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Show StatesmanSports Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 Page 9 FOOTBALL Aggies face No. 20 BYU in Provo By TIM OLSEN sports editor Tonight, Utah State will take on in-state rival No. 20 BYU. The Aggies have lost 49 of their previous 50 games against ranked opponents – never winning on the road. Chalk up another loss for USU right? Not quite. Utah State is coming off a game where its offense racked up 604 yards of total offense and scored 53 points. Those numbers did come against an FCS opponent in Southern Utah, but just the previous week the Ags rolled up 521 yards on Big 12 opponent Texas A&M. “I think when you get to this point of the season on the offensive side of the football, you’re going to do what you do good,” USU head football coach Gary Andersen said. “It’s obvious that using our athletes and getting the ball in the athletes’ hands is something that the offensive staff and Dave Baldwin (USU’s offensive coordinator), have done a tremendous job of.” USU sophomore running back Robert Turbin has been making big plays all year for the Aggies with at least one scoring play of 50 yards or more in each of USU’s games this season. He is currently No. 6 in the nation, averaging 124.3 yards rushng per game and No. 10 in all-purpose yards with a 186-yard-per-game average. As a team, USU is averaging over 220 rushing yards per game – a stat that could be key against the Cougars who are giving up 133.5 yards a game on the ground and currently have the nations 62nd-ranked run defense. If the Aggies are hoping for visions of 1993 – when USU’s last win in the series happened – then their running game will be key. In the Cougars lone loss this year, Florida State nearly doubled up BYU in time of possession – largely due to its 313 rushing yards. “The bottom line for us is to be able to execute at a very high level,” Andersen said. “They are going to have success on offense, they have success on offense every single week. You have to find a way to get them off pace and play extremely hard. We have to get turnovers and get our offense on the field. Then on offense you have to control the football. You have to control the ball and score on offense.” Turbin is not the Aggies’ only weapon. After a slow start to the season, Diondre Borel, USU’s elusive junior signal caller, has put up back-to-back 300-yard passing performances – including a 334-yard, career-high performance at Texas A&M. Behind the play of Turbin, Borel and assorted others, USU’s offense is currently the No. 9 offense in the country, averaging UTAH STATE’S CHRIS HARRIS attempts to gain yardage against BYU last year in E.L. Romney Stadium in Logan. BYU won that game 34-14 but USU performed well in the game after yielding the Cougars a 24-0 lead. USU will try to continue that momentum tonight in LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo. PATRICK ODEN photo 489 yards a game. That is an astounding 155-yard improvement over the 2008 version of the Aggie offense. “We are playing really well right now, especially on offense,” Turbin said. “There is going to be a big game that comes around, where we have to make a big play in the fourth quarter. With what we are starting to do on offense, we are starting to come together, we are clicking. I think we are going to make those big plays when they come around.” Much like that 1993 game that USU won, 58-56, in thrilling fashion, this game could come down to big plays and who will make them. During that season, the Aggies averaged 29 points a game, while BYU averaged 35. Currently the Aggies and Cougars are averaging 33 and 34 points per game, respectively. Defense will be the biggest question mark when the two teams take the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Though neither team’s defense is currently ranked in the top 50, the USU defense has been especially exposed this season. Out of 120 FBS – formerly Division I – football programs, the Aggie defense is ranked 117. USU is giving up nearly as many yards per game as its offense is generating, allowing an average of 486 yards to opposing offenses. The Cougars may struggle with Utah State’s playmakers and speed on offense, but the USU defense will most likely face similar struggles against BYU quarterback Max Hall and the Cougar O. Though well behind the Aggies in total offense at No. 24, BYU boasts a veteran group led by the senior Hall and a passing attack that is averaging 314 yards a game. However, with that passing game comes a risk – one that could help the Aggies. Hall has thrown eight touchdown passes on the year but also is tied for the national lead with eight interceptions – an average of two a game. At his current rate, Hall will eclipse his 2008 INT total by 12. “I can’t say I don’t like him to throw interceptions, I like to see him throw interceptions,” Andersen said. “I’m sure if Max were sitting right here he’d say a lot of those are on me and a lot of those are not on me, but he’s a good quarterback. The fact that he’s thrown (eight) interceptions this year I think is something he’s probably not real happy about but hopefully that trend will continue.” Andersen said he knows the Aggies will have to take some chances and be able to pressure Hall if they hope to pull off the upset. One other positive for the Aggies, is the team’s performance in the final three quarters of last years game in Logan. USU spotted the then-8th-ranked Cougars 24 points in the opening quarter with turnover after turnover, before Borel replaced Sean Setzer at quarterback. Over the last three quarters, the Aggies outscored BYU 14-10 – and it would’ve been 21-10 had a third USU touchdown not been called back – and proved to themselves that they can play with their rivals from down south. “It gave us a lot of confidence, towards the end of that game we believed in our abilities,” said Turbin who rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries in that game. “We believe we can do a lot of things against BYU as far as scoring points and racking up yards. That was a big confidence boost for us at the end of that game last year, so we are a lot more confident in what we can do against them.” That confidence is something Utah State has been looking to find for a long time – possibly since 1993. FORMER AGGIE RILEY NELSON runs the option against Fresno State during USU’s 2007 Homecoming game. Nelson led USU to its only victory of the 2007 season, a come-from-behind win over the Bulldogs. Tonight he will be wearing an unfamiliar shade of blue as his BYU Cougars take on the Aggies in Lavell Edwards Stadium. PATRICK ODEN photo No Regrets: Riley Nelson happy to back up Hall at BYU By ADAM NETTINA staff writer Riley Nelson seemed like the perfect match for Utah State. He was the hometown quarterback from nearby Logan High School with nearly a dozen state passing records to his name. The reigning “Mr. Football” in Utah who was named a Parade All-American following his high school career, Nelson literally has Aggie blood running through his veins. Not only did Nelson’s father, Keith, play football for Utah State, but Riley’s grandfather, Rod Tueller, served as an athletic director and basketball coach for the Aggies in the 1980s. With that kind of lineage, it came as no surprise when Nelson committed to play football for the Aggies in spring 2006, a decision which he stands by to this day. “At that time of my life I felt like Utah State was the best place for me, all around,” said Nelson, speaking to reporters by phone after practice on Wednesday. “When I was making that decision coming out of high school, Utah State seemed like the best fit for me.” That was 2006. But tonight, when the Utah State Aggies (1-2) take on the No. 20 BYU Cougars (3-1), Nelson will be wearing the blue and white of the Aggies’ in-state rivals, having finally arrived in Provo after a two-year LDS church mission, during which he made decisions that may have tarnished his legacy in the eyes of some on the USU campus. Nelson’s transfer to Brigham Young has been the subject of much debate in Cache Valley. Ask some and they’ll tell you the former 3A Utah Player of the Year betrayed his hometown, but ask others and they’ll tell you Riley was merely doing what anyone else in his situation would have done. For some, Nelson’s transfer evokes questions about the ethics of recruiting at BYU, - See NELSON, page 10 FEeK AF@E FLI "8:<9FFB %= PFLeM< 9<<E ;I@EB@E> GC<8J< I@;< N@K? 8 JF9<I =I@<E; FI :8CC 8 :89 – t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu |