Deciphering the Aggie Football Team
October 18, 2009 | Posted by AggieNoise The Utah State Aggies lost to the Nevada Wolfpack yesterday by 3 points, 35-32. 3 was also the margin of defeat in our game against NMSU last week. Herein lies the cunundrum: Nevada has a power ranking of 77 and NMSU is ranked 112th according to jhowell.net. How can we play so badly one week and so well the next? Had the Aggie team that showed up yesterday shown up last week against NMSU we would be 1-1 in WAC play with more confidence in our ability to beat other WAC competitors. That realization makes the losses hurt that much more.
Clearly, the Aggies are making improvements. Maybe not quite as clear is what needs to be fixed and who is to blame for the losses? It is important to note that Gary Andersen, as a head coach should, has placed the blame on himself. It’s up to you and I to dig a little deeper.
In Las Cruces there were two enormous contributing factors to the loss. First, the special teams gave up 91 punt return yards in four attempts. This was remedied against Nevada where the Wolfpack gained only 4 yards in 2 tries. Second, against NMSU we were backed up 128 yards on 12 penalties. Versus Nevada we cut that in half by committing only 6 penalties for 60 yards. Correcting these two problems took an Aggie team from being demoralized by NMSU to competitive with Nevada. But I think we should’ve beaten NMSU even with the issues we had.
In comparing the Offensive output from the Nevada game to the New Mexico state game there are some stats that stand out. Utah State gained almost the exact same yardage against Nevada (427) as NMSU (429). But this stat alone is very misleading.
Take, for example, the points USU put on the board in each game. USU only tallied 17 points against NMSU, but almost doubled that score against UNR with 32.
Now take the way USU gained their yards in each game. Against NMSU, USU came with a rushing attack that yielded 258 yards on the ground compared with 171 in the air. This was accomplished with 45 runs and 26 passes. Against UNR, USU ran the ball 34 times for only 74 yards, and passed 42 times for 353 yards. Clearly, the coaching staff approached the two games with a different offensive game plan in mind catered to the opponent we were facing.
Defensively, USU gave up 230 total yards and 10 first downs to NMSU. Contrast that with the 502 total yards and 20 first downs we gave up to Nevada. There is a huge disparity here, yet both games resulted in a 3 point loss. I give Nevada credit here for having a stellar running game that just wore us down by the end of the game.
Instead of boring you with more numbers and statistics, I want to revert back to the topic at hand. Where does the blame fall?
Three areas:
The offensive line, the defensive line, and the quarter back.
On both sides of the ball we are losing the battle in the trenches. Our guys aren’t big enough or strong enough. There’s nothing that can be done about this problem this year. Recruiting and strength training will improve this area over time and I have confidence in our coaches to make sure this is the case.
As for the quarter back issue, I have some explaining to do about my opinion. Currently, I am building my case and will have it ready soon. Until then…
Aggie Noise:
Cache Valley Daily: Wolfpack bite Aggies late, USU loses 35-32
Herald Journal: Heartbreak aplenty: Nevada rally gives Aggies another loss and Ags still can’t finish the job
Salt Lake Tribune: USU defense rolled, eventually, by Pack’s ground game and USU blows chances, loses to Nevada
USU Official Site: Utah State’s Rally Comes Up Short In 35-32 Loss To Nevada Saturday
Deseret News: Utah State football: Aggies let opportunity to win slip away
Categories: Utah State Football | 
Tags: Aggie, Aggies, Diondre Borel, Football, Gary Andersen, NCAA, Nevada, NMSU, USU, Utah State, Utah State Football | 
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