It’s the same story for Utah State — can speed and quickness win out against superior size and strength?
Those familiar with Utah State football have heard it many times before, and not just from current head coach Blake Anderson but from previous head coaches, too.
The Aggies in general are small, often smaller than their competition. To combat that, they try to use speed and quickness to exhaust their bigger and stronger opponents, a process that can take quarters at a time, depending on the conditioning of the opposition.
Aggies on the air
Utah State (1-3)
at UConn (0-4)
Saturday, 10 a.m. MDT
Pratt & Whitney Stadium
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Aggies Sports Network
Anderson trumpeted that refrain before the season opener against Iowa, and did so again prior to games against Air Force and James Madison.
Now, with UConn next up on the Aggies’ schedule, USU is once again faced with the same challenge — how to beat a team that is bigger and stronger than it is.
“(UConn) is massive,” Anderson said. “Really, really big. They were when we saw them last year and talking to the guys at Duke, they said the same thing. Just a big, long and physical football team.
“I think our quickness and speed will be an advantage, but size is going to be in their favor. It’s the exact conversation we have been having. We’re going to have to match up to their physicality early and use our speed and quickness to frustrate them and try to minimize some of those mismatches. Hopefully we play with tempo and speed to fatigue them. That is our schedule. It is that way all year, we can cut and paste this every week we go into it.”
He didn’t stop there.
“They’re really big and long (on offense),” Anderson said. “They’re committed to run the ball and RPO and play-action pass. They’ve done a good job recruiting running backs.
“They’re big and physical on the defensive side of the field, too. They were more physical than us early last year, it took us a while to kind of fatigue them and start getting our run game going. It took us a little while to to be able to slow them down. It was a war of attrition we found ourselves in and we found a way to win. I think it was a lot better win than people gave us credit for at the time.”
Related
Utah State at UConn: How to watch, listen to or stream the game
Are Power Five teams scouting Group of Five teams for future roster additions?
A win over UConn this year likely won’t be viewed as any sort of major accomplishment either, though the Aggies could use any kind of victory after starting the season 1-3.
UConn is in a similar situation after beginning the season without a win, with losses to NC State, Georgia State, FIU and No. 17 Duke. Both Huskies head coach Jim Mora Jr. and Anderson say the team is better than its current record, though.
“Tuesday’s practice was the best we’ve had thus far,” Mora said. “Now that’s a function of the guys digging in, paying attention and having a will and want to come out of this thing. If you stop seeing those things that indicates that, you know, maybe we’re faltering in some of those areas. But I don’t see that at all.
“... I was really kind of anxious to go out there and see what the energy was going to be like, what the attitude was going to be like, you know, how they were going to how they were going to work. And I was impressed.”
Said Anderson: “I know the record doesn’t look great, but they’ve been in every game. That was a tough game against Duke, a really tough opponent. I think we’re all aware those guys are playing great football right now with that roster.
“It’ll be a challenge early. We’ve got to find a way to be better in the first quarter against them. Against their big size and length. Against their committed run game and play-action pass. We have got to improve this week. And it’s gonna show against a very similar defense (compared) to what we’ve seen against Iowa, Air Force and JMU in terms of size and power.”
Related
Despite a 1-3 start to the season, with a newly remade team that Anderson has conceded needs time to learn, grow and come together, there remains considerable optimism that the Aggies are close to turning things around.
After all, their three losses have come against fringe top-25 teams that have a single loss between them (Iowa against Penn State), and outside of dismal first quarters — they were dismal — Utah State has played equal to or better than the competition every week.
That despite 40 new scholarship players and 61 new players in total, plus a true freshman quarterback, a remade offensive line and, well, the list can go on and on.
Whether the Aggies take that step forward against UConn or not, it will come down to the battle of size and strength versus speed and quickness. Per usual.
“Speed and quickness is in our favor, size and power in their favor,” Anderson said. “Who is able to make the other play their game? We were able to overcome some of those things as games have gone on, but we need to be able to do that from the first snap to get the outcome that we want.”
