Aggies Making Headway
Utah State is off to its typical start (1-2), with losses to Oklahoma and Fresno State and a win over humble Idaho State.
So is anything really different?
Last year USU was also 1-2 after three games – it’s only win was vs. SUU – and it ended up just 4-8. Brent Guy’s 2005 team was 1-2 after three games and ended up 3-8.
Has has anything really changed?
USU COACH GARY ANDERSEN
I say it is has, or at at least is starting to change. Although USU ended up losing 41-24, Saturday to FSU, it didn’t look the same as the old Aggies. Bulldog coach Pat Hill said, “Well, they are improved. In the first half…they did a really good job of up tempo and I just don’t think we were quite ready for that.”
He continued, “This is as big a game as probably has been played in Logan in a long time and I think their team is a lot better. And I think they’re gonna be hard for anybody to play; they cause a lot of match-up problems.”
Here’s why I think things are changing, ever so slowly: attitude. I didn’t see anyone on USU who seemed intimidated by FSU’s talent. I didn’t see anyone giving up, either. After the game, I asked quarterback Diondre Borrel if it felt any different, seeing how it could have been the Aggies’ last game against Fresno State.
“What do you mean by that?” he said.
He went on to say, in essence, that the Aggies were worried about playing in their own conference and winning their own conference games, this year, not what FSU was doing next year.
All things considered, he seemed a little chippy about being asked such a question. Which showed me the Aggies are making progress. Under Brent Guy and Mick Dennehy, players were so beaten down, they didn’t bother to get chippy. They were resigned.
That could happen to this team, too, if this season goes south. But for now, I think it’s a different feel. One of Gary Andersen’s signature traits is getting his team to not be intimidated by bigger programs. That is showing this year. USU lost by seven to Oklahoma, and without the throwaway TD in the final moments against FSU, the Aggies would have lost by just 10.
With SDSU and BYU coming up, it will be a good way to assess how tough the Aggies are. If they’re blowout losses, then I’ll have to assume nothing has really changed at all.