Utah State is headed to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl this week.
The fact the Aggies are going bowling at all this year feels like an accomplishment. Head coach Blake Anderson essentially went through a complete rebuild by bringing in 39 new scholarship players and around 30 transfers last offseason. It was a necessity after the transfer portal decimated his roster.
But a late-season surge has USU back in the postseason and preparing for a matchup against Georgia State. It gives Anderson the chance to have a winning season after last year’s 6-7 record that ended with a blowout loss to Memphis in Dallas.
“It’s big,” Anderson said. “You win the last game of the year it just carries over into the offseason. ... It is the first game of next season in a lot of ways.”
Winning in the transfer portal
The transfer portal opened at the beginning of this month and Utah State hasn’t seen the decimation to its roster so far.
Last year, the program wasn’t competitive in the Name, Image and Likeness space and lost starters at nearly every position.
This time, USU has really only lost one impactful player. Devin Dye, a young safety, entered the portal after recording 81 tackles and two interceptions. But that is undoubtedly better than losing an entire defense (like last winter)
“Real pleased with where things have trended here over the last month with ... guys choosing to stay, which I think is huge,” Anderson said. “We have lost one guy off our two-deep [in] our entire roster, which is saying a lot considering what we went through a year ago.”
In the Group of Five, teams have struggled in this cycle to keep their players. Power Five schools with more money are poaching the top of rosters. But USU has weathered the storm to this point.
“Considering we haven’t had half of our two-deep enter the portal —which we’ve seen across the country at a lot of places — we are in a pretty good place,” Anderson said.
One quarterback out, another injured
The injury report heading into the bowl isn’t long.
But quarterback Cooper Legas, the opening-day starter, is still out with a shoulder injury.
“[He] is not ready to throw the ball full speed,” Anderson said. “It wouldn’t take much to set him back a good bit,” if he was hit.
Lineback Anthony Switzer is also out with a broken bone in his hand. It doesn’t require surgery but is, “not really stable enough to play on.”
Tight end Broc Lane had surgery on his ankle. He was going to miss the bowl game anyway with a knee injury. Also, cornerback Avante Dickerson is out after having shoulder surgery.
A change in conference styles
Georgia State is from the Sun Belt, a league known for its speed at the Group of Five level. Anderson is familiar with the conference after spending seven years at Arkansas State.
In many ways, Anderson is looking forward to playing a Sun Belt team and seeing how his team matches up against that style of play.
Typically, USU does not have enough size to match the Boise and Fresno States of the world. However, USU will be the bigger, more physical team, on Saturday.
“We always struggle in our league with just the sheer size and power,” Anderson said. “It is hard to recruit to match that, which we try really hard to do. At times we are quicker and have more speed in space. So in this particular matchup, I think it favors us.
“They look a lot more like us [going up against] Boise, Fresno and some of the other teams in our league.”
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