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SAN JOSE — Freshman quarterback McCae Hillstead, since leading an impressive comeback against Air Force, has been surrounded by a lot of hype.
The true freshman was chosen to play over experienced quarterbacks Cooper Legas and Levi Williams, was never made available to the media, and, well, you know the rest.
In his first game back after being cleared to play, Hillstead and the Aggies played what was arguably their worst game of the season. Utah State lost 42-21 to San Jose State and had the smallest amount of offensive yards this season.
It's much easier to sit on the couch and talk about what could have been than to be the decision maker, but one has to wonder what it might have been like with Legas at quarterback.
Sure, the Air Force loss wasn't Hillstead's fault, but he was the quarterback through the entirety of the Aggies' next game (a loss to James Madison) and through the first part of its victory in Connecticut; however, the victory was a comeback win led by Legas after Hillstead suffered an injury.
There is one major thing lacking in Hillstead's short tenure as a starting quarterback, and that's a win. His play against James Madison, UConn, and San Jose State — two of which have losing records — was underwhelming.
Legas, in his second opportunity as the team's starter, provided security and identity to a struggling Utah State team. He led the comeback victory against UConn and then led two of the Aggies' most complete team performances against Colorado State and Fresno State. Anderson called the latter the team's most complete performance.
So why would Anderson start Hillstead over Legas after all that?
"Well, leading up to this point, the one concern, really the major concern with Coop, honestly, was turning the ball over or throwing the ball into turnover situations," Anderson said. "(Hillstead) has been more decisive with his decision-making; he's been more accurate just in terms of putting the ball in the right spots, and tonight, that didn't happen."
No it didn't. Seemingly nothing went the Aggies' way Saturday, so the test will be to figure out how much of it was on Hillstead and whether that can be fixed with Legas (or someone else). It's something Anderson said he plans to do over the bye week where there will be "a lot of reflecting."
WHO SHOULD START THIS WEEK FOR THE AGGIES?
— Andrew Hyde (@ahyde05) October 16, 2023
Assuming Hillstead is back to 100% of course#AggiesAllTheWay
"I don't feel like he played well; I don't think anybody played well," Anderson said. "There's some mistakes he can't afford to make, so I will evaluate it thoroughly and make decisions, but no, he did not play well."
In previous interviews, Utah State coaches have implied that the main factors for the Aggies in choosing a quarterback have been how well they take care of the football, avoid turnovers, and which quarterback gives the team the best chance to win.
In Hillstead's five appearances at quarterback, he has thrown 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Legas, in his six appearances at quarterback this season, has thrown 13 touchdown passes and six interceptions. Legas also has a higher completion percentage (66.0%) compared to Hillstead (58.0%).
It seems (without counting potential interceptions and counting only those passes that were intercepted) there is no clear-cut advantage either way when it comes to making smart passes and avoiding turnovers from simple statistics.
Certainly, hindsight is 20-20, but there's no telling how or if the San Jose State game would have been different with Legas at the helm. But it certainly makes one wonder.
