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Utah State football coach Matt Wells laid it on the line during his press conference Monday, saying he isn't really interested in critiquing any win in November. As long as the team wins, Wells isn't too concerned what happens statistically.

"You just have to find a way to win, that is all that matters," he said.

So far, the Aggies are doing a heck of a job of doing that, with USU coming off what it identified as its toughest stretch thanks to the back-to-back road games at Hawaii and Wyoming.

"To see what our guys did in back-to-back weeks, it is commendable and admirable," Wells said. "They inspire me to coach them."

The challenges for the Aggies this week should be a little easier with New Mexico (3-6, 1-4) coming to town. However, the Lobos nearly pulled off an upset Saturday, losing to Boise State 60-49.

Such a huge score prompted USU kicker Nick Diaz to talk about that game with envy, noting kickers normally get only about 15 seconds of game time.

"That had to be worth about a minute," he said.

Kicking humor aside, the Lobos got the Aggies' attention by putting up 627 yards of offense against the Broncos.

USU is determined to do a much better job Saturday. The Aggies will be without linebacker LT Filiaga, who suffered an Achilles' tendon injury against Wyoming that will sideline him for the remainder of the season, but nose guard Travis Seefeldt said another injury won't affect the defense.

"Everyone just needs to keep doing their jobs," he said.

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Both Nick Vigil and Torrey Green are listed as day-to-day. Vigil was held out of the second half against Wyoming for precautionary reasons.

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Wells spoke at length about the lack of third-down production. The Aggies are just 43 of 144 (29.9 percent) on the season. He noted many of Saturday's issues, when the Aggies were 2 of 10, were related to penalties that put the Aggies in some bad situations, but he also admitted the Aggies were awful in short-yardage situations, too.

"It's been a problem all year," he said.

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Wells continues to be impressed with the way freshman Kent Myers is playing. If there are any plays that Myers even shows a hint of being uncomfortable with, Wells scratches it from the game plan.

He also said there are plenty of "C-n-Rs" — call it and run it — plays in the game plan so Myers doesn't have to think too much.

"That is something I learned under Steve Kragthorpe," he said. "You can't have enough of those for a kid."

— Lya Wodraska