Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LOGAN — As Utah State’s football team turns its attention to Colorado State on the road, the Aggies spent a good chunk of Monday’s meeting with the media talking about similarities between the two teams.
They’re striking.
Both teams rely on a strong pocket passer at quarterback. Both teams have an explosive receiver that has been lighting up the scoreboard in recent weeks. Both teams have a running back that calmly walked into a Mountain West backfield and attracted attention for various reasons.
Oh, and both teams are among the top teams in the Mountain West Conference in Week 8 of the college football season.
“We’re about to play a team that is arguably one of the best teams in the Mountain West in this first part of the season,” Utah State coach Matt Wells said during his Monday press conference. “They’re taking shots and the quarterback is playing at a really high level. They’re very physical and aggressive on defense. They’re a few plays from possibly being 6-0. I think Coach (Jim) McElwain and that staff are having their year.”
Wells almost sounded like he was describing his own team. That's what makes this matchup one of the top games in the league this weekend.
The Rams (5-1, 1-1 MW) have only lost one game, to league power Boise State. Colorado State also has a road win over Boston College from the ACC and in-state rival Colorado of the Pac 12 and the Rams should be flying high after a road win at West division contender Nevada.
Wells said Saturday’s 5 p.m. kickoff on CBS Sports Network will go a long way toward determining who wins the Mountain division title.
“This will be a heavyweight fight,” he added. “It will go 12 rounds all the way to the end and it will be a slugfest.”
Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson is reminiscent of the Aggies’ Darell Garretson. Wells knows both signal callers well, as he recruited the Rams’ starter when he was the quarterbacks coach at Louisville in 2009. The senior quarterback has the third-most passing yards in school history at 7,007, as well as the second-highest number of touchdown passes (48).
“He puts the ball on the money from what we’ve seen,” USU safety Frankie Sutera said. “He’s very accurate and he’s got a little speed to him.”
Both teams have explosive wide receivers — USU’s Hunter Sharp and Colorado State’s Rashard Higgins, who has hauled in 44 catches for 776 yards with four 140-yard receiving games. That could provide a different look than last year’s run-heavy 13-0 win in the wind, Garretson said. But having Sharp playing with his recent streak of four 100-yard receiving games could help.
“Going into the season, I kind of knew he was a special player,” Garretson said of Sharp. “But having the break out that he’s having right now is really exciting and it’s awesome. When you have a guy like that you can get him the ball and you never know what could happen. I think he’s playing very, very well right now.”
Turnovers could be crucial, as well; Utah State forced four turnovers in the first half against Air Force, but prying the ball away from Alabama transfer running back Dee Hart will be a challenge.
“I think it’s people playing fast and playing hard,” Sutera said. “When you play hard and fast, good things are going to happen. The ball’s going to come to you, so we have to keep doing that.
“Once you start getting one (turnover), they start coming one after the other. That’s how I feel like it’s always been.”
