Becoming A Legend: A Coaching Dynasty

[billyboy316]

Coach Peterson: Year 2

Things Aren't Looking Up Yet!
0-6 (0-3)

With a 0-6 record so far this season, Coach Peterson better start looking for some changes. I will say his kids are playing tough and if a few more bounces went their way they could be sitting at 3-3. However that is life and that is football so they remain at 0-6. His team will have a chance to rack up a few wins this season and it starts at week 8 when they take on Louisiana Tech (0-7). Then they still have the 3-3 San Jose State team, the 3-3 New Mexico State team and the 2-5 BYU team to play. I don't see them beating Idaho (4-3) and Boise State (5-0) though.

Week 1- This was the game Coach Peterson wanted and his kids played their hearts out right to the end. Unfortunately they came up a little short as they fell to Washington 21-18. It was a heck of a game as Utah State led 15-14 after the 3rd quarter and 18-14 with 5 minutes left of the game. They just couldn't stop Washington though and Washington scored a touchdown with 3 minutes to go. Utah State still had a chance but Higgins threw an ill-advised throw that was picked off. Higgins did have a nice game, besides the 1 interception. He threw for over 300 yards with a touchdown. Senior running back, Turbin, rushed for 78 yards and had 5 catches for 36 yards. Utah State's defense came away with 3 sacks, 1 interception and a safety.

Week 2- This game against Fresno State marks the first time Coach Peterson's team had been shut out as Utah State loses 24-0. It was an ugly game and Utah State didn't stand a chance. Fresno State sacked Higgins 5 times which caused Higgins to lose his timing. Defensively, Doughty recorded 11 tackles and 1 sack. Keiaho had 5 tackles, 1 sack and 1 fumble recovery for Utah State.

Week 3- Utah State looked pretty good this week against Washington State. The Aggies held a 24-7 lead with 9 minutes to go in the half. However Washington State's defense stepped up and shut out the Aggies the rest of the way. In the 3rd quarter, Washington State tied the game when Simmons picked off Higgins and ran it back 48 yards. Washington State would take a 31-24 lead with 3 minutes to go in the game. It was a game of 3s for Higgins as he threw 3 touchdown passes, 3 interceptions and was sacked 3 times. On defense, Garner recorded 9 tackles and 2 sacks for Utah State.

Week 4- This was another game Coach Peterson would like to forget as his team just wasn't prepared for Hawaii. Down 17-0 at the half, Peterson made some adjustments and his team brought the game to 17-10 before Hawaii put the nail in the coffin on a 4 yard touchdown run with 5 minutes to go. Hawaii went on to win 26-10 after a safety with 2 miuntes to go. Statistically Utah State was right with them but just couldn't maintain a solid drive. Higgins didn't have a solid performance at all. He passed for 240 yards with a pick before getting injured on the 5th sack of the game. Hart came in and looked decent. He threw for 93 yards and 1 touchdown. Wagner led all defenders with 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks in this game.

Week 6- Another close game for Utah State as they took on Nevada. Utah State once again led at the half but couldn't find a way to seal up a win. Nevada outscored Utah State 20-10 in the second half and ended up winning 34-31. The thing that killed Utah State was the turnovers. They turned the ball over 6 times compared to only 1 time by Nevada. Higgins was alright today as he passed for 400 yards and 3 scores. The bad side is he threw 2 interceptions and fumbled the ball once. Gallagher led the way with 13 tackles and 1 sack for Utah State. Also Harris had a pick 6 in the first quarter.

Week 7- Another game where Utah State was so close but yet so far away from winning as they lost to UL Monroe 21-20. Utah State once again held the lead at halftime (20-7) but UL Monroe put up 14 points in the 4th quarter. They scored their last touchdown with only 18 seconds to go in the game. Turnovers played a big part again as Utah State turned the ball over 2 times while UL Monroe didn't have a turnover. Higgins threw for 375 and 1 touchdown but also had 2 interceptions. Senior running back Turbin had 9 receptions for 181 yards and 1 touchdown for Utah State. Defensively, Wagner was a man amoung boys as he racked up 16 tackles (7 tackles for losses) and 2 sacks.

Here is Coach Peterson's thoughts on the first half of the season.

Coach Peterson: Well folks it's funny how things just don't work out the way you plan and envision. I was hoping all of our hard work on the practice field would pay off on Saturday but so far it hasn't. That is my fault though and I have already started to make adjustments to fix the problem. I found out that passing the ball is fantastic when you have a senior quarterback like we had last year. However this year our quarterback is a little more inexperienced than we would like so we will run the ball more from now on. I hope that will take a lot of pressure off Higgins and allow us to close out games. Defensively things are going great. We have two of the best linebackers in our conference with Wagner and Gallagher. Gallagher has 46 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. Wagner has 62 tackles, 20 tackles for loss and 6 sacks so far. Kicking the ball hasn't worked out so well with Harris. He is only a freshman so hopefully he will improve on his 8-15 performance so far. We have a few games that are very much winnable for us and this week is one of them. Hopefully we can string a few wins together and end the season on a high note.

[billyboy316]

Strong Finish For The Aggies
4-8 (3-5)

The season didn't go as planned but after starting out 0-6 Coach Peterson made all the right changes. His team went 4-2 the rest of the season. One of the loses came at the hands of Boise State, whos only loss was against Alambama in the National Championship Game.

Week 8- The Aggies picked up their first win of the season as they defeated the win-less Louisiana Tech team 24-14. The Aggies led 17-3 at halftime and led 24-6 with 4 minutes to go. Louisiana Tech scored with 30 seconds left to make it 24-14 (They went for 2 and got it). The Aggies just dominated this game statistically though as they were able to rack up over 500 yards of offense compared to Louisiana Tech's 150 yards. Higgins threw for 447 yards along with 3 touchdowns. Morrison led all receivers with 164 yards but didn't find the endzone. Turbin caught 6 passes for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Gallagher led all Aggies with 11 tackles and 1 sack.

Week 10- The Aggies were brought back down to earth as they dropped a home game against San Jose State 34-10. The biggest reason the Aggies lost this game was because they couldn't keep the ball as they turned the ball over SEVEN times (3 fumbles/4 interceptions) and that is just inexcusable. Higgins just looked horrible today as he threw 3 interceptions before getting benched for Hart. Hart didn't look much better as he threw for only 150 yards and 1 interception. Bartlett had a great game with 7 catches for 115 yards and 1 touchdown. On Defense, Wagner led the team with 12 tackles and 3 tackles for loss. Vainikoko recorded 1 sack for Utah State.

Week 11- This was the type of game Coach Peterson dream of seeing when he came here as the Aggies dominated Idaho 31-6 on the road. The Aggies led 14-3 at the half and 24-6 after the 3rd quarter. Higgins connected with Bartlett in the 4th quarter to make it 31-6. This game could have been a lot worse though as Utah State still turned the ball over 4 times (1 fumble/3 interceptions). Higgins threw for over 350 yards with 4 touchdowns but also threw 3 interceptions. Thankfully that didn't cost them the game. Watkins had a big day with 133 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wagner also had a big day as he recorded 10 tackles, 1/2 a sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.

Week 12- Utah State makes it 2 in a row with a big road win over New Mexico State 28-10. The Aggies cut back on the turnovers a bit with only 2 interceptions today. Higgins threw for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns to make up for the 2 interceptions. Morrison led the receivers with 83 yards and 2 touchdowns on the night. Doughty had a big game defensively for the Aggies. He recorded 12 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

Week 13- The dreaded game against Boise State was a no contest as Boise State walked all over Utah State 52-21. Boise State racked up over 650 yards on offense and picked off the Aggies 3 times. The only bright spot for Utah State was Bartlett. He managed 130 yards and 1 touchdown on the night. Keiaho had a decent night on defense with 8 tackles and 1 interception.

Week 14- In the season finale, Utah State and BYU put on a show. Utah State found a way to win the shootout 57-42. The game wasn't as close as the score makes it seem though as Utah State was up 48-21 after the 3rd quarter. The Aggies put up over 700 yards of offense and Higgins set a school record with 675 yards passing. He also set the school's single season passing mark with 3974 yards. Bartlett had an amazing last game for the Aggies with 300+ yards receiving and 3 touchdowns on the night. Morrison also had a great game with 172 yards receiving as he battled injuries throughout the game. Turbin had a huge game for Utah State as he ran for 46 yards, caught 6 passes for 114 yards and had a 65 yard punt return for a touchdown. All in all a great way to end the season for the Aggies.

Coach Peterson: I know that you shouldn't feel good about a 4-8 record and I don't feel good about the record at all. However I feel good about this team. They could have just packed it in after starting the season 0-6 but they didn't. They went out and worked hard and went 4-2 the rest of the way. That gives me great hope for next season with a more experienced team we shoud be able to finish with a much better record. I feel pretty good about out recruits too. We so far have 4 3-star commits and 11 2-star commits. We are hoping to get a few more 3-stars during the off-season. I know next season we will miss a few guys, who will be leaving us. The biggest ones are Robert Turbin, Kellen Bartlett, and Stanley Morrison. Turbin was an all around type player for us who had over 1,000 yards of offense and 8 touchdowns for us. He also excelled in the return game with over 1,100 combined return yards and 1 touchdown. Bartlett was our reliable Tight End who had back to back 1,000 yard seasons for us. He ended the season with 1,160 yards and 7 touchdowns and holds the record for Receiving yards (Game)at 313, Receptions (Career) at 183 and Receptions (Season) at 107. Morrison was our number 1 receiver and always seemed to have the advantage in the game. He finished the season with 71 catches, 1,120 yards and 4 touchdowns. Last season he had 1,288 yards and 12 touchdowns. On Defense we will be missing 3 of our 4 starting linebackers in Bobby Wagner, Kyle Gallagher, and Junior Keiaho. Wagner finished with 106 tackles, 5.5 sacks 3 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery. Gallagher was second on the team with 81 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 1 fumble recovery. Keiaho had 75 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 3 fumble recoveries.

Turbin and Bartlett made the 2nd team All-Wac.

[billyboy316]

Coach Peterson:Offseason Year 2



Main Players Leaving
R. Turbin-HB
B. Wagner-ROLB
S. Morrison-WR
K. Gallagher-MLB
W. McClenton-SS
K. Bartlett- TE
E. Moats- WR
J. Keiaho- LOLB

Transfers

FS-Parker Orms- Sophomore (RS) from Colorado

[billyboy316]

Utah State Aggies Recruiting - Class of 2011
PLAYER NAME	CALIBER	HT	WT	HOMETOWN
Jason Love, WR		6'6"	205	TX
Marcus Riggs, ATH		6'2	174	TX
Jacob Grant, TE		6'2	252	TX
Greg Bratton, TE		6'7	232	CA
Brian Carpenter, QB		6'5	185	ID
Fred Simon, QB		6'1	201	CA
Grant O'neal, ATH		6'1	184	CA
Brandon Baker, G		6'1	308	AZ
Marcus Mack, T		6'7	285	AZ
Victor Cowan, QB		6'0	186	WY
Zac Wynn, QB		6'4	188	NV
Vincent Baker, DT		6'3	286	CA
Justin Chance, ATH		6'2	212	TX
Youdlain Bell, SS		6'2	190	UT
Derrick Moss, T		6'8	337	TX
Jonathan Gibson, T		6'4	288	UT
Joe Lindsey, T		6'3	309	FL
Nick Wade, OLB		6'1	211	CA
Gabe Hughes, DT		6'2	297	UT
Rick Hicks, DE		6'4	256	NV

[billyboy316]

Position Changes
Marcus Riggs- ATH to CB
Grant O'Neal- ATH to FS
Justin Chance- ATH to ROLB
Joey Demartino- HB to FB
Jonathan Gibson- LT to LG
Rick Hicks- LE to RE
Chris Harris- FS to CB
Kenny Keller- FS to CB

[billyboy316]

Coach Peterson: Preseason Year 3

Redshirt Players
QB
Zach Wynn
Victor Cowan
Fred Simon

WR
Jason Love

T
Marcus Mack

MLB
Thomas Weldon

CB
Marcus Riggs

Schedule

WEEK 1 BYE
WEEK 2 VS FCS EAST
WEEK 3 VS COLORADO STATE
WEEK 4 @ #13 BOISE STATE
WEEK 5 @ BYU (RIVALRY)
WEEK 6 BYE
WEEK 7 @ LOUISIANA TECH
WEEK 8 VS IDAHO
WEEK 9 @ NEVADA
WEEK 10 @ SAN JOSE STATE
WEEK 11 VS FRESNO STATE
WEEK 12 VS NEW MEXICO STATE
WEEK 13 VS HAWAII
WEEK 14 @ AIR FORCE
WEEK 15 BYE

BOLD= CONFERENCE GAMES

[billyboy316]

Coach Peterson: Year 3

Nice Start For The Aggies This Year
5-2 (2-2)

This is the year Coach Peterson was hoping for as he has his team heading in the right direction with a 5-2 record and 2-2 conference record. They still have a lot of work to do as they still need to play @ San Jose State (3-5), Fresno State (7-1), New Mexico State (4-4) Hawaii (1-6) and @ Air Force (3-4). The great new for them is 3 of their last 5 games are home so that should help them.

Week 1- BYE
Week 2- Utah State got things off right with a 42-10 win over FCS East. Higgins passed for 2 touchdowns and had a rushing touchdown too. Williams also had touchdown runs of 6 and 12 yards.

Week 3- Colorado State's comeback fell short as the Aggies were able to escape with a 28-25 victory. Utah State was leading 28-14 heading into the 4th quarter and Colorado State was able to make it 28-25 with 2 minutes left but couldn't recover the onside kick. Higgins had a so so game by passing for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns but the downside is he threw 3 interceptions. Thankfully that didn't cost them the game but it would have against a better team. Flournoy had 8 grabs for 160 yards but couldn't get in the endzone. Tialavea had a solid performance on defense with 10 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble.

Week 4- Utah State was looking for the upset as they traveled to Boise State. However their efforts weren't enough to overcome the blue turf as they fell to Boise State 24-17. It was a close game all the way as they only trailed 7-10 at the half and 14-17 heading into the 4th quarter. Boise State was able to get to Higgins a few times and knocked him out of the game. Freshman quarterback, Carpenter entered the game and had as good as performance as we could have expected. He threw for 177 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He also added 26 yards on the ground. Watkins hauled in 6 catches for 98 yards and 1 touchdown. Utah State's defense played out of their minds today as the team picked off Boise State 4 times and recorded 1 sack. The two players who stood out the most was Jones, who had 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack and 1 interception. Stewart was the other guy as he recorded 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 2 interceptions.

Week 5- Utah State got back on track with a 47-35 win over Rival BYU. Carpenter got the nod today as Higgins was still recovering from his injury. He made the most of his start by throwing for for 450 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also added 55 yards on 14 carries. Williams also had a nice game on the ground with 92 yards on 10 carries and 2 touchdowns against BYU. Reynolds was the standout receiver with 5 catches, 115 yards and 1 touchdown. Doughty was the standout defensive player with 12 tackles, 4 tackles for loss and 1 sack on the day.

Week 6- BYE

Week 7- The Aggies traveled to Louisiana Tech today and I think they under-estimated them a bit as they dropped this game 28-33. Higgins was back under center and threw for 300+ yard and 4 touchdowns but also threw 2 more interceptions. Utah State was leading 14-13 at halftime but gave up 13 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter. They managed to make it 21-26 until LTU scored with 6 minutes left. Watkins had another solid game with 98 yards and 1 touchdown for Utah State. O'Neal and Doughty recorded interceptions while Tialavea and Huahulu each had a sack.

Week 8- Utah State pulled out a close one against Win-less Idaho today with a 31-28 win. Things were looking great as they led 23-13 after the 3rd quarter but Idaho made it 23-21 with 12 minutes to go in the game. A Flournoy touchdown later in the fourth made it 31-21 (made the 2 point) before Idaho scored the final touchdown. Higgins had a clean game as he passed for 350 yards and 3 touchdowns. That is a very good thing because 1 or 2 interceptions from him could have changed the entire game. Idaho on the other hand turned the ball over 3 times (2 fumbles/1 interception). A lot of that credit goes to Byrd as he intercepted 1 pass and forced 1 fumble today. Huahulu forced the other fumble while Doughty and O'Neal recovered the 2 fumbles.

Week 9- The Aggies rolled over Nevada on their home turf today with a 36-18 victory. The game was closer than the score makes it seem as Utah State was only up 14-10 at the half and 21-18 after the 3rd quarter. Higgins threw for 360 yards, 3 touchdowns but also 2 interceptions. Morgan broke off a 75 yard touchdown run in the game as he finished with 81 yards. Flournoy had 9 catches for 125 yards and 2 scores today. Morgan also contributed in the passing game with 3 catches for 114 yards and 1 touchdown. Garner was today's standout defensive player with 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Coach Peterson: Well this is where every coach would love to be with 5 games left. With a 5-2 record we have a chance to win 10 games this year and receive a bowl bid. Nothing beats seeing all your kids hard work paying off. The big difference this year is we are finding a way to win the close games and finding a way to close out games. The last 2 years we constantly gave up the lead late in the game and just didn't know how to win basically. This year we know how to win and we are doing just that. The conference is still up for grabs this year with Boise State having some injury problems and they just aren't the same team this year. Louisiana Tech actually is in control of the conference with a 5-1 conference record. They still play Nevada and Boise State though so lets hope for a little luck there. Our recruiting is going well too. We have a lot of interested kids who want to be apart of this great change. They want to be apart of the team that changes this program from bottom dwellers to contenders.

[hockeyplaya2724]

I love how realistic this is, only one thing could make it better though. Doing an update every game or if that's to much for you every other game or something like every close/important game you play. Good luck with Utah State!