Utah State: Changes

The last time Texas A&M played Utah State was back in 2009.

On a warm night in mid-September, 75,000 fans watched as the Utah Aggies took the Texas Aggies down to the wire. That Utah State team had gone 3–9 the prior year and had hired Gary Andersen to try to get things moving in the right direction. He would eventually, but only improved them to 4–8 in his first year. Texas A&M fans could understand that pain, coming off Mike Sherman’s opening season in 2008 where the Aggies also went 4–8 (we don’t need to talk about that anymore — we all know it was ugly).

It was a back-and-forth game for a while with plenty of red flags for Aggie fans on either side, before Texas A&M took a 38–17 lead at the start of the 4th Quarter. Things felt pretty secure. Until suddenly: a couple of quick scores by Utah State and a missed field goal by the home team cut it to a one-score game (38–30) and — Oh God, Utah State just recovered the onside kick with 25 seconds left.

The clinching of sphincters was relieved by a strip sack from Von Miller, and the Aggies ran the clock out to finish a game that felt much harder than it needed to be.

After surviving the scare in the Aggie Bowl, A&M would dominate UAB at home to start 3–0 before beginning a streak of losses against Arkansas, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State (a 62–14 shellacking that doesn’t get mentioned enough alongside the 66–0s and 59–0s in Aggie history). They would finish 6–7 that season, and the defensive coordinator was understandably let go. Two seasons later, Mike Sherman would be too, after putting together one of the best first-half teams the country had ever seen. Big changes were around the corner for Texas A&M Football.

Elsewhere in the College Football World, Chip Kelly would begin his career at Oregon, Ndamukong Suh led Nebraska in one of their last great charges of relevancy by living behind the line of scrimmage, and Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech got all the way #4 in the polls. 2009 would also see the Longhorns from Austin and the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship, a sort of handshake as the Horns entered their period of wilderness wandering and Alabama began its slow march to becoming the greatest dynasty in modern college football (which, comparatively, seems to be falling apart pretty fast these days).

College football is very different now, even if there are still a lot holdovers from that time... threads hanging on as the winds of change whip at the fabric of the sport. It's nearly impossible to see all the transformations, both good and bad, before they arrive on the scene. And even the ones we do see coming, we're often made to feel like the "Old Man Yells at Clouds" when we point them out.

I didn’t start at A&M until the Fall of 2010, so I wasn’t there the last time these two teams met. I was there against Iowa State several weeks later, with my future wife and her family (our first Aggie game together), and watched the Ags walk away with a strong 35–10 victory over the Cyclones (a bit of revenge for the Todd Blythe game four years earlier).

Since that game, my wife and I have attended many more. We’ve watched four different head coaches run onto the field for A&M, we’ve watched close calls, big beatdowns, and field stormings. We’ve watched college football as a whole change in a lot of ways, and that doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Why should it though? My wife and I are not even close to the same people who sat on the East side of Kyle Field 16 years ago, and the stadium, Texas A&M, and the town of College Station have changed maybe even more than us. 

There are things I miss about that time in my life, and the few years afterwards. I think it’s okay to struggle with the nostalgia of a time that felt a little more fun and a little less insane, both personally and societally speaking, while also acknowledging some things have changed for the better. 

In the end, I don’t think it’s the passage of time or the changes that really bother us, it's the inevitability of both. Sure, Von Miller has won the game today, but can’t you see the trip to Manhattan, Kansas looming on the horizon?

Will we survive it? Probably. We’ve survived much worse.

Song

Feels fitting to pick a song from 2009, a song about exile, returning and reminiscing, and accepting change. It's also about breaking and entering, which you know... is awesome.

Stats

Utah State comes to town after a win over UTEP last week, one of the small number of teams in the country rated lower than USU in the SP+. They’re basically starting completely fresh on both sides of the ball after losing most of their starters from 2024. Bronco Mendenhall is still a good coach, he left New Mexico after winning 5 games, which doesn’t sound great until you realize it’s their best record since 2016.

They should be far less of a challenge for Elko’s defense than UTSA was last weekend, so ideally we see a lot less chunk run plays (The Roadrunners averaged 4 Open Field Yards/Rush, thanks to a few missed tackles, some bad run fits, and some loss of containment on the edge). Offensively, it’s slightly better than going against air, so let’s hope to see some good push off the LOS in the run game and continued success by Reed and the new/young receivers.

Snack

Last week we might have gotten a little complicated with our Shotgun Shells recipe, and this week the Aggies kick off before lunch. So let’s keep it simple with a nice Southwestern omelet.

That’s right — I am still very much on my hatch green chile kick, and this time we’re putting them in some eggs.

1. Cook your breakfast meat of choice in a skillet. I prefer bacon, but breakfast sausage or ham works fine.
2. Put the meat aside, then toss some diced green chiles in the leftover grease until they soften and darken.
3. While that’s going, beat 4–5 eggs like you paid them $1.65 million to play on your field. Salt them and let them sit for 10–15 minutes.
4. Pour the eggs into the skillet, cook like you would any normal omelet, add your meat and peppers, top with cheese/whatever else you have on hand (avocado if you're into that, salsa, etc.), and have yourself a great rest of the day.

Short Yardage Plays

In 2024, the Aggies finished 102nd in the country in 4th Down conversions at 43.75%. A part of me was just glad to see them be aggressive in many instances where past administrations would have waved the white flag, but it was hard to watch at times. Especially in short yardage situations, once Moss was lost for the season, it seemed the only option was to hand it off to less powerful backs, or send your smaller framed, mobile QB up the gut and hope for the best. 

So I waited with bated breath last Saturday, as the Aggies lined up under in shotgun just one yard short of the end zone, hoping that this powerful OL could push a DL that was fully prepared for what was coming, praying Moss shows the strength and explosiveness we all came to love in the first half of last season. Knowing that a stop here by a G5 squad deflates what has been a strong offensive showing… 

A beauty. You know, I would hate to be a coach under fire for your red zone play calling. Wouldn’t you?