Week 12 Three by Three: Utah State Football and the MWC

Another football week leads to another win for the Utah State Aggies.

Here are some things from the 56-17 win in Hawaii and some things to note for the last home game this Saturday against San Jose State.

1. Historical significance

With a team like this, you need to take a minute to recognize the history the team breaks and makes with each passing week. Here are just a few:

Per Jaden Johnson (again: a must-follow on Twitter), USU had only gone for 600+ yards in a game 11 times in 119 seasons. Hawaii was the third such time they’ve done it THIS SEASON. Oh, and they had had a game with 598 yards, too.
The Aggies have put 28 points up on the scoreboard in the first quarter in each of the last two games. That has NEVER happened before in 121 years of Aggie football.
Currently, USU is ranked 14th in the AP Poll. Guess what? It’s its highest ranking ever.
The Aggies are 8-1, which is the first time for that feat since 1963. Per Jason Turner and the Herald Journal, it’s also only the 13th time in program history the team has won at least eight games.
My favorite stat: the Aggies are up to 19 scoring drives that took less than 60 seconds off the clock this season. You are supposed to brush your teeth for a minute, not score touchdowns.

2. Key to the win: the ground game

Let’s just build some more bullet points:

Utah State has the second most rushing touchdowns in the nation with 31, while they’ve allowed just seven, the eighth fewest of any team.
As a team, they amassed 426 yards on 54 carries. It’s the 10th time in program history where the Ags have rushed for more than 400 yards.
Darwin Thompson and Gerold Bright each broke 100 yards rushing Saturday night.
But speaking of Thompson, he now ranks fifth in the nation in rushing TDs but, as Johnson tweeted out, he only has 43 percent of the team’s rushing TDs on the season.

3. Points per game

More bullet points? Sure, why not.

USU has scored 451 points total in 2018. The only Aggie team to score more was the 2012 team which finished with 454.
Utah State has three more games to break that record. FYI: Colorado State has the 118th ranked defense and San Jose has the 119th ranked defense. Out of 129 teams. Given those are two of the last three teams USU will play, hat scoring mark should be obliterated.
Aggies have scored 40-plus points seven times this season, which is a school record.
If you are keeping score at home, USU is back into second place in the nation in average points per game at 50.1. They’ve also closed the gap with Alabama, ranked first at 51.3.