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LOGAN — The loss of Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton, the effects of which were compounded when it was announced this week that Joe Hill will also miss the remainder of the season, leaves the Aggie offense without a leader and has created controversy surrounding who should replace him.
Boise State head coach Chris Petersen says the lack of a clear-cut starter hasn’t changed his team’s preparation for its Saturday night visit to Logan.
“It doesn’t affect us at all,” Petersen said. “We have no control whether we see one or the other guys. We just go and put the tape on — they have a lot of volume to their offense — and try to make sure that we line up correctly and defend what we see.
“Their schemes are their schemes, and they have a lot of them. You can’t practice against all the things they do, so you pick and choose what they’ve been good at in the past and you go from there.”
Junior Craig Harrison came in for Keeton against BYU and went 18 of 41 for 185 yards and a touchdown, though the score came well after the game was already out of reach. Harrison has been listed as the backup all season long on the depth chart and the Broncos respect his skill set.
Their schemes are their schemes, and they have a lot of them. You can't practice against all the things they do, so you pick and choose what they've been good at in the past and you go from there.
–Chris Petersen
“He looks like he’s very capable,” Petersen said. “I think they will run their system. They have a lot to it, so they aren’t going to go invent something new. They have a lot of different stuff and they will probably play to his strengths, but I think he’s fairly mobile and I think he throws well. Again we saw three-quarters of a game with him, and that’s all we know.”
Petersen maintained that Utah State’s offensive approach will not be deterred whether it’s Harrison or freshman Darell Garretson under center.
“I think we’re planning on those guys running their offense,” Petersen said. “We’ve just got to prepare for the schemes that we see. Whoever they put out there quarterback-wise, we’ll just have to deal with it game time-wise.
“He’ll have a week to prepare and they will play to his strengths. But they have a lot of offense, so they aren’t going to reinvent their offense. They are going to play to what they feel he does well.”
Though a Garretson-led offense would allow the Aggies to feature more read-option, as they did with Keeton at the helm, Boise State defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski echoed Petersen’s thoughts in regard to preparing for an unknown quarterback.
“Their offense is what it is, and they are going to do what they do, and they are going to play to the strengths of the new guy,” Kwiatkowski said. “They aren’t going to change their offense because one guy is gone. (Harrison) has been a backup. He’s been getting reps.”
Petersen’s name has been surfacing regularly as an ideal candidate to be the successor to Lane Kiffin at USC following the conclusion of the season, but Petersen has his offense focused on finding holes in a Utah State unit that ranks No. 25 in the country in total defense.
Related:
Nobody can match Keeton's impact
In the category of the state of Utah's most exciting college football player, the nominees are: Chuckie Keeton (quarterback, Utah State), Kyle Van Noy (linebacker, BYU) and Trevor Reilly (defensive end/linebacker, Utah).“I think their defense is really good and I think their stats back it up,” Petersen said. “As usual when you have a good offense that kind of always grabs the headlines, and rightly so how Utah State has done on offense, but their defense is really, really good. It’s not because of any one guy.
“They’re just playing well as a unit. Their linebackers are very good, their secondary plays a lot of man coverage and they’ve got good cover guys, the D-line plays hard and they rotate a lot of guys through, so everybody always wants to talk about the offense but you watch the tape on it — their defense is really good.”
He cited the play-making ability of the Aggies’ linebackers to back up his statement.
“I think they’re good and it’s not just one of them,” Petersen said. “They’ve got some good players there. They make a lot of tackles. Their D-line does a nice job of moving around and eating up blocks and those linebackers — they don’t miss tackles. (I’m) really impressed with their linebacker corps.”
Boise State sits 1-1 in the Mountain West after dropping its latest conference game at Fresno State. The contest between the Broncos and the Aggies was expected to play a big part in determining the eventual league champion prior to the Keeton injury, and Petersen believes it will reflect the consistency his team has or has not developed.
“We’re almost halfway there,” Petersen said about becoming the team the Broncos want to be. “We’ve got a really good challenge obviously this week, and that will tell us a lot about if we’re making the progress that we think we are. This will be a good indicator.
“I’ve known Matt Wells for a while and Gary Andersen as well,” Petersen added about the turnaround the Utah State program has made. “They’re good guys who are really good coaches, and both of those things show up in their program. We’ve been really impressed with them.”
The winner of the game will either be tied for first place in the Mountain division or take sole possession of second place, depending on the outcome of Wyoming’s game at New Mexico. Kyle Spencer is a ksl.com intern. He is studying journalism at Utah Valley University and is the sports editor of the UVU Review. Follow him on twitter @kyledspencer.
