Sunday, September 06, 2009

Utah 35, Utah State 17

In the Utes first game of the 2009 football season they took on the Aggies of Utah State. While the Utes didn't deliver the solid pounding of previous years they had control of the game and allowed many of their young players to gain critical game experience. The game actually turned out much like I expected it to. I had a feeling that the Aggies would be better than in years past and that Coach Anderson would use some wrinkles to try and throw the Utes off. While I had heard about their young speed and talent, I was surprised and impressed to see it in person. The Aggies will win some games this year and have the potential to be a pretty good team next year.

Both teams made a few first-game/young team mistakes. Impressively, the Aggies forced Utah into three turnovers and had a couple decent drives as well. They came out of the gates swinging and had the Utes on their heels. The brightest spots for the Utes were the offensive trio of David Reed (WR), Terrance Cain (QB) and Matt Asiata (RB). Together they accounted for more than 600 yards of total offense (obviously the WR and QB stats overlap).

This week the Utes travel to San Jose to meet the Spartans in another game that they should win without too much trouble. The following week they travel to Eugene, Oregon to take on the Ducks in a game that lost a lot of its luster after Boise State delivered a smackdown on Oregon. With Boise State beating Oregon so easily, I see that game as a must-win for the Utes to remain respected nationally. The Ducks are not the team we thought they were.

From here on out, go Aggies!

2 comments:

Tim said...

It would be a VERY cool matchup if both Utah and BYU were undefeated when they play. What are the chances?

sdande said...

With the way Utah played in San Jose, going undefeated seems unlikely for them. And BYU needs to remember to play every game unlike last year for them to have a shot.