Nov. 14, 2008

LOGAN, Utah -

Complete Utah State at Louisiana Tech Supplemental Notes in PDF Format

GAME CAPTAINS -- Utah State football selects different captains each week. Those selected for the Louisiana Tech game are #77 senior OT Derek Hoke for the offense, #53 senior LB Jake Hutton for the defense and #26 senior CB Marquise Charles for special teams.

NO TV -- Saturday's battle between the Aggies and the Bulldogs will not be televised.

ON THE AIR -- Utah State football games are carried on KVNU 610 AM and KLZX 95.9 FM in Logan; 1230 AM in Salt Lake City; on KLZX 105.3 FM in Montpelier, Idaho, and on the Internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com by clicking on "Listen Live"... Al Lewis handles the play-by-play duties and Craig Hislop provides analysis.

ON THE INTERNET -- Saturday's Aggie-Bulldog battle is streamed on the Internet by clicking on the "Watch Live" link at www.UtahStateAggies.com... It is through latechtv.com, so fans will need to register and pay a small fee.

GAMETRACKER -- Fans can follow Saturday's game at Louisiana Tech as well as all Aggie home games through the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.

TRAVEL PLANS -- Utah State will travel from Logan to Monroe, La., by plane on Friday afternoon, then bus to Ruston on Saturday, and return to Logan on Saturday night after the game. Zach Fisher (C: 435-213-0318) of the athletic media relations staff will travel to the game.

USU EMBARKING ON NEW FRONTIER -- For the first time ever, Utah State is able to fly out of out of Logan-Cache Airport... Previously, the team has had to bus from Logan to Salt Lake City to get on a charter flight... The difference in departure and arrival is expected to cut down at least two hours on either side of the trip... The team will have only a 10 minute bus ride from campus to the Logan airport compared to the previous trips of an hour and a half to two hours from campus to the SLC airport... For its first flight of the season on Aug. 29, the flight from Logan to Las Vegas, Nev. took 1:02, faster than the previous time from Logan to the SLC airport.

A USU WIN WOULD...
• Give Utah State three wins for the first time since 2005.
• Improve USU to 3-4 in WAC play, the first time in the Aggies' four seasons in the conference that they've won more than two league games.
• Be the first time since 2003 that USU has won three conference contests and just the third time in the 2000's, when the Aggies were in the Big West Conference and went 3-4 and were 4-1 in Sun Belt play in 2000.
• Be Utah State's first win over Louisiana Tech since 1994, snapping the Aggies' three-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.
• Even the series with Louisiana Tech at 3-3.
• Give USU a 2-1 record at Ruston, as the Aggies lost in their previous visit, 48-35, in 2006 after winning 7-3 in 1994.
• Be Utah State's first win in the state of Louisiana since 1994, snapping a four-game losing streak in the state.
• Move the Aggies to 5-8 vs. schools from the state of Louisiana, including 3-5 in games on Louisiana soil.
• Turn the "A" Blue.

A USU LOSS WOULD...
• Be USU's second loss in three tries at Ruston.
• Deal the Aggies' their fourth consecutive loss to the Bulldogs.
• Be Utah State's fifth-straight loss in the state of Louisiana.
• Be the Aggies' second loss to a Bulldog team this season after losing to Fresno State, 30-28, on Oct. 25... USU has lost four in a row to a Bulldog mascot, dating back to 2006, as the Aggies last win over a Bulldog team was a 13-12 win over Fresno State that season.
• Be USU's sixth road loss in a row after consecutive away game victories last year.
• Be the Aggies' 24th loss in their last 29 games, 29th loss in the last 35 games and 35th loss in the last 43 games.
• As always, be not as good as a win.

USU IN LOUISIANA -- Utah State has a 4-8 record against schools from the state of Louisiana with a 2-3 mark against Louisiana Tech, 1-1 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 1-2 vs. Louisiana-Monroe and 0-2 vs. Louisiana State... The Aggies are a combined 2-5 in games on Louisiana soil, going 1-1 vs. Louisiana Tech, 1-0 at Louisiana-Lafayette, 0-2 at Louisiana-Monroe and 0-2 at Louisiana State... USU's last win in the Pelican State was in 1994 over Louisiana Tech.

110 / 116 -- USU is taking the field for the 110th season of football in 116 years. The Aggies beat Utah, 12-0, in 1892, but then did not field a team until 1896, when they again only played one game but then played every year since with the exceptions of 1918 when to World War I and influenza cancelled the season and 1943 due to World War II.

AGGIES' FB/VB DOUBLE DIP WITH BULLDOGS -- Utah State will take on Louisiana Tech in both football and volleyball on Saturday in Ruston, La., as the Aggie spikers tangle with the Lady Techsters Saturday night at 6 p.m. (MT) at LTU's Thomas Assembly Center... This marks the third time that the football Aggies have played the same foe as the volleyball Aggies on the same weekend, joining Utah (VB on Sept. 12/FB on Sept. 13) and Hawai'i (both FB and VB on Nov. 1), but the first that both are the visiting teams, as the previous two volleyball was on the road while football hosted the opposition... The Utah State football and soccer teams faced the same opponent the same week as the Aggie soccer team four times this season, most recently this past weekend when the USU soccer team beat Boise State in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament on Friday, followed by the football teams facing each other on Saturday... The USU football and futbol teams also played Utah (SOC Sept. 12/FB Sept. 13), BYU (SOC Oct. 2/FB Oct.3) and Nevada (SOC Oct. 17/FB Oct. 18) in the same week.

WATCH LIST PLAYERS -- Saturday's game features five different award watch lists, as USU has a Rimington Trophy Award watch list player, for the best center in college football in senior Ryan Tonnemacher (pronounced Tawn-uh-mawker)... However, Tonnemacher is out for the season with a knee injury... Utah State also has two Butkus Trophy watch list, honoring the best linebacker in senior Jake Hutton and junior Paul Igboeli (pronounced Ig-bo-lee)... Louisiana Tech features Draddy Award watch list (Academic Player of the Year) in senior LB Quin Harris, Bronko Nagurski (Best Defensive Player) watch list member junior DL D'Anthony Smith, and Ray Guy (Best Punter) watch list member senior P Chris Keagle.

MORE AGGIE CONNECTIONS WITH LOUISIANA -- Utah State offensive graduate assistant coach Thomas Dunson was a two-year letterwinner as a linebacker at LSU in 1998-99... At LSU, Dunson had 92 career tackles along with five tackles for a loss and four fumble recoveries... Dunson spent the 2002-03 seasons coaching at University High School in Baton Rouge, La... Craig Bradshaw, younger brother of Terry Bradshaw, former Louisiana Tech QB and Super Bowl champion for the Pittsburgh Steelers, played at Louisiana Tech for two seasons before transferring to Utah State, and played for the Aggies from 1978-79, seeing limited action as a back-up, but still holds the USU school record for longest offensive play with a 96-yard pass to Fred Fernandes against Arizona State in 1979.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE -- According to the NCAA, Utah State has the toughest schedule in the WAC for both games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams (ranked 43rd overall) and for all games including games against FBS and Football Championship Series teams (No. 43 overall)... Louisiana Tech is eighth in the WAC for FBS and tied for eighth for FBS and FCS:

FBS Only:
WAC	NCAA
Rank	Rank	Team	Cumulative Opposition Record Win Pct.
1	31	Utah State 	53-43 / .552
8	103	Louisiana Tech	37-51 / .420
FBS and FCS:
WAC	NCAA
Rank	Rank	Team	Cumulative Opposition Record Win Pct.
1	33	Utah State	62-43 / .590
T-8	T-175	Louisiana Tech	47-57 / .452

QB LEADING IN BOTH RUSHING AND PASSING -- With 1,383 yards passing and 523 yards rushing, USU sophomore QB Diondre Borel is one of nine quarterbacks in the country who lead their team in both passing and rushing, and Borel is the only sophomore on the list:

Name	School	YR
Julian Edelman 	Kent State	SR
Josh Freeman	Kansas State	JR
Colt McCoy	Texas	JR
Dan LeFevour 	Central Michigan	JR
Joe Webb 	UAB	JR
Matt Grothe	South Florida	JR
Juice Williams	Illinois	JR
Diondre Borel	UTAH STATE	SO
Robert Griffin	Baylor	FR

CLOSING IN ON 2000 -- Sophomore QB Diondre Borel enters the Louisiana Tech game with 1,906 yards of total offense, needing 94 to reach the 2,000-yard plateau... If and when he does, Borel will become just the 17th Aggie player in the program's history to reach that milestone and the first under USU head coach Brent Guy and the first since Travis Cox with 2,844 in 2003.

TOP TOTAL OFFENSE NUMBERS
RNK	NAME	YARDS	YEAR
1.	Anthony Calvillo	3,260	1993
2.	Jose Fuentes	3,164	2002
3.	Brent Snyder	2,154	1988
4.	Tony Adams	2,953	1972
5.	Jose Fuentes	2,920	2001
6.	Matt Sauk	2,898	1997
7.	Travis Cox	2,844	2003
8.	Brent Snyder	2,774	1987
9.	Patrick Mullins	2,678	1995
10.	Jose Fuentes	2,622	2000
11.	Anthony Calvillo	2,578	1992
12.	Matt Sauk	2,568	1996
13.	Bob Gagliano	2,335	1980
14.	Tony Adams	2,195	1971
15.	Jeff Crosbie	2,122	1999
16.	Eric Hipple	2,101	1978
--	Diondre Borel	1,906	2008

RECORD BOOK WATCH

TACKLE CHART -- Senior LB Jake Hutton entered his final season in Aggie blue and white with 218 career tackles, in need of 95 more to reach USU's top 10 list, as Blake Eagal currently holds the No. 10 spot with 313 career stops from 1997-2000... After 14 tackles in the Boise State game, Hutton currently has 308 career tackles, leaving him 11 shy of cracking the top 10.

OSKIE RETURNS -- Junior S James Brindley tied for the team lead with three interceptions last season but led the Aggies with 96 return yards, a mark that ranked fourth in the WAC and was good for ninth on USU's single-season list... Brindley's 32-yard interception return in the Idaho game and a nine-yard return in the Boise State game gives him 139 interception return yards for his career, moving him to No. 7 on USU's career INT return yardage list... He needs one more yard to reach No. 6, currently held by Chuck Detwiler with 140 yards from 1966-68, while Ronald Edwards (1988-91) is No. 5 with 146 and Kevin Brady (1979-81) is No. 4 with 151 yards.

JUST KICKIN' IT -- Sophomore P/K Peter Caldwell is 49-of-49 (1.000) on PAT's, one of three Aggie kickers with a perfect career PAT percentage... The three field goals by Caldwell in the Hawai'i game was his second three field goal outing and the first time since last year at Hawai'i on Oct. 6, 2007 when he also had three field goals.

Caldwell, who is now 21-of-31 for his career, moves up to No. 10 on USU's career field goals made list with 21 for his career and is tied for No. 8 on the career field goals attempted list with 31... He also vaults to No. 5 on the career field goal percentage list (.677).

EACH OTHER'S LAST TIME LIST -- On Utah State's "Last Time" list, Louisiana Tech is referenced three times: USU's last 300-yard passing outing was 372 against Louisiana Tech in 2005 and Leon Jackson III was the last Aggie individual player with 300 yards passing in a game, throwing for 372 against La Tech, going 27-of-44... Last year, Jackson hit Jacob Actkinson with an 82-yard pass for a TD, USU's last 80-yard pass for a TD... Utah State is not on Louisiana Tech's "Last Time" list.

-USU-