Aggies Not Looking Past Colorado State
Nov 15, 2018, 5:30 PM
Utah State Aggies safety Jontrell Rocquemore (3) celebrates an interception in Logan on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. (Jeff Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeff Allred, Deseret News)
LOGAN, Utah – Although they been rolling past almost all of their opponents in a nine-game winning streak, the Utah State Aggies aren’t looking past Colorado State this week.
“Round Seven”
Referring to the game as “round seven” because it’ll be Utah State’s seven conference game this season, head coach Matt Wells acknowledged the challenges that come with playing Colorado State, especially on the road.
“It’s a tough place to win and they always play well there,” said Wells. “We haven’t won there since 2012 and we’re zero for our last two times in Fort Collins. It’s a new stadium and it will be Senior Day, so they will be emotional.”
Remembering Last Season’s Shortcomings
Last season, the Aggies were beat down 27-14 by the Rams. The game was quickly out of reach as Colorado State built a 17-0 lead after the first quarter.
“We looked bad last year against Colorado State in the first half,” said Wells. “Their defensive line beat us up (last year), their linebackers beat us up and we couldn’t do anything on offense. We couldn’t communicate to save our lives on defense and gave them some walk-off touchdowns. It was embarrassing in the first half the way we played against them. That already has gotten our guys’ attention.”
It’ll be especially difficult for Utah State to remain focused with some of the biggest games in the program’s history on the horizon. But when asked for his thoughts on the game against Colorado State, junior tight end Dax Raymond’s answer was short and focused, clearly giving his attention to the Rams the way his game had described.
“In the past, they have been a challenge for us and we are not going to look past them. This is a big game for us,” said Raymond.
Yet To Peak
Although the Aggies are currently the nations’ No. 1 team in scoring offense, Raymond continued to state that the offense has yet to reach its peak.
“I don’t think so. Like I said, we need to eliminate mental mistakes,” said Raymond. “We had a couple of false starts and a couple of holding calls against San José State. We are hurting ourselves, so if we can eliminate those, we will keep rolling.”
The game will kick off Saturday at noon on AT&T SportsNet.
