For Utah State Aggie fans, that was more like it.

USU simply looked like itself against the Bulldogs on Saturday. They played with much more energy, they made many more shots, played much better defense, and generally just played better than they did against Idaho on Wednesday.

That led to a much easier game for Utah State, which put the game away with a 28-6 run to end the first half.

The Aggies paid much more attention to execution than what they did against the Vandals, and they played like an angry team, a team that had just suffered a bad and damaging loss.

So what does it mean?

It means that Utah State will most likely fall out of the AP poll, where it was 21st in the country. It's tough to imagine the Aggies falling out of the coaches poll from 17th.

It also means that USU goes into its most important week of the season on the right note. You can't place a pricetag on the importance of the Aggies matchup against St. Mary's next Saturday night.

Of course, USU has Montana-Western on Wednesday. But who's really looking at that?

"We've definitely started to think about St. Mary's," senior guard Brian Green said. "But we can't overlook Montana-Western."

This blog will do it for the Aggies. Winning against the Gaels or losing could well be the difference in Utah State's ability to garner an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Tony Jones