season <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> spiraled, then last year the team was still kind of bad except maybe kind of good I think? And now we\u2019re here, and the team is more experienced, and the offense is clicking, and the schedule looks pretty, pretty nice, and the rest of the division has flaws, and holy cow is Jordan Love a top three quarterback in the Mountain West? and does USU have the best receiving corps in the conference? and Saturday\u2019s game is a white out, and the student section will be full, and it\u2019s on ESPN, and Utah\u2019s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is coming to the game, and the lieutenant governor might even make an appearance, and all of a sudden the expectations are back to a level they haven\u2019t been in almost three years. And that <\/span>terrifies<\/b> me. The good news, though, is I think this Utah State team is different. This game is the difference between a good season and an all-time season \u2014 the Aggies aren\u2019t going to let this opportunity slip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah State 45, Air Force 20<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wes Mangum – @Dream_Breather_<\/span><\/h3>\n

Last year\u2019s Air Force game was rough. The Falcons pounded Utah State on the ground, and the Aggies had no answer. The good news is that, as we\u2019re already starting to see, this year\u2019s Aggies are not last years\u2019. Utah State\u2019s stronger, faster, deeper front seven will be able to slow Air Force. There\u2019s enough offensive firepower to give the Aggies an early lead – expect Ron\u2019quavion Tarver and Gerold Bright to score on the first two drives – and the defense will step in and withstand the Triple Option storm. A key thing to keep an eye on Saturday night? The defensive secondary, and if Gaje Ferguson, Shaq Bond and Aaron Wade can make plays coming downhill towards the line of scrimmage. I think they will, and I think it ends with a hard-earned USU victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah State 35, Air Force 23<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kaleb Barclay – @kalebmbarclay <\/span><\/h3>\n

The contest between Utah State and Air Force has always been a tight and fairly even contest and this year will be no different. Though it does not seem like the Falcons have made as big of a leap as the Aggies have this year, I would be surprised if they didn\u2019t come out swinging and swinging hard. I feel like this game will come down to the Aggie\u2019s ability to stop the run. The Falcons run the ball for 3 to 4 yards per down, getting them down the field in a slow yet steady manner. If we can keep them from doing that and force them to throw the ball then we can save the clock and make them play on our terms. With 6,000 in the Hurd and a capacity crowd making the Mav look like it snowed in September it will be a wonderful, hard fought win.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah State 30, Air Force 21<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaden Johnson – @jadenjohnson00 I thought about re-watching last year\u2019s USU-Air Force game in preparation for Saturday\u2019s matchup, but instead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877933,"featured_media":22093336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[223,6967,46],"class_list":["post-22093479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-football","category-sports","tag-air-force","tag-staff-predicitions","tag-utah-state"],"yoast_head":"\nStaff Picks - Utah State vs. Air Force - The Utah Statesman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Staff Picks - Utah State vs. Air Force\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/staff-picks-utah-state-vs-air-force\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staff Picks - 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