I was higher on the Aggies than the Mountain West was in the preseason polls but I’m very surprised at the level at which they are dominating and the respect they are receiving at a national level. The preseason rankings picked the Aggies to be tied with Air Force for 4th in the Mountain Division. The Aggies are currently leading the Mountain Division.
Voters seemed to take a look at last season’s final standings and figured things wouldn’t change much. Experience has certainly done the Aggies a whole lot of good and the schedule this year gives them a great chance to win. They won’t have to face 16th ranked Fresno State until the championship game assuming they stay ahead of Boise.
I was on the record saying I thought the Aggies would only lose two games this year. They have lost one so far and I don’t think they will lose their second until either at Boise, the MWC championship game or the bowl game. I hope they win out but doing so might require beating a very good PAC-12 team in the Vegas Bowl or a nationally ranked team in a New Years 6 bowl and that’s only if they run the table in the tough Mountain West.
But I did not see this offensive firepower happening. The Aggies had some good offensive seasons with Chuckie Keeton but they were never THIS good! The Aggies have been on BAMA watch all season and are currently second in the country in points per game (50.1) behind the Crimson Tide (51.3). It’s true they don’t play in the SEC but take a look at this tweet:
In a nutshell the Aggies are good on defense and better than they’ve ever been on offense. This is no accident. This is hours of watching film and creative play calling by offensive coordinator Dave Yost. The jury is out on how healthy quarterback star Jordan Love will be after getting a minor injury in the Hawaii game but signs are positive that he will be back this week and give the Aggies the help they need most to put an exclamation mark on an already impressive season.
What else can be a win for the Aggies? It starts with the College Football Playoff Poll tomorrow. This poll surprisingly left the Aggies out last week while ranking Fresno State 23rd. We will see if the Aggies get any Love this week. They will certainly need some of Jordan Love to continue their offensive firepower in the home finale and senior day on Saturday. If they want to put up points and pass Alabama they need to come ready.
The Crimson Tide has been held to fewer offensive numbers but maintained an elite defense by holding LSU to 3 points last weekend. The Aggies might not be chanting “WE WANT BAMA!” yet as they will have to put their money where their mouth is when they travel to Tuscaloosa in 2022. But if the successor to Tua Taigovailoa isn’t great and the next USU QB after Jordan Love can be good then as Lloyd Christmas says in Dumb and Dumber “So you’re saying there’s a chance!”
Utes and Cougars Recap
The Utes surprised some people with an impressive October but they are who we thought they were in November. Now they just need to win out and hope Arizona State stumbles. They have both lost 3 games in the conference but Arizona State is the only team in the South who would win the tiebreaker over the Utes with their head-to-head 38-20 victory over the Red and White Running Utes over the weekend. The Utes might get a break when they host the struggling Oregon Ducks this weekend but nothing has proved easy for them in November.
The only positive for the Utes? At least the Coaches Poll still thinks they are elite as they finished 24th in that poll. The jury is out on what the CFP poll will say but the Utes need to play better in November if they want a shot at smelling the Roses or even keeping their claim as the annual winners of the Holy War.
BYU has been disappointing since they beat Wisconsin but their schedule hasn’t been easy. The coaches will be fighting for their jobs and will look to hopefully become bowl eligible with back to back wins over UMass and New Mexico State.
If they fail to do that then there are no guarantees that they can beat a good Utes team. The Utes possibly might cost Kalani Sitake his job but if the team trusts in true freshman QB Zach Wilson then they should get these next two wins.
UMass isn’t good but we said that last year. Neither is New Mexico State but we’ve seen how BYU has played at home with their “downer” fans. Don’t @ me BYU fans because this player is the one that said it. It will take some creativity. You can’t just show up and be guaranteed to win in college football. As Herm Edwards, the most unpopular guy in Salt Lake City this week, said “YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!”
Predictions: Luck swings in the direction of the Beehive State after a disappointing week for all FBS teams not named Utah State last week.
Utah 28 Oregon 24
BYU 28 UMass 10
Utah State 59 San Jose State 17