Another TD SDSU! Which team was the varsity and which one was the JV again?

Marion wearing a headset over the top of his cowboy hat looks so incredibly dumb... I mean, c'mon man...

TD SDSU!

Go Ags! Beat the Trailblazers!

I don't necessarily want to say "no trouble" because any given Saturday and what not, but Utah Tech statistically had one the worst offenses and defenses in FCS last season which is why they finished with a 1-11 record. They will have essentially an entirely new defense so they could be a little spicy, but I have a hard time believing they totally turned the ship around in 1 off season.

Utah Tech Game Notes
https://utahtechtrailblazers.com/documents/2025/8/26/2024UTFB_atUCDavis_8-26-25.pdf

Here's just a small breakdown on the Trailblazers

Quarterbacks
The Trailblazers return all 3 quarterbacks on their roster who took meaningful snaps last season. Redshirt junior, Reggie Graff, got the most burn as he led the team in starts as well as passing yards and rushing yards (56.9% completion rate, 1467 passing yards,10 passing TDs, 5 INTs, 565 rushing yards, 4 rushing TDs). He had an abysmal outing against the Aggies last season as he completed 7/21 passes for 95 yards with 1 TD and 2 INTs. He did have 85 net rushing yards and a TD on 17 rushing attempts. The other 2 QBs Bronson Barben and Deacon Hill, comparatively had worse seasons than Graff. Unless these guys developed significantly since the last time we played, this should be an area of concern for the Trailblazers.

Running Backs
Similarly to the QB position, Utah Tech returns a lot of guys from last season. Statistically, their top returning running back is redshirt senior, Chris Street, who had a net of 237 yards on 70 attempts and a singular TD on the season. He had a net 6 yards on 8 carries last season against the Aggies. Their top 3 returning RBs combined had less rushing yards and equal rushing TDs compared to Graff. Another area of significant weakness unless they figured something out over the off season.

Wide Receivers
Their top WR from last season, Bryce Parker, transferred out of the program which leaves their top returning statistical WR as redshirt senior, Shamar Garrett, who had 250 yards and 1 TD last season. He had 4 catches for 19 yards against the Ags last season. They did bring in a couple of young FBS transfers from BYU and Utah State so comparatively they might be at least be a little bit more dangerous than the QBs or RBs simply from an unknown factor.

Tight Ends
The Trailblazers return their starter in redshirt junior, Eric Olsen. Olsen had 259 receiving yards and 1 TD last year. Olsen participated in the game against the Aggies last season, but recorded no receiving stats. They did have their statistical leader in the TE room transfer out of the program. Eni Falayi had 417 receiving yards and 5 TDs in only 6 games last season. They have a lot of young guys on the roster so maybe a new face steps up?

Offensive Line
Per the Utah Tech 2025 preseason prospectus, the Trailblazers are returning 6 players who had at least 5 starts last season. Now they weren't a particularly strong unit as they were tied for 86th in FCS for sacks allowed and were not a strong foundation for any notable pass or run game, but at least they have game experience. This is the area on the offense where they brought in the most transfers from the FBS so maybe they see some improvement just from talent infusion

Defensive Line
The Trailblazer starting defense from last season as a whole got decimated by transfers and graduation so there will be a lot of new faces for better or worse. Their singular returning defensive lineman is redshirt senior, Layton Tanuvasa, who had 24 total tackles on the season with 1.5 sacks. He had 1 tackle against the Aggies last season. I count 4 incoming transfers on the line so they at least tried to load up with some experienced college players.

Linebackers
They return 1 linebacker who at least had play time from last season in sophomore Jace Sweeten who had 18 total tackles on the season last year. No starters from last season are returning. Otherwise every other player is a freshman or incoming transfer. Unknown for the most part of how they will perform this season.

Defensive Backs
Utah Tech returns 1 starter in the defensive back in redshirt sophomore Quncey Lejay had had 60 tackles (2nd on team) and 5 PBUs. Similarly to the rest of the defense they will be relying on mostly new names in younger players and transfers.

Specialists
They lost their starting punter from last season, but do return their placekicker in redshirt junior Ilya Uvaydov who only made 61.5% of his field goal attempts from last season. I wouldn't be surprised if a new face took over those duties because... woof...

Overall, I don't expect their offense to be much improved from last season unless young guys on the roster really stepped up their game over the offseason. The defense is almost a complete unknown. All but 2 starters are gone and a whole lot of transfers were brought in. Could be good, could be bad. Anything other than a big win for the Ags would be disappointing in my honest opinion.

For what it's worth (and it's really not much this early in the season), but Massey had Mercer preseason ranked at 9 while Utah Tech is down at 71. SHOULD be a much easier game this upcoming weekend, but football doesn't always work in shoulds.

I don't have any reason to believe that Pinnick will be rattled from the Mercer game. We just need the OL to pick it up a little bit. They weren't doing him any favors in the 2nd half in terms of the pass pro.

Ags should handle business here. I'm looking for a big win.

What an incredibly frustrating way for all of this to play out. I guess it's good to get some of the young guys game time experience, but for both teams to go out there and risk injury for it all to just be null and void sucks. It also gives Plough and company the opportunity to go to the drawing board and figure out what Mercer did at halftime because what a tale of two halves this game was.

Gotta figure something out during the lightning delay. Sure would be nice to have an additional 6 points right about now

You gotta be kidding me

Huge stop! Now go SCORE!

Woof

Offense needs to get it going again. Have to get some points this drive.

Man the defense is starting to look gassed. Tackling is going to hell

Nearly perfect first half against a ranked opponent.

Let's goooooo! Pinnick gets his 1st passing TD!

What the heeeeell Caden

Man for Plough to have the confidence in a redshirt freshman to throw on a 4th down