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FORT COLLINS, Colo. --
Utah State came into Fort Collins, Colo. to take on Colorado State Saturday in what is sure to be a preview of things to come after the Aggies join the Mountain West next year.
Although the Aggies got the victory, 31-19, there were some notable concerns on Utah State’s offense and, once again, the Aggies' defense struggled down the stretch.
Here is how I graded Utah State’s performance against the Rams:
QUARTERBACK: B-
I was impressed in the first half after USU QB Chuckie Keeton threw a touchdown pass and was having a solid game against Colorado State. In the second half Keeton broke down, threw two interceptions and ended up with 175 passing yards. Keeton made the decision to run the ball a few times but didn’t make much of an impact in the rushing game, picking up 26 yards on 11 carries.
RUNNING BACKS: A+
Kerwynn Williams finally showed up this season, rushing for 218 yards on 22 carries. He averaged 9.9 yards a carry and scored two touchdowns. Williams was finding hole after hole in the defensive line. Look at this performance as a possible turnaround in the season for the senior running back.
RECEIVERS: B+
Matt Austin made the biggest impact on the receiving end of the ball. He caught six passes for a total of 72 yards, including a touchdown catch in the second quarter. Keeton connected with nine different receivers, including aforementioned running back Williams.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B+
I would give the O-Line an “A” considering it only let Keeton get sacked once, but he also took a couple of late hits that were questionable on the offensive line’s side. One of them saw Keeton go to the sideline checking on his wrist as USU had to waste a timeout to tend to the quarterback. Another late hit saw Keeton flat on the field for quite some time before finally getting up. Both of these hits were clean but none of them were called for. The O-line needs to protect its star quarterback if it wants success in its future.
OFFENSE: B+
Most of my applause will go to Williams. The offense did enough to take the victory but Keeton wasn’t the stellar quarterback he usually is. With a couple of interceptions and just one touchdown, Keeton actually, for the first time this season, held back his offense. Colorado State’s running defense had no answer for Williams, however, and USU needed to exploit that.
DEFENSIVE LINE: A
The defensive line didn’t give the quarterback much to play with. CSU quarterback Garrett Grayson didn’t have much time, much room or much fun. He was sacked five times and only completed 55-percent of his passes due to the pressure he was feeling in the pocket. Luckily for him, Grayson didn’t throw any interceptions.
LINEBACKERS: B
CSU’s receivers didn’t have much to work with, or so it seemed. In the first half, the offense was held to only 61 total yards but in the second half (namely the fourth quarter), CSU was able to come back and have 331 yards of offense at the end of the night. It goes back to what has been said in weeks prior; Utah State is a first-half team. The linebackers, although they batted down many passes, still let Grayson throw 224 yards and didn’t get a single interception.
SECONDARY: B
Look above. It was the same issue. The deep ball was contended very well. It might also have to do with Grayson's accuracy. But either way, the yardage started to pile up in the second half and it felt like the defense stopped trying. I’m a believer of playing to the final seconds but USU tonight played to the final seconds of the third quarter.
DEFENSE: B-
When you’re up 31-12 in the fourth quarter with under two minutes to go, you don’t expect your head coach to be yelling at you on the sideline. But USU head coach Gary Anderson was doing just that, probably frustrated with how his team was finishing the game. It seemed like CSU kept charging down the field — and the Rams were. They scored all 19 of their points in the second half, including two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Once again, I understand USU still won, but this would have been a lot more lopsided if USU stayed on task. The Aggies quite possibly might be a 4-0 team if they did so throughout the season.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A-
Yes, I just gave the Aggies an A- for special teams and the minus comes in the fourth quarter when Jake Doughty bulldozed an opposing player to get penalized on a kickoff return. Aside from that, this unit had a decent game, hitting a field goal and returning a kick return for 55 yards.
Alex Rivera is the Assistant Sports Editor of the UVU Review. You can contact him at arivera.2011@hotmail.com or through his Twitter account @A_River_Uh
