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SALT LAKE CITY — "They fought like warrior poets. They fought like Scotsmen."
Is it corny? Yes.
Cheesy? Absolutely.
Does the final line of one of my favorite movies of all time — "Braveheart" — absolutely describe Utah State's effort in their heartbreaking loss to Utah?
Defintely. (I mean come on, their fight song is called "The Scotsman," so this works).
There were a lot of things that left Utah State fans scratching their heads, but on the flip side, there were a lot of positives to take away from the 30-26 loss. Let's look at a few.
Positives:
Chuckie Keeton was phenomenal and I'm not even sure that describes his performance adequately enough. Think about the hype he has endured over the offseason being named to every award watch list, including the Heisman, and then coming out against Utah and putting up a performance like that? Keeton had 314 yards, went 31-of-40, had two touchdowns through the air, one on the ground, and 85 yards rushing; it was super human. Did you happen to see his fourth quarter scramble?
Keeton's performance was so good that just by missing one play in the fourth quarter, it changed the dynamic of the game. I have a hard time believing they wouldn't have scored had he been in the game. The Utah defense knew what was coming with Craig Harrison checked into the game. To me, that was a bigger series of events than the onside kick that led to a touchdown.
In the same thread of Chuckie's performance, Utah State's receivers looked great. There are no longer any question marks from that group. On the first play for the offense, Travis Van Leeuwen caught a 24-yard pass and never looked back. He led the way with five catches for 107 yards, all career highs. Travis Reynolds and Bruce Natson made a living going across the middle, and Brandon Swindall came up big catching two touchdowns in the second quarter.
For the defense, they gave up a lot of yards, but they still looked great up front. They kept every Utah running back under four yards per carry and made a huge goal line stand in the fourth quarter. With the ball on the one foot line, they stuffed the Utes three straight times, even without Connor Williams, who left the game in the second quarter and didn't return.
Negatives:
Utah State had a really hard time covering the deep ball Thursday night; Maurice Alexander was struggling in his first start as a safety and Dennis Erickson picked on him. Alexander was great in the run game and finished with 1.5 sacks, but the linebacker converted safety showed some weakness in the passing game. He's got a lot of talent, though, and this problem should fix itself with more experience; however, with as tough as the Aggies' schedule is for the first half of the season, they need this problem to correct itself very quickly.
The Aggies also struggled with penalties — seven penalties for 94 yards — especially in the first half. Back-to-back personal fouls led to a Jake Murphy touchdown. You can't make those kind of mistakes and expect to beat a team like Utah on the road, and for that matter, any of the teams they face in the coming weeks.
