Utah State Ready To Play On Short Week
Sep 12, 2018, 10:51 PM
Utah State defensive end Adewale Adeoye (55) celebrates with defensive end Fua Leilua (44) after he recovered a New Mexico State fumble during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018, in Logan, Utah. (Eli Lucero/The Herald Journal via AP)
(Eli Lucero/The Herald Journal via AP)
LOGAN, Utah – After dismantling New Mexico State on Saturday, the Utah State Aggies will have just days to put that game in the rear-view mirror and prepare to face their next opponent, Tennessee Tech, Thursday night at Maverick Stadium.
According to head coach Matt Wells, playing on Thursday does indeed change how the players and staff prepare for battle.
“It alters it. It alters our staff preparation. It alters the way we practice and how we practice,” said Wells, who acknowledged that this week is the first time that his staff will miss two days of prep.
Wells continued to say that the key to being ready to go on Thursday will be combination of balancing numerous factors.
“You have to have the right amount of physical contact in practices. Good-on-good. The right amount of scout-team work. Lifting and conditioning are altered this week. Making sure we get them fresh into the game. Making sure we’re mentally and emotionally fresh for Thursday. We’re physically as good as we can be coming off a short week, but, yet, we’ve also had a little bit of physical preparation. Wednesday, our day before schedule, may be altered the most. We’re going to do a little bit more work on Wednesday. Thursday is Thursday. Game day is going to be the same. We’ll be ready to Thursday night.”
As for the players, they feel that the short week isn’t going to have too much of an impact on their preparation or performance.
Senior defensive end Adawale Adeoye isn’t anticipating too many changes to his personal schedule.
“I don’t think we have to change too much. We don’t have that much time to do like what we did last week, is to have a Monday practice, a Tuesday practice. Now, we’re feeling like it’s the end of the week. We have to prepare a little bit faster and watch film like today and yesterday to be more prepared for things,” Adeoye said.
Junior running back Gerold Bright agreed, saying that not much will change for him mentally.
“”Personally, it doesn’t change anything to the mindset. It’s always to win and it doesn’t change anything, it just comes quick. The game just comes quick to us,” Bright said.
The Aggies will host Tennessee Tech Thursday at 6 p.m. at Maverik Stadium.
