Utah State 2012 Preview

Utah State is one of the last quality program remaining on the Titanic that will get a life-boat to another conference.  The good news is that it is the MWC.  The bad news, it's not the MWC of three years ago that also had BYU, Utah and TCU.  Boise State will have also left by the time the Aggies get there, but there are still some schools that are much like USU in mission, such as Colorado State, who will make good natural rivals.  But for now, there is one more year in the WAC.

But do not expect a cake-walk through the entire season.  Returning champ, Louisiana Tech (hard to say, isn't it?) is back to defend their crown.  But the WAC is difficult to predict in 2012 beyond the first two teams.  There are only 4 all-WAC first team players returning from the 2011, and three of them are LT Bulldogs, the other is USU lineman Tyler Larsen.  Robert Turbin is not one of them, but USU, with a good offensive line, should be able to find a solid back to replace him.  USU will have to decide whether Adam Kennedy or Chuckie Keeton gets to start at quarterback, but should have a quality offense no matter who is under center.  And the defense should be solid as well, even though Bobby Wagner has also moved on to the NFL.

The schedule is not all that difficult, but the WAC only has one post-season slot in 2012.  USU will have to take care of business when they travel to Rushton to take on those Bulldogs on November 17, that game will define their season, even with both Utah and BYU on the schedule.  Without that win, USU will have to hope that some other conference can not fill all of their bowl slots.  Even with 9-10 wins, the Aggies could still be home in December and that would be a tragedy.

Schedule

08/30/12	vs. Southern Utah	Logan, Utah	6:00 p.m. MT
09/07/12	vs. Utah	Logan, Utah	6:00 p.m. MT
09/15/12	at Wisconsin	Madison, Wis.	6:00 p.m. MT
09/22/12	at Colorado State	Fort Collins, Colo.	TBA
09/29/12	vs. UNLV  HOMECOMING	Logan, Utah	6:00 p.m. MT
10/05/12	at BYU	Provo, Utah	8:15 p.m. MT
10/13/12	at San Jose State *	San Jose, Calif.	2:00 p.m. MT
10/20/12	vs. New Mexico State *	Logan, Utah	1:00 p.m. MT
10/27/12	at UTSA *	San Antonio, Texas	12:00 p.m. MT
11/03/12	vs. Texas State *	Logan, Utah	1:00 p.m. MT
11/17/12	at Louisiana Tech *	Ruston, La.	5:00 p.m. MT
11/24/12	vs. Idaho *	Logan, Utah	1:00 p.m. MT

Season outlook...number of wins

0-4...unlikely
5-6...pessimistic
7-9...realistic
10-11...optimistic
12...unrealistic

Conference finish: 2nd behind Louisiana Tech

Post-season outlook...The USU Aggies will likely be a fill in for some conference that cannot meet all of their  bowl commitments.  In looking over the bowl schedule, three conferences stick out as having too many bowl commitments for 2012, the ACC, Big East and C-USA may have too many bowl slots.  You could see the New Orleans Bowl pull in Louisiana Tech and see Utah State go to Boise again.