One hundred and twenty ninth out of 133.
That is Utah State football’s ranking in total defense this season, with only one more game to go.
The Aggies, on average, have surrendered 472 yards of offense per game and have given up 50 touchdowns to opposing defenses.
Only four FBS teams have been worse — Tulsa, New Mexico, Oklahoma State and Kent State.
Look through narrower statistical categories, like passing or run defense, and things don’t get much better for the Aggies.
Going solely to Mountain West Conference competition doesn’t particularly help either, with USU ranking in the bottom three in the league in total defense, scoring defense, passing defense and run defense.
It has been a struggle on defense all year.
Not the last two weeks, though.
Against Hawaii and San Diego State, the Aggies have been vastly improved on the defense.
Against the Rainbow Warriors, Utah State gave up only 309 yards of total offense, 262 through the air and 47 on the ground. More importantly, USU gave up just 13 points.
Against the Aztecs, USU allowed 412 total yards of offense, 224 passing yards and 188 rushing yards, with SDSU scoring 20 points.
Pay attention to only those last two games and USU rates in the top five in the MW in total defense, No. 1 in scoring defense, around the middle of the conference in passing defense and top three in run defense.
Are either Hawaii or San Diego State top flight competition this season? No. But the reality is that Utah State has been much improved defensively the last two weeks and it isn’t coincidence that they have won back-to-back games in dominant fashion.
So what has changed? Where has this resurgent defense come from?
There isn’t an easy answer. At least one single answer.
Internal growth has been a significant factor though.
Season-ending injuries have forced the Aggies to play a lot of inexperienced players on defense and it has taken time for them to learn their roles.
It seems safe to say many are figuring things out though.
“We are playing a lot of bodies, a lot of young guys,” interim head coach Nate Dreiling said. “We’ve taken some lumps. You are going to have some bumps in the road when you are playing young players. But we’ve kept learning, kept getting better and now look at us.”
Players like Marlin Dean, Will Holmes, Bronson Olevao, John Miller, Noah Flores and DJ Graham are just some of the underclassmen who’ve had to step into bigger roles and, after struggling early on, have become consistent producers/playmakers. That specific group of players against San Diego State especially.
But it isn’t just the young players though.
The remaining seniors, those who are healthy enough to play, have settled in to their roles too, in some cases exceptionally well.
Defensive end Cian Slone has become a stalwart on the Aggies’ line, playing nearly defensive snap the last few games.
“We are so limited at that spot now due to injuries that he doesn’t really come off the field,” Dreiling said. “He is the energizer bunny and just keeps going. He is a nightmare for quarterbacks.”
Safety Jordan Vincent has been incredibly productive, akin to former Aggie linebackers like MJ Tafisi or David Woodward in recent seasons. Remarkable, considering his role on the defense.
According to Dreiling, there has also been a mental shift within the defense, which he credits a lot of the recent turnaround on.
“We are responding so much better,” he said. “We’ve been through some tough trials and now we are a pretty tough team. And toughness prevails. I think there was a mental mindset that shifted for us the last couple of weeks and has really helped out.”
All of it has USU playing defense at or near the level that many hoped for at the beginning of the season.
Dreiling was supposed to come in and remake the defense in a hurry and while the hurry part didn’t happen, the remaking seems to have taken effect.
“We’ve played like the defense we all waned to be coming out of the gate,” Dreiling said. “It just took longer than we expected. But the hardest thing this year for a coach, I was a new DC. These guys have known me for three or four months. They didn’t really have anything to believe in besides what we were saying and we didn’t do good out of the gate. But for this defense and these players to keep trust and confidence in the coaching staff, that says a lot about the men that we have in that locker room.”
The defense’s resurgence hasn’t only affected that side of the ball.
Bryson Barnes, the hero of the win over SDSU after he filled in for an injured Spencer Petras, noted that the defense’s stout play the last two weeks has energized the offense in a real way.
Against SDSU, a strong defensive performance in the first half kept the Aggies in the game, allowing Barnes and the offense time to figure things out and eventually take off.
“It is definitely an energy thing,” Barnes said. “It is hard when you are an offense and your defense is giving up points. Humungous credit to the defense. They struggled the first half of the year but came back and gave up 10 against Hawaii and 20 against San Diego State. We stuffed them all game. And it is a credit to the guys in the locker room on defense. They’ve shown up each and every day and gotten the work done. They could’ve given up. Said they were out of here, this year sucks. But they’ve shown up each and every day and it is starting to show out on the field. I am really happy for them.”
There is only one game left for the Aggies, on Black Friday at Colorado State, and not much left to play for.
But you can be sure they are looking for another strong defensive outing. The way things are trending, they may have it in them too.
“It has been fun,” Dreiling said. “We’ve got one more against Colorado State, but really proud of this defense and how they’ve performed.”
