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COLORADO — Utah State's move to the Mountain West had been one of the most anticipated sports moments in the school's history. Saturday marked the Aggies' first game as a member of the conference, and they started off with a bang, beating Air Force 52-20 on the road, giving Matt Wells his first win as a head coach.
Nearly everything was working for the Aggies Saturday, and both the offense and defense dominated a perennially solid Air Force program in every facet of the game.
Here is the graded breakdown of the big win.
Offense: A-
The Aggie offense was great once again on Saturday. After scoring 26 points last week, they doubled that effort and dropped 52 points against an Air Force team that had no answers for Chuckie Keeton and company.
The Aggies scored early and often, going up 14-0 just four minutes into the game. Air Force wasn't able to stop Keeton from moving the ball, and the only thing stopping the offense from scoring were the two turnovers they had, a fumble by Jojo Natson and an interception by Keeton in Air Force territory. The Aggies went into the half up 24-13, even though it didn't feel like they played a great half of football.
The second half, the Aggies came out and continued to move the ball at will, this time without the turnovers. They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions of the half and put the game out of reach before the fourth quarter started. After going up 52-13 on a pass from Keeton to junior tight end Keegan Anderson on fourth-and-goal with about 12 minutes left in the game, Matt Wells called off the dogs and put in the second string.
Quarterbacks: A
Chuckie Keeton was once again outstanding on Saturday, following up his big game last week against the Utes with an even better one against the Falcons. He finished the game 32-of-40, throwing for 360 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, while adding 77 yards on the ground. The interception was a poor throw into double coverage, but that was the only negative for Keeton in a game filled with positives.
Running backs: B-
The running game for Utah State wasn't overly effective once again this week, but given how well the Aggies were moving the ball through the air there wasn't much reason to go to the run game very often Saturday. The running backs combined to rush for 142 yards on 37 carries (an average of only 3.84 ypc), but were able to punch the ball into the end zone twice, one each by Joe Hill and Joey Demartino. They also played well in the passing game as Hill caught four balls for 37 yards and a touchdown, while Demartino added two catches for 27 yards.
Wide receivers/tight ends: A
Saturday was another big performance by the Aggie receivers. Eight different guys caught passes as Keeton was able to spread the ball around and find guys open all day. The group was led again by Travis Van Leeuwen, who caught six passes for 70 yards and one touchdown. Brandon Swindall (five catches for 63 yards), Travis Reynolds (four catches for 59 yards and a touchdown), and Jojo Natson (five catches for 41 yards) all showed explosiveness and ability to get open. Tight end Keegan Andersen also got in on the action, catching three passes for 20 yards and a touchdown. The biggest positive from the game might have been highly touted junior college transfer Ronald Butler catching his first pass, a 23-yard touchdown, showing a huge burst of speed down the sideline. Butler could be another big weapon for this offense, and the wide receivers continue to be an area of strength so far this season for the Aggies.
Offensive line: B+
The offensive line was good once again, giving Keeton ample time to pick apart the defense. The second stringers even got to see the field for most of the fourth quarter, and that experience will be useful in case one of the starters goes down with an injury.
Defense (overall): B
The defense was often very good on Saturday but continued to struggle in the secondary, racking up way too many penalties and leaving Air Force receivers wide open several times in the first half. Even though Air Force runs an option-based offense, it threw the ball quite a bit, which might have caught the Aggie defense off guard as they looked unprepared for it.
The run defense was extremely impressive, limiting the Falcons to 162 rush yards on 49 carries, a team that ran for more than 400 yards in its week one game against Colgate. The secondary, however, was bad against the pass, and if it weren't for several dropped passes by the Air Force receivers, it would have given up a couple more touchdowns in the first half.
Overall it was a great effort limiting a traditionally very good offensive team to only 20 points (seven of which came against the second/third string), but they still have some room to improve in the secondary.
Defensive line: A
Even without starting defensive end Conor Williams, who sat out with the foot injury he suffered last week against the Utes, they were very strong up front. Paul Piukala, who replaced Williams in the starting lineup, seemed to be in on every tackle and racked up five of his own. Those on the line did their jobs and were a big reason why Air Force wasn't able to run the ball effectively.
Linebackers:A-
The other big reason why the Aggies were able to contain the Falcons' option was the continued great play by the outstanding linebacking corps. Led by senior Jake Doughty, who had 11 tackles, the linebackers kept the Air Force offense from finding a rhythm and limited it to just 13 points before making way for the backups. Zach Vigil had another big game with nine tackles, 1.5 for a loss and a forced fumble early in the first quarter that would end up leading to a touchdown by the offense and a 14-0 lead. Redshirt freshman Nick Vigil, younger brother of Zach, played well once again this week as he racked up six tackles. He will likely continue to see increased playing time as he shows why coaches were so high on him during his redshirt year last season. Terrell Thompson and Tavaris McMillian had four tackles each, with Thompson forcing a fumble that was eventually recovered by Air Force. Kyler Fackrell played well, recovering the fumble forced by Zach Vigil, and he had three tackles of his own. The only area that could have been better was in the passing game, where the Aggie linebackers had a few breakdowns and left their guys open after biting on the run fake, but overall it was an extremely solid effort.
Defensive backs/safeties: C-
It's hard to give this group such a bad grade when it limited the Falcons' passing game to only 108 yards and one touchdown, but the first half could have been much worse statistically had Air Force not dropped several balls after getting open against the Aggie secondary. Not only did they let the Falcons' receivers get open too easily, the defensive backs were responsible for 47 penalty yards in the first half alone. Senior Nevin Lawson had two penalties, one of which was a pass interference that came on third-and-11 and ended up leading to an Air Force touchdown. Against a team that doesn't usually throw the ball well, they struggled to contain their receivers without getting called for a penalty, and their play needs to improve before games against USC and SJSU on the road.
The secondary was, however, very good in helping stop the run. Safeties Brian Suite and Maurice Alexander continued to show their run stopping ability, racking up seven and five tackles respectively.
Special teams: A+
After last week's special teams debacle, the Aggies were essentially perfect on Saturday. Nick Diaz made every extra point and also connected on a 41-yard field goal late in the first half to give the Aggies an 11-point lead going into halftime. Freshman kickoff specialist Jake Thompson continues to blast his kick-offs well out of the end zone, and while sophomore punter Jaron Bentrude wasn't needed too often, he did pin Air Force twice at the 9-yard line. It was a great bounce back effort by the Aggies' special teams this week.
Overall team: A-
It was a dominating effort by the Aggies, and it was encouraging to see them bounce back so well after the tough loss to the Utes in week one. The offense continues to move the ball with ease, and the defense has shown it has the potential to be just as good as last season, if not better with improvements in the secondary.
For their first game in a new conference, the Aggies could not have come out and made a bigger statement. With homecoming week coming up and the Aggies' first home game on deck against FCS opponent Weber State (which lost 70-7 this week to Utah), they should have plenty of opportunity to work out some kinks before heading to play USC in two weeks. David Lieberman is a senior at Utah State University and a part-time sports writer. Contact him at: David.Lieberman@aggiemail.usu.edu
