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For the first time this season, Utah State will play back to back conference games when they travel to New Mexico on Saturday, looking to bounce back from their 34-23 loss to Boise State.
Matt Wells announced in his press conference on Monday that true freshman Darell Garretson will be the starter at quarterback after coming in to the Boise State game during the third quarter. Garretson finished the game with a 91 yard scoring drive, going 6-6, capping the drive with a four yard touchdown pass to Travis Van Leeuwen.
Here are 10 things to get you ready for this weekend
•New Mexico running back Kasey Carrier ranks eight in the country with 789 rushing yards. His best outing of the season came against UTEP when he rushed for 291 yards and four touchdowns.
• Utah State is in its 116th season of football and is 509-512-31 (.499) all-time. USU has nine nationally televised games on ABC, ESPN, CBS Sports Network and Fox Sports 1 in 2013 and two more that will be broadcast regionally on ROOT SPORTS.
• Utah State has won nine straight conference road games dating back to the 2011 season, which is a school record. The last time USU lost a league game on the road was on Oct. 15, 2011 at Fresno State, 31-21. Overall, USU is 2-2 on the road this year and has won nine of its last 14 road games against all opponents dating back to 2011.
• Utah State has won 13 of its last 14 conference games dating back to the 2011 season, and won a school record 13 straight conference games before falling to Boise State, 34-23, in its last outing.
• Utah State is currently on a two-game losing streak for the first time in its last 28 games dating back to the 2011 season. The last time USU lost three-straight games was in 2010, a span of 39 games.
• Utah State has won 19 of its last 26 games overall and those seven losses during its last 26 games have been by a combined 41 points as it lost to Ohio (24-23) in the 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, at No. 22 Wisconsin (16-14) and at BYU (6-3) in 2012, and at Utah (30-26), at USC (17-14), against BYU (31-14) and against Boise State (34-23) in 2013. Prior to its current two-game losing streak, USU had lost its previous five games by a total of 13 points.
• Senior linebacker Jake Doughty ranks second in the Mountain West and fifth in the nation with an average of 11.9 tackles per game. Overall, Doughty has five double-digit tackle games this year and nine in his career.
• Junior linebacker Zach Vigil has recorded double digit tackles in each of his last four games, giving him five double-digit tackle outings this year and 10 in his career. Overall, Vigil ranks tied for third in the Mountain West and tied for 25th in the nation with 9.7 tackles per game.
• Utah State has 59 players in its program from the state of Utah, while New Mexico has 33 players on its roster from the state of New Mexico.
• After playing four of its first five games of the season on the road, Utah State is concluding the 2013 campaign by playing five of its final seven games at home.
