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LOGAN — The light rain didn't stop the fans from coming out nor the Aggies from scoring the ball Saturday in a 70-6 win over the Weber State Wildcats. The Aggies were greeted for their homecoming with a sell-out crowd, and they put on a show for the fans with a dominating performance over the Wildcats in all areas of the game.
Grading this game will seem a bit redundant, so it will be a slightly summarized and shortened version of the usual game day grades.
Offense: A
Not much can be said about the offense Saturday, other than it couldn't be stopped. In the first half, Chuckie Keeton and the offense scored on every possession, moving the ball without problem. It was expected against a Weber State team that had given up 70 points a week earlier to the Utes, but the Aggies did their job Saturday by building up a big first-half lead so that the backups could get reps in the second half.
The backups came in and scored three touchdowns in the first six minutes of the second half. From there, cruise control was put on and the Aggies put the ball on the ground to eat up the clock. The second- and third-string guys were able to get their feet wet and looked good in doing so, getting some good experience as the Aggies continue to build up some depth that will likely come in handy later in the season.
Keeton had a field day against the Wildcats, completing 19-of-25 passes for 249 yards and five touchdowns. After giving the Aggies a 49-0 lead going into halftime, Keeton would get the second half off. Craig Harrison came in and completed his only four passes for 71 yards and a touchdown.
The running backs looked good, with Joey Demartino leading the way and breaking out in a big way for 105 yards and three touchdowns, both career highs. Joe Hill was solid, compiling 63 yards on 12 carries, but still hasn't shown as much explosiveness as Aggie fans had hoped to see coming into this season. Robert Marshall chipped in with 57 yards and a touchdown, while Kelvin Lee ran for 26 yards and Kennedy Williams, brother of Kerwynn Williams, got his first carries of the season and ran for 13 yards.
The wide receivers were explosive, compiling 320 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Travis Reynolds, Keegan Andersen and Ronald Butler had one touchdown each, while D.J. Tialavea scored twice. Linebacker turned tight end in the red zone Kyler Fackrell caught his first pass of his career for a 4-yard touchdown. It will be interesting to see how effective he continues to be on those jump balls in the end zone. He will surely be the tallest guy on the field when he's out there.
The only mistake was late in the fourth quarter when a bad snap and fumble led to Weber's first points of the game. Otherwise it was a spotless performance.
Defense: A
The Aggie defense was suffocating Saturday night. It didn't give up a first down until there were about three minutes left in the first half, and held the Wildcats to only 30 total yards in the entire half.
In the second half, the second- and third-string defense got some good runs and continued to stifle the Wildcat offense. It was essentially a shutout as the Aggies didn't give up any points while on defense. It was certainly a dominating performance by the defense Saturday night.
Special teams: A-
The special teams play was solid on Saturday, converting every extra point and showing very good coverage on the kickoffs. The only area that seemed to take a step back was Jake Thompson not kicking the ball quite as deep as he had been, with only a couple of touchbacks on the day. Otherwise it was a fine performance with no mistakes.
Overall: A
It was a great performance by the Aggies, but this game served more as a tune-up game for the difficult stretch of games starting next week. The first-team guys got to rest in the second half, and the backups got some much-needed game experience, which is the biggest positive takeaway from Saturday's win.
Next week will be a much bigger test for the Aggies as they travel to sunny Los Angeles to take on USC.
Bonus grade — Romney Stadium crowd: A
Despite the fact that this was homecoming, it was a bit surprising to see a sold-out Romney Stadium for an FCS team. Not only that but most of the 25,513 fans in attendance stayed despite the rain that started coming down in the second half. That hasn't happened the past few years, so hopefully this is a sign of things to come. The next two games will certainly be sell-outs as well, with BYU and Boise State coming into Romney Stadium. David Lieberman is currently a senior at Utah State University and a part-time sports writer. Contact him at: David.Lieberman@aggiemail.usu.edu