This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Logan • Gary Andersen didn't come out and say it. There won't be any press releases or proclamations in the two weeks before Utah State opens its season against Southern Utah.
But, the quarterback competition between Chuckie Keeton and Adam Kennedy may be reaching its conclusion.
If one can take anything out of Wednesday night's scrimmage at Romney Stadium, roughly 100 snaps, it's that the starting job is Keeton's to lose at this point. Andersen confirmed that, when asked if he saw separation between the two.
"After two scrimmages, I don't know how you can't say that there is separation," Andersen said. "Chuckie played well in the first scrimmage, and he played pretty well again tonight. He threw the ball well, and he made plays with his feet, which we know he can do."
Keeton went 9 for 18 for 120 yards and was the quarterback for three of the four offensive touchdowns. He also broke off a 29-yard run on a bootleg, the longest of the day. On Saturday, Keeton went 11 for 17 and threw a pair of touchdown passes, while Kennedy struggled.
Andersen did give Kennedy some slack for having spent most of his time with the second-team offense, which was forced to play against the first-team defense. At the same time, he said that the opportunity was there for Kennedy to make plays and he didn't.
"We wanted to come out and run plays and play fast," Keeton said. "It was a good scrimmage. We executed better than we did on Saturday, and I thought we were able to get in and out of the right plays when we needed to. I'm happy with what we did tonight, but we have to keep working hard."
Cam Webb, a former Mountain Crest star, was perhaps the story for the offense, with eight catches for 101 yards, before he took a nasty hit from Zach Vigil and missed the remainder of the scrimmage. Defensively, safety Brian Suite had two sacks, while Kyler Fackrell and Connor Williams each had one.
Special teams proved to be a struggle, with two fumbled punts and poor field goal kicking.
"I thought things were improved, but not where they need to be by any stretch," Andersen said. "I thought we played hard, but we have to keep improving. We have a long way to go before we get where we want to be."
Twitter: @tonyaggieville