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LOGAN — A rarely emotional Blake Anderson got emotional in his postgame remarks Saturday after Utah State's loss to James Madison.
"That's a great locker room of guys," Anderson began before a long pause where he got choked up. To the head coach, the team's comeback and "fight" was because of the unique collection of players he has on the roster.
Anderson often says he is not one for moral victories, but Saturday night he said "we won in a lot of areas tonight. To be back in that game, there'll be a lot of residual benefits."
Terrell Vaughn said he's never felt the feeling he had when the Aggies orchestrated a comeback against the Dukes, adding that the fight he sees in the team beats the fight of the Aggies team last year. If the team can find a way to play a complete game, he added, they will be "unstoppable."
The team last season, he contends, would have likely given up at halftime if in a similar situation.
He might have a point. In the First Responders Bowl last season, the Aggies trailed Memphis by the exact deficit it faced against James Madison Saturday: 21 points. Memphis went on to outscore Utah State 14-7 in the second half as the Aggies failed to muster a comeback, or a "fight," to end the season.
The only other time the Aggies trailed by a similar amount last season was against Alabama, but … that's Alabama.
Utah State has trailed by 21 points or more at halftime a few times over the past five years, but only in two instances have the Aggies outscored their opponent in the second half after trailing by such a large margin: last week against Air Force and Saturday's loss to James Madison.
Utah State does need to find a way to fix its first-half problems, that much is evident, but it is important to note a much more qualitative statistic: the current Utah State roster continues to fight.
"They do not shy away from work," Anderson said. "They don't shy away from effort. They want to be coached and want to be coached hard. We've just got to keep battling to get better."
Utah State safety Anthony Switzer agreed with his head coach, while adding that it would have been easy to give up in the second half, but "we're going to fight."
"We've got an opportunity to be really good," Switzer said.
The Arkansas State transfer last season said he believes the team's problems are small, technical errors, and have little to do with the team's effort level during a game.
While it might not be easily evident from the box score, something changed in the second half for the Aggies. The players fought hard and had every swing of momentum going their way.
"I cannot be more proud of a group of guys, to fight and claw and … battle and finally wear them down," Anderson said.
It has been said multiple times this season, but adding more than 60 players to a football roster and seeing success all in the same year is not an easy feat. Anderson said this season is kind of like "Year 1" for the Aggies since there are so many new players. But the players that line the roster have all "bought in" to what Utah State is all about.
If Utah State can fix its first-quarter problems — a growing trend — there's belief on the roster that the team could see great results this season.
