Utah State Preview

Utah State has come a long way as a program in a short time.  They were once an after thought in the state of Utah.  Now, they beat Utah in 2012 and BYU in 2010, while offering competitive games in many other recent contests.  Indeed, Gary Anderson changed the culture at Utah State.  And he has Ron McBride to thank.

Ron McBride spent much of his coaching tenure at Utah focused on one thing: figuring out how to beat BYU.  He went 5-5 in those contests.  He knew that his best chance of making Utah relevant was finding a way to replace BYU at the top of the WAC (and then MWC).  So he put in the effort and figured it out.  He put together the type of talent and schemes that could do it (half the time at least).  In steps Urban Meyer, with Gary Anderson as an assistant coach.  They have a winning formula: in order to compete nationally, you have to be relevant locally.  Kyle Whittingham and Gary Anderson continued with what McBride started and Urban perfected.  They recruited big bodies to occupy the line of scrimmage and they played tight, man-to-man defense in the secondary.  They played physical, particularly on the outsides.  BYU's expertise was precise route-running WRs.  If DBs could force them off their routes, BYU's offensive advantage was mitigated.  If LBs could jam BYU's TEs off the line, they would be eliminated.  Offensively, they recruited the athleticism that BYU simply couldn't.  BYU's defense was often exploited.

Gary Anderson took these philosophies to Logan, understanding that first and foremost, you have to be relevant locally to compete nationally.  They heavily recruited local Polynesians who valued early playing time to shore up their OL/DL.  They went after athletic WR/DB/RB types, often smaller, and always shunned by larger schools.  They scoured the local farm communities for LBs and DL.  Their roster was soon filled with athleticism and physicality, and with players that had a chip on their shoulders b/c they didn't feel like they got a fair shake from BYU or Utah, or other big schools close to wherever their homes were.  He created rivalries out of "obligations."  BYU and Utah felt obligated to play Utah State and beat them, badly in many cases, for decades.  Now, he competed with them for every inch of the field.

He changed the culture at Utah State.  Now, he left it to his offensive coordinator to keep the momentum going.  Time will tell if Matt Wells can hang long-term.  Even if he doesn't, Utah State matters locally for now.  Some idiot at KSL said the program is on-par with BYU now, which couldn't be further from the truth.  They may win Friday night, but make no mistake, Utah State is still the little brother in this weird three-way relationship.

Now to the actual team as it stands in 2013.

Chuckie Keeton is dynamic.  He can run but he is so much better this year at using his legs to extend plays so he can throw.  Utah State is going to be balanced on offense.  The front 3 on defense are going to try to clog up blockers while the back 8 play physical, borderline reckless, defense.  That is who Utah State is.  Can BYU's D corral Keeton and force him to throw, and to do it from the pocket?  Can the BYU WRs deliver some punishment instead of backing down (like they have done to Utah every year for over a decade now, and certainly did the last time up in Logan)?  Can BYU's rushing attack withstand an onslaught from 8 or 9 guys in the box every play?  With outside blitzes coming to take away Taysom's zone-read?

That is who Utah State is.  That is what BYU will see.  Does BYU even have an identity?  Does Utah State have any idea what they will see?

Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are, hands down, the two best coaches in college football and here is why: they know what their teams can and can't do, and every down, they do what they can.  Nick Saban is going to run the football and stop the run.  He's going to play-action pass to matriculate the ball up the field in chunks.  He's going to throw screen passes in blitz situations.  He won't be cute with gimmicks and throwing the ball 40 times a game.  He knows his team and declares: stop us.  That is the consistency BYU played with under Bronco the first 4-5 years.  Since then it's been a mystery every year, even varying from game to game.  I suppose the element of surprise is nice, but the end result has generally been boring offensive play and an unfamiliar-to-BYU-fans amount of losses.

Utah State knows who they are.  BYU knows who Utah State is.  We'll find out how much identity matters in 3 days.