LOGAN – Following Utah State’s second bye week of the football season, the team will host New Mexico (2-6, 0-4 Mountain West) as a new battle begins down the stretch of the season. Instead of controlling its destiny for a potential Mountain West Championship game appearance, the Aggies (3-4, 2-2) are fighting simply to become bowl eligible and extend the current run of nine bowl appearances in 11 seasons.
Game Info
- Kickoff: 1:30 p.m. MT
- Location: Merlin Olsen Field | Logan, Utah
- TV Broadcast: CBS Sports Network
- Aggie GameDay Coverage on KVNU (102.1 FM/610 AM & KVNU mobile app) & simulcast on 106.9 The FAN (106.9 FM / 1390 AM & 106.9 The FAN mobile app): 12 p.m. MT
- KVNU Aggie Call (102.1 FM/610 AM, KVNU mobile app + 106.9 FM / 1390 AM The FAN, 106.9 The FAN mobile app): Immediately after game ends
Getting bowl eligible
Following the loss to Wyoming, USU head coach Blake Anderson began emphasizing what now appears to be the primary goal for his team at this point: become bowl eligible. He made comments about wanting to get to a bowl game in his post-game comments at Wyoming and in his press conference on Monday.
“We are fighting desperately to be bowl eligible,” Anderson said on Monday. “This is a big game. It’s a must-win for us. We talked about it in the meeting room. It’s a must-win. It’s the next step to get closer to bowl eligibility.”
After starting the season 1-4, just getting bowl eligible would be quite the feat for USU. In program history, the Aggies have had 19 previous seasons that saw just one win in the first five games. Of those years, only one time did USU finish with at least six wins, that year being 1993. The Aggies began the season 1-5 under second-year head coach Charlie Weatherbie, but won the final five games of the regular season to earn a berth in the then-recently formed Las Vegas Bowl. USU went on to win that game to record its first-ever bowl win.
Legas to return at quarterback
A major factor in USU’s offensive struggles at Colorado State and Wyoming was the absence of Cooper Legas. It didn’t keep the Aggies from beating the Rams, but the Cowboys were too good to skate by with a true freshman taking snaps at QB. Anderson said in his Monday presser that Legas will return barring a setback.
“I expect Coop to be the guy,” Anderson said. “He had a great practice last night in a non-contact environment. All indications are is that he’ll move forward without problems and be the guy. He obviously can’t have a setback. But he is on track and past that part of the protocol and should be the starting quarterback and ready to go on Saturday.”
Legas will be a welcome presence back on the field. In his three starts this season he’s completed 46-of-66 passes (69.7 percent) for 488 passing yards and has added 155 rushing yards, seven total touchdowns (five passing, two rushing) with four interceptions. The Aggies were 2-1 in games he started.
“Cooper brings that experience. He’s not quite super experienced, he does have more than Bishop,” USU tight end Josh Sterzer said. “He can stay cool and collected. He does open up our playbook a bit more. Everybody loves Coop, we all ride with all of our quarterbacks so we’re excited to have him back.”
Lane, Vaughns, Alo getting healthier; Tafisi “day-to-day”
There are some injuries that will not recover by the end of the year, but several bumps and bruises injuries that were limiting the Aggies are healing up. Tight end Broc Lane, who has struggled with injuries all year, has been practicing and is expected to play. Byron Vaughns and Falepule Alo missed the Wyoming game and are “trending in the right direction” according to Anderson. Those two could be full participants in practice for much of this week.
The one major question left on the injury front regards linebacker MJ Tafisi. Anderson said Tafisi is “day-to-day” and later said, “I don’t know if we’re going to get MJ back this week or at all.”
Justin Holaday making second start at QB for Lobos
New Mexico made a mid-season quarterback swap, naming junior college transfer Justin Holaday the starting quarterback ahead of its game against Fresno State. That swap did little to lift the Lobos’ struggling team as they fell 41-9 to the Bulldogs. New Mexico’s offense mustered just 138 total yards. Holaday completed 8-of-16 passes for 37 yards but did add an element in the run game. Excluding the three times he was sacked, Holaday ran for 61 yards on eight carries (7.6 yards per attempt).
The Week 1 starter for New Mexico, Miles Kendrick, remains an option for the Lobos to go with. Kendrick attempted one pass against Fresno State – a 14-yard completion – and Anderson said he’s preparing for both.
Not the Air Force triple option
In name, the Lobos run a triple option just like Utah State’s Week 6 opponent Air Force. But it’d be disingenuous to lump the two teams together as the same style. Option offenses come with different variations, different rules, and must be defended differently by teams who want to have success against either.
“It’s a completely different style of option,” Anderson said. “I think (defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda) would tell you schematically it sounds the same in terms of triple option but definitely doesn’t play the same. And so we’re going to have our plan for this particular system and it’s not necessarily what we carried into (the Air Force game).”
New Mexico are certainly more willing to throw the ball than Air Force, averaging 20.8 passing attempts per game this season. That number ranks 127th (of 131 teams) in the FBS, but is nearly three times the 7.5 pass attempts that Air Force averages.
Blake Anderson’s New Mexico connection
Anderson’s big break into coaching FBS-level teams came with being hired to coach running backs at New Mexico in 1999. Previously, he’d jumped around Division II, Division III and junior college assistant jobs. Anderson was hired by then-head coach Rocky Long and he spent three seasons with the program. From there, Anderson rose through the coaching ranks as a position coach, offensive coordinator, and eventually a head coach at Arkansas State and now Utah State.
“I owe a tremendous amount of credit for my career to Rocky Long and his faith and what he saw in me as a young coach,” Anderson said. “I’ve referred to him as my football dad, he doesn’t necessarily like that as much as I do. But I really do believe that without his trust and giving me an opportunity, not sure I’d be the head coach sitting in front of you today.”
Long currently serves as the defensive coordinator for the Lobos after tenures as a head coach at New Mexico (1998-2008) and San Diego State (2011-2019).
