Like a magician’s trick gone awry, Utah State’s loss to Boise State on Saturday cleared all the plates off the table for the Aggies football program. USU’s goal of winning the Mountain West Conference Mountain Division shattered like fine crystal. Its hope of reaching the MWC Championship game cracked like porcelain. The only thing salvageable was the Aggies’ bowl eligibility, and even that went a little sideways.
With a Thanksgiving weekend game on the road against a 2-9 New Mexico team coming up, the Aggies will need to figure out how to set the table again.
“Obviously, we had a lot of adversity last week, and we need to bounce back from that,” coach Gary Andersen said. “It’s a character check. How you play for your seniors in the last regular-season game is also a big part of it. There is a close eye on everybody in this program right now — coaches and players alike — to see how we’re going to react to this situation.”
They’ll start with trying to improve their bowl eligibility odds. The Aggies (6-5, 5-2) earned their magical sixth win of the season, which qualifies them for postseason play, when they beat Wyoming on Nov. 16. As Andersen pointed out, however, that doesn’t guarantee a bowl invitation will be sent their way. Losing to a team that is winless in MWC play and is reeling from off-field issues ranging from the suspension of starting quarterback Sheriron Jones for alleged indecent exposure to the sudden death of defensive lineman Nahje Flowers certainly wouldn’t help their case for extending their season.
“Somebody has to look at you and say, ‘I want that team,’” Andersen said. “So, to get to a seventh win is a big part of that.”
UTAH STATE AT NEW MEXICO
When • Saturday, 2 p.m. MT
Live Stream • Facebook Live
The Aggies would also like to polish off a few individual milestones.
Senior running back Gerold Bright, for instance, needs 62 yards to become the 10th player at USU to rush for 2,000 or more career yards. It might be close. Last year he tallied 64 yards in a 61-19 win over the Lobos (2-9 0-7) at Maverik Stadium. He likely also wouldn’t mind moving up the list in touchdowns. Bright is currently 10th all-time with 26, but a couple of scores could boost him into a tie for seventh.
Junior quarterback Jordan Love, meanwhile, will be eager to feed his offense. He needs 337 yards of total offense this weekend to surpass Chuckie Keeton (2011-15, 8,808 yards) for the school record. If at least 87 of those yards of that came through the air, that’d be a sweet bonus, as it would make him just the second quarterback in school history to have a pair of 3,000-yard passing seasons.
On defense was where USU struggled against Boise State. While none of the Aggies are chasing eye-catching statistics against New Mexico, they will be looking to make what could be their final game of the season a little more palatable than the one against the Broncos.
Senior cornerback Cameron Haney said that means the Aggies need to steer away from trying to do something fancy. They’re better off focusing on the meat and potatoes of their defensive scheme.
“I think this whole season has just been about fighting. We always get into those close, tough battles. We’ve beaten a lot of great teams,” he said. “The more things that we focus on as a defense during practice, more of the fundamentals, that will show up on game day — just basic things like running to the ball, maintaining leverage, dumbing the defense down a little bit. Just running more basic concepts, not really trying to do too much. I think that will be good this week.”
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