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LOGAN — It's been an up and down season for Utah State, both in the team's play and for the individual circumstances of various players.
Need an example? Look no further than quarterback Cooper Legas.
The junior, who replaced Logan Bonner in September after a season-ending foot injury, has a handful of games this season he surely won't forget: his first career start in his hometown, the two touchdowns he passed for and another he ran for at BYU, and the subsequent start at home against Air Force, where he passed for 215 yards and led the Aggies to their first conference win.
There's one game Legas played this year, though, that he quite literally doesn't remember. He was knocked out of an Oct. 15 game at Colorado State with a concussion, Legas has no recollection of any of the game.
"First concussion I've ever had," Legas said. "And I didn't remember anything after the game. I still don't remember anything about Colorado State except for what I've watched on film. I just remember people telling me I kept asking the same thing over and over after the game."
The concussion effects were so alarming the team doctors decided he needed to have an MRI immediately.
"I get home and they said I was fine to go to bed, so I go to bed. And then like an hour later there's a doctor's over my bed — scared the crap out of me," Legas said. "He said, 'Hey, get up, I want to go scan your brain.' Went to the hospital and got a scan."
Fortunately for Legas, there was no bleeding or swelling in the brain. But after doing nothing but eat or sleep for "four days straight," he said, he slowly made his way back from concussion protocol and returned to the field on Nov. 5 to help Utah State defeat New Mexico 27-10.
Legas is fully healthy again, which is good news for the Aggies who are 3-1 when he starts a game. The team looks to expand upon their wins this season against Hawaii on Saturday night, but injuries and offensive ineptitude have led to an average of just 19.3 points in the past three games for Utah State.
Last week's 27 points scored were deceiving, too — the Aggies scored a defensive touchdown and special teams touchdown to mask the lack of offensive scores. Facing the Rainbow Warriors on Oahu, where Hawaii is 2-3 on the season — they're 0-5 on the road — the Aggies need to generate more offense if the team hopes to keep bowl aspirations intact.
"Tough trip this week to go to Hawaii — not easy to do," head coach Blake Anderson said. "They've proven really difficult to beat at home, especially, and I think this is a lot of young guys going over there for the first time. We'll have to block out the distractions of the trip and just how long it takes to get there — how it'll adjust our week and how we prep during the week and be focused on the task at hand and try to find a way to get to .500."
"Every game at this point is a must-win," Legas said. "So gotta get this one."
If there's any remaining game this season where the Aggies should be able to flex their offensive muscles again, it's on Saturday. Hawaii is a team in rebuild and one that's given up, on average, 35.8 points and 358 yards of offense per game this season. New Mexico scored 45 against Hawaii earlier this season, and Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky put up 63 and 49 points, respectively.
Defensive coordinator Jacob Yoro, who has thrown just about everything at opposing offensives this season — from man to zone coverage to variations of both — has gotten better results from his defense in recent weeks, where they held Wyoming to 20 points and Colorado State to 17 points. But the Rainbow Warriors regressed last week and gave up 53 points to Fresno State.
"They've shown a whole bunch of stuff. It really depends on who they're playing," Legas said. "They might come out with something completely different than what we watched on film. That happens to us all the time with the type of splits we have with our receivers and how fast we go."
Regardless of how Hawaii defends the Aggies, it's clear the offense needs to do more on Saturday night to score points, and that starts by the need to create explosive plays.
Anderson said he wants the offense to be aggressive, take chances in the right spots and air the ball out — Utah State is just 115th nationally in explosive plays, with just 30 plays of 20 or more yards through nine games.
The few times the Aggies have done it this season, it's paid off. In Utah State's 34-27 win over Air force — arguably the best offensive performance of the season — the four touchdowns were from distances of 31, 20, 34 and 32 yards.
For an offense that's built smaller up front and prefers going fast-paced, getting big yardage plays is crucial. The team isn't built for consistent smash-mouth, 15-play touchdown drives. The dual-threat ability of Legas mixed with the breakaway speed of Calvin Tyler Jr., and Brian Cobbs and Terrell Vaughn's route running has been capable of generating big plays in spurts.
Legas admitted it's a key goal for the weekend trip.
"We need to add on some explosive plays — just more than we had this past week — to really put some offensive points on the board," he said.
One point of concern is Tyler Jr., who is "day-to-day" as part of his concussion protocol; he is questionable for Saturday night. But facing a fallible Hawaii defense, with an expected 70 degrees and partly cloudy weather, Saturday could be the right time for a breakout. The Aggies don't need to be terrific, either, as the Rainbow Warriors' offense is averaging just 17.8 points and 170 yards of offense per game.
But a proficient showing from the Aggies offense will likely help the teams return to the continental U.S. with a 5-5 record and give Utah State two opportunities against top teams in the conference, San Jose State and Boise State, to nab a sixth win to become bowl eligible.
If the offense can't score against the lowly Rainbow Warriors, and the special team and defense can't bail them up, it may turn into a forgettable night on the islands.
