Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Utah State and Colorado State meet Saturday evening in a clash of Mountain Division leaders that will go a long way toward settling the overall finish of the Mountain West Conference.
While the Rams can count on home-field advantage, the Aggies are more than capable of overcoming it to pull out the win in their first Mountain West road game.
It won’t be easy, but here are five things Utah State can do to keep its Rocky Mountain neighbor in check.
Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson is good at protecting the football, with only five interceptions spread out among 16 touchdowns. But if the Aggies’ top 15 pass rush — not to mention a secondary with 11 interceptions on the season — can get pressure on Grayson and his offensive line, Utah State could find itself ahead in the turnover battle — and on the scoreboard.
When Zach and Nick Vigil are playing sideline-to-sideline and making plays out of the linebacker corps, the Aggies are a better team. Each turnover builds toward another one, added senior safety Frankie Sutera during this week’s media availability. The Aggies have recovered eight fumbles on the season, and should hope to add to that number Saturday.
The Aggies have made good use of a variety of ways to put points on college football scoreboards, including touchdown passes from wide receivers and touchdown runs from linebackers. In last week’s win over Air Force, Utah State also flashed a potentially emerging weapon: kicker Nick Diaz. The senior place-kicker went 2-for-2 on field goals and improved to 74.4 percent all-time. CSU kicker Jared Roberts, meanwhile, has missed on three of his last seven attempts, including a 33-yard chip less than a year after kicking the game-winner in the New Mexico Bowl. Teams should take touchdowns whenever they can get them, obviously; but Utah State shouldn’t be afraid to get at least three points out of every offensive possession.
Hunter Sharp has been on fire with four-straight 100-yard receiving games, but Colorado State answers with Rashard Higgins, who is coming off a career-high 194 receiving yards a week ago. There should be plenty of space for both wide receivers to exploit Saturday night, and Sharp will need to take advantage of it.
Alabama transfer Dee Hart has been a success at running back for Colorado State, giving the Rams a solid one-two punch with Grayson. But Utah State’s run defense is different from anything CSU has seen to this point in the season, and it will be counted on to shut down Hart’s prolific rush capabilities.
