Utah State Football

Blake Anderson, the head football coach at Utah State, has apologized after making demeaning comments about sexual assault victims to his players during camp earlier this year. 

“In the course of that conversation, I used a phrase regarding victims of wrongdoing to magnify that message to our team, but after reading my comments in the transcript that was released, I realize my choice of words was hurtful,” Anderson said in a statement, per the Associated Press. “I regret the words I used, and I apologize to anyone who has bravely come forward with allegations of wrongdoing.”

Anderson could be heard saying it “has never been more glamorized to be the victim” of sexual assault in a recording obtained by Courtney Tanner and Jessica Miller of The Salt Lake Tribune before Utah State's game against Oregon State on Saturday in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. 

The recording was mentioned in a lawsuit filed earlier this week by a female student who alleges Utah State "mishandled her sexual assault report involving a football player," per the AP.

In a separate recording obtained by theTribune, Utah State University police chief Earl Morris could be heard warning football players about having sex "with women who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because they might later feel regret and report it as nonconsensual."

Players "laughed and hollered in response to Morris’ comments," per Tanner and Miller. 

Anderson is in his first season as head coach of the Aggies, who enter Saturday's game against Oregon State with a 10-3 record. He previously coached Arkansas State from 2014-20. 

Utah State football team players have opted out of their regular-season finale Saturday against Colorado State, citing alleged comments from university president Noelle Cockett regarding interim head coach Frank Maile's religious and cultural background.

The team issued a statement to Brett McMurphy of Stadium that began as follows:

"The Utah State football players have decided to opt out of our game against Colorado State due to ongoing inequality and prejudicial issues between the players, coaches, and the USU administration.

"On Tuesday, December 8th, the Utah State University Football Leadership Council held a zoom meeting with Noelle Cockett, President of USU, and John Hartwell, the Athletic Director. The purpose of the meeting was to have a say in the search for our new head coach. During the meeting, we voiced our support for Interim Head Coach Frank Maile.

"In response to our comments, their primary concern was his religious and cultural background. Players, stating their diverse faiths and backgrounds, then jumped to Coach Frank Maile’s defense in treating everyone with love, equality, and fairness."

USU interim head coach Frank Maile took over for Gary Anderson, who was fired after an 0-3 start. Maile has won one of his three games.

The 38-year-old Maile, who is Polynesian, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a defensive lineman at Utah State from 2004-2007 and worked as the team's co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach in 2020 before his promotion.

Maile will not be the team's new head coach, as Utah State has reportedly reached an agreement with Arkansas State's Blake Anderson, per Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press.

The team's statement to McMurphy also included allegations of "repeated discrimination" within the USU program:

"It is not the first time issues of repeated discrimination have happened. In December 2019, our head equipment manager used a racial slur against one of our African-American teammates. After disregarding the incident, pressure resurfaced to investigate in the summer of 2020. After the investigation, the administration concluded he would continue to be employed."

Per Jason Walker of the Utah Statesman, Maizee Thompson, whose partner is ex-Utah State defensive lineman Devon Anderson, levied the following allegation against Michael Bair, the athletic director for equipment operations, in July:

https://twitter.com/MaizeeThompson/status/1279967637506625539

The statement closed with support for the new head coach and a desire for a better and more inclusive community at USU and Logan, Utah, where the school is located:

"We want our message to be clear that this has nothing to do with the hiring of Coach Blake Anderson, the recently-named head coach of the program. We are sure he is an excellent coach; we look forward to meeting him and his staff. We are highlighting the ongoing problems of inequality and want to create a better future for the community of Logan and Utah State University."

McMurphy also outlined the team's thought process and decision-making leading to its call to sit out Saturday's scheduled game:

"The team’s leadership council raised issues about Cockett’s comments regarding Maile, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The players were so 'dumbfounded' by Cockett’s comments that a player conducted an anonymous players-only survey asking the players if they were on the zoom call and whether they were concerned about anything they heard in the meeting."

McMurphy reported that "about three-fourths of the team" that issued a response by Thursday expressed concerns regarding the alleged bias against Maile. The players notably responded on an individual basis.

USU players "unanimously voted" to sit the season's closing game following a players-only meeting. The coaching staff was made aware afterward.

Utah State football head coach Gary Andersen told reporters on a conference call last week that opting out of the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic is not an option for Aggies players.

"At least in our program, we don't have an opt-out. And it's not an option," Andersen said, per Julie Jag of the Salt Lake Tribune.

"If you opt out, you're not with us."

Per Jag, representatives from Utah State's athletics department told her that "Andersen did not feel comfortable responding to a request to clarify his comments." 

No Aggies players have opted out, but NCAA rules stipulate that they can do so, per Jag. The same goes for all NCAA athletes, who can sit out the entire season without losing their eligibility. They would also keep their scholarships, including textbooks, room and board.

On Friday, Andersen walked those previous comments back during an interview with 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City (h/t Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports):

"I used the word 'policy'—we don't have a policy. That was the wrong word. We have an opt-out form. We have discussed this with the team many, many times. The word 'policy' in my mind...I was basically saying we have no one in that situation in our football team right now that has opted out. So our policy...doesn't exist right now, we're not using it. I should have, obviously, clarified that much cleaner and said that we have nobody who has opted out, or is opting out, in our football program."

He also added, per Kercheval: "Our kids, if they did decide to opt out, we are in support of that." 

Utah State, a member of the Mountain West Conference, will play an eight-game intraleague schedule starting Saturday, Oct. 24, at Boise State. The Mountain West Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19.

The MWC initially postponed all fall sports indefinitely amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Aug. 10. Other conferences, like the Big Ten and Pac-12, opted to do the same.

However, as other leagues reversed course, so did the Mountain West Conference, which announced a plan for a shortened season in late September.

The Frisco Bowl against 6-6 Kent State on Dec. 20 reportedly may be Utah State junior quarterback Jordan Love's final game with the Aggies.

"If he doesn't enter the NFL Draft, Utah State QB Jordan Love is contemplating a grad transfer, per source," Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel reported Monday. "Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Houston [are] all possible destinations. No decision made. NFL Draft grade will weigh heavily."

Love has thrown for 3,085 yards, 17 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, while Utah State went 7-5. 

Dating back to 2017, Love has registered 8,283 yards, 57 touchdowns and 28 interceptions on 60.7 percent completion across 37 games. 

Love was at his best last season. He posted career-highs in yards (3,567), touchdowns (32) and completion percentage (64.0). His 2018-19 campaign fueled speculation that he would become a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft. 

The Athletic's Dane Brugler told the Locked On Colts Podcast on Dec. 6 that Love might still be in play as Indianapolis' first-round selection come April.

"I know (general manager) Chris Ballard, he's spent extensive time looking at Jordan Love this year. Love is maybe one of the few guys that the NFL loves a lot more the public seems to just because I know the stats aren't great. Has not had a great year. But context matters in terms of what he's been asked to do this year. Brand new coaching staff, one of his offensive lineman returning—that was the only returning starter on that offense this year aside from Love.

"All things considered, when you just look at the tools, teams are gonna bet on those tools every time. So, Jordan Love, if he declares, he still has a very good chance to go in the first round, and I think the Colts would make some sense." 

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller, however, has Love as a third-round prospect in his latest three-round 2020 NFL mock draft posted Dec. 4.

The disparity between how different scouts are rating Love could sway his decision to return to college for one more season and ease any doubts. 

In terms of where Love could transfer, Oklahoma is the most intriguing landing place because of what head coach Lincoln Riley has been able to do with quarterbacks. On the heels of having back-to-back Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks—Baker Mayfield in 2018 and Kyler Murray last year—Riley has brought out the best in graduate transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts this year.

That track record has to be enticing to Love.

Editor's note: This article was first published on October 4, 2019.

       

Eighty miles north of the nearest major American city, in a college town at the foot of the Bear River Mountains, the most intriguing quarterback prospect in this year's draft class leans back in his chair and props his feet up on a table. A bag of candy hearts with the word "Heisman" printed on each sits nearby, part of a low-key media campaign from the school's sports information office.

Jordan Love pays it little attention.

He is nothing if not a chill guy, but this is likely to be one of the last quiet weeks he'll experience for quite some time. An early-season bye awaits Love and his Utah State teammates on this particular Saturday, and the hallways of the football offices are largely quiet, save for the pair of NFL scouts in team-logo windbreakers ambling toward the front doors.

In a way, Love admits all of this scrutiny is still a little strange, especially here in Logan, a town of about 50,000 residents that seems to enjoy its isolation from the outside world. Four years here, preceded by a childhood in Bakersfield, California, have gotten him accustomed to living in a bubble. He can't imagine what life is like for Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama or Trevor Lawrence at Clemson or Justin Herbert at Oregon, all of whom have been dealing with NFL expectations since they were freshmen. If Love had landed at a major program and began his career under that kind of microscope, he imagines he'd be miserable by now.

"Not too much going on in Logan," Love says. "It's a little hideout."

He landed here only partially by choice: His only FBS scholarship offer came from Utah State. But that twist of fate allowed Love time to learn and grow at his own pace over the past four years, both physically and emotionally. And he desperately needed that time to find himself, particularly after the sudden death of his father threatened to devastate his psyche.

That time out of the spotlight is now nearing its end. These days, the NFL finds you wherever you are, and after a stellar redshirt sophomore season, scouts found Jordan Love in a big way. And what they've seen is a player who appears to possess a tantalizing combination of some of the college game's most celebrated talents in recent years.

At 6'4" and 225 pounds, he is long, lean and athletic, with enough power to break tackles and enough elusiveness and arm strength to make creative and accurate throws on the run. With a hint of Patrick Mahomes' improvisational ability, he'll sidearm a pass to a running back while under pressure, or make a seemingly ill-advised throw across his body that lands softly in his receiver's hands 40 yards downfield. He also has a trace of Daniel Jones' versatility and carries himself with a touch of Marcus Mariota's laid-back nature. His emergence out of the oft-overlooked Mountain West Conference echoes the rise of Josh Allen at Wyoming, and Love's childhood reverence for Michael Vick is apparent whenever he scrambles out of trouble and hurls a deep pass to a streaking receiver.

With every game Love plays, pro scouts are falling harder and harder for him, because he's made playing the most difficult position in football appear comparatively easy.

"He's a really natural thrower—it almost looks effortless for him," one college scout says. "He can make every kind of throw. He doesn't seem to strain to do anything."

On Saturday, Love will play the most consequential football game of his career when Utah State faces No. 5 LSU. If he performs well, he could not only establish Utah State as the team to beat in a loaded Mountain West, but he also might further a long-shot Heisman campaign and cement his status as one of the three best draft-eligible quarterbacks of the 2020 class. A number of NFL and talent evaluators, including Bleacher Report's Matt Miller, believe Love could wind up as the second quarterback chosen next April, perhaps even a top-10 pick behind only Tagovailoa.

"Tua's almost a little bit more like a robot," Miller says. "With Justin Herbert [at Oregon], there are some concerns about the mental aspects. I don't think that's an issue with Jordan Love."

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Love is a near-certainty to become the first Utah State quarterback drafted since 1989. He could still choose to return for his senior season next fall, but if he keeps putting up the numbers he has thus far, he might soon become the most high-profile Aggie in the NFL since Hall of Fame defensive tackle Merlin Olsen.

Nearly every day now, NFL scouts show up at the school's practice facility and pepper Aggies veteran offensive coordinator Mike Sanford with questions. Sanford worked with Andrew Luck at Stanford and helped to bring Ian Book to Notre Dame after originally recruiting him while at Boise State. And he doesn't hesitate to say now that Love has everything you need to play in the NFL, including a league-friendly attitude.

"He's such a humble kid, man," Sanford says. "Seeing a press clipping or being on some kind of top-10 list doesn't do anything for him. He doesn't get too excitable about things that aren't real."

To Love, all of this attention is still a bit surreal, in large part because his rise has been so meteoric. As a high school freshman, he was a scrawny wide receiver who got beat out for the starting job on the junior varsity team at Liberty High in Bakersfield. By the time Love was playing quarterback as a senior, he put up strong numbers but was rated a 2-star recruit by Rivals.com. He was courted mostly by FCS schools like Eastern Washington.

Six years later, he's on the verge of living out his father's dream of having his son play in the NFL.

As much as it frustrates Love that his father Orbin isn't here to witness his gradual rise, he keeps what he learned from his dad with him—not to get caught up in his own hype.

"It is kind of sinking in, yet at the same time, you can't really let it sink in," Love says. "But growing up and wanting to be in the NFL your whole life, the time is here where it's like, 'It can happen.'"

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Love's inherent humility is a trait both of his parents shared. Orbin Love spent decades as a Bakersfield police officer, and his mother, Anna—who declined to be interviewed for this story, telling her son she "isn't good at that stuff"—is a California Highway Patrol officer based in Bakersfield who travels to every one of her son's games, no matter the distance.

Orbin, a junior college running back and quarterback, nudged his son toward football, and particularly toward quarterback, a position that would allow Jordan to initiate the action on offense. Still, in his preteen years, after dabbling in pretty much every sport you can imagine (including gymnastics, which he hated), Jordan progressed more quickly as a basketball player.

But in July 2013—the summer before Jordan's sophomore year of high school—Orbin, after a prolonged struggle with his mental health, killed himself while Jordan was away at a youth basketball game.

After his father's death, Jordan retreated into a shell and considered quitting sports altogether. But he soon found that the football field became both a sanctuary and a way of honoring his father's memory.

As a senior, he threw for more than 2,000 yards. Still, he viewed himself largely as an outsider in the sport. He never much enjoyed attending quarterback camps, where the attention was often given to more high-profile prospects.

"I was a little bit smaller, skinny," Love says. "My arm strength wasn't there yet. I just didn't know who I was yet, really."

Even after his family hired well-known Southern California quarterback guru Steve Clarkson to coach him, he was mostly viewed as too raw—at 6'3" and 180 pounds—to make it at the FBS level. Sanford, his current offensive coordinator, considered offering Love a scholarship while he was an assistant at Boise State, but he instead went after Ian Book.

"Jordan was kind of a project with, obviously, what's proven to be insane amounts of upside," Sanford says. "I will say this: For every 10 tall, lanky, skinny, not strong, not developed quarterbacks with long motions, one of them turns into a Jordan Love."

Utah State head coach Matt Wells had the time to see the process through.

Love redshirted as a true freshman in 2016 while the Aggies struggled through a 3-9 season, then took over the starting job in the second half of the 2017 season. In 2018, Love threw for more than 3,500 yards, 32 touchdowns and only six interceptions, guiding Utah State to an 11-2 record.

That success propelled Wells to the Texas Tech job, but when new head coach Gary Andersen and Sanford arrived this past offseason, they decided to keep the basic structure of the offense Love had thrived in last year. That meant Love could focus on the little things—processing information faster, reading defenses and connecting with a corps of competent receivers.

In a way, Sanford says, Love is almost a throwback in an NFL now obsessed with shorter quarterbacks who can release the ball more quickly. But Sanford adds that Love's release is incredibly quick for someone of his size. And his accuracy, his teammates say, is remarkable.

"Pretty sure it was my freshman year, and my first fall camp scrimmage," Utah State receiver Savon Scarver says. "He made this back-shoulder throw down the sideline. The defender was literally on the receiver's body, and the receiver's running full speed, and he put it right in the perfect spot. That's when I was, like, 'Man, this dude is something special.' He could always do that stuff. It's just that now, he's way more polished."

In an effort to take on a leadership role this season, Love says he's consulted with Utah State's mental performance coach, Richard "Doc" Gordin, who's suggested Love "find everybody's why" when trying to motivate his teammates. But ask Love himself what his why is, and he doesn't hesitate.

It hasn't been an easy journey, but he knows who he is now, and he knows exactly why he's doing this.

"For my family, and definitely my dad," he says. "The pride he would have had, I can feel it."

   

Michael Weinreb (@MichaelWeinreb) is the author of four books, including Season of Saturdays: A History of College Football in 14 Games.

The first day of college football bowl season is finally here, and it will feature six games throughout the course of the day.

In the 2018 New Mexico Bowl, Utah State will take on North Texas in the second bowl game of the postseason. The last time the Aggies won a bowl game was the 2014 New Mexico Bowl, and they will hope to break their two-bowl-game losing streak this year with another win in Albuquerque.

North Texas only has two bowl wins in the program's history, with one coming in 2002 and the other in 2013. The Mean Green are also on a two-bowl-game losing streak, which they will fight to break in one of their biggest bowl matchups yet.

Here's a look at the important information surrounding the game tomorrow, odds, a preview and predictions for the game.

     

New Mexico Bowl 2018

Date: Saturday, Dec. 15

Time (ET): 2:00 p.m.

Location: Dreamstyle Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Watch: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Tickets: ScoreBig.com

Over/Under: 68

Spread: Utah State (-7.5) 

Odds via OddsShark

     

Preview

The Utah State Aggies and the North Texas Mean Green will duke it out in an evenly matched battle when they meet at the Dreamstyle Stadium.

Utah State played consistently throughout the season, going 10-2 with the only two losses coming at the beginning and end of the season.

The Aggies also fell to ranked opponents in both of those matchups. They opened the season against Michigan State, holding their own and only losing by seven points, 38-31. After climbing up through the rankings by putting up huge numbers on the scoreboard all season, then-No. 14 Utah State fell to then-No. 21 Boise State, ruining the former's shot at a Mountain West Title.

Aggies quarterback Jordan Love ended the season with veteran numbers during Utah State's 10-game winning streak. The sophomore threw for 3,208 yards and 28 touchdowns, boasting a completion percentage of 65.8.

However, the quarterback showed his age in his lack of consistency—in a string of games towards the end of the season, he alternated between averaging 100 or so yards and one touchdown to over 300 yards and three or more touchdowns.

Darwin Thompson leads the team on the ground with 951 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, while senior Ron'quavion Tarver ranks first at wideout with 676 yards and seven touchdowns.

Similar to Utah State, North Texas was able to keep the majority of their opponents to low-scoring games. The first four games of the season saw the Mean Green scoring upwards of 40 points a game and opponents scoring from a low of seven points to a high of 23.

That being said, North Texas had three losses compared to the Aggies' two and faced a less-loaded schedule—they didn't take on any ranked teams throughout the regular season.

North Texas' quarterback boasts similar numbers to those of Love. With 3,734 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns and a completion rate hovering just under 65 percent, junior Mason Fine only has one year on Love.

The Mean Green's top running back—DeAndre Torrey—has rushed for 942 yards and 14 touchdowns, making it seem as though he'll go head-to-head with Thompson. Receiver Rico Bussey Jr. has caught 12 touchdowns and 1,017 yards on 68 receptions, trumping Tarver's wideout stats.

       

Prediction

Both teams seem to be evenly matched on the surface. They have quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers with similar stats. Both teams also haven't been totally consistent, with Love putting up inconsistent numbers towards the end of the season and North Texas not reliably putting points on the board. 

The #NewMexicoBowl should be a fun (and close) battle between Utah State and North Texas https://t.co/dhuF7I1GeG

— Athlon Sports (@AthlonSports) December 14, 2018

However, the difference lies in their schedule intensity, and that could play a role on the outcome of the game.

While Utah State took on teams like Michigan State and Boise State, North Texas played teams like Arkansas, Liberty, Rice and Florida Atlantic, to name a few. While these schools have the ability to play quality football, they are not Top 25 teams and are not comparable to the likes of Michigan State.

That being said, with a slightly more experienced team and a quality connection between Fine at quarterback and Bussey at wideout, the Mean Green may have the ability to keep the game tight, However, in the end, the Aggies will come out on top thanks to their strong offense and even stronger defense.

     

Aggies 38, Mean Green 31  

Utah State linebacker Jamaal Evans was charged with rape and forcible sodomy on Thursday stemming from an alleged assault that occurred in the early morning hours of June 18. 

According to KSL.com's Pat Reavy, Evans met a woman at an off-campus party and took her upstairs from the basement—where she and friends began the night—for drinks. 

"The next thing she remembered was waking up in the shower when she struck her head on a metal rack that was hanging over the shower head," the Cache County police report said, according to Reavy. "(She) stated she heard Jamaal ask her if she 'was good.'"

When a friend gained entry to the bathroom, "she found the woman 'completely nude' and 'hunched over and … completely incoherent,'" according to the police report, per Reavy. Investigators stated the woman "was too intoxicated to have given consent."

Per the police report, Evans "described what occurred as 'when you're in the moment and you want what you want, you just got to do it sometimes.'" Evans also allegedly said "he gave that girl what she wanted."

'Was I drunk? Honestly no," Evans told police. "Well not like out of my mind but I’m like a little buzzed because I don't drink a lot.'"

Evans, 19, redshirted his freshman year at Utah State.

Welcome to your one-stop destination for the moments you need to see this college football season. Bleacher Report will keep you up to date on the hottest highlights and wildest calls. Don't be the one person that missed out on the play of the game! 

Utah State Aggies defensive end Brady Holt was involved in a one-car accident Saturday afternoon near Willard, Utah, per Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune.

"Brady has been unconscious since they found him," Holt's mother Christy wrote on social media Monday (via Luhm). "This is what is most concerning to the doctors. They need him to wake up. We are praying for miracles for Brady. Thank you to all who have reached out to us, his sisters and our family. He is in the biggest fight of his life."

The Aggies released a statement on Twitter:

Our thoughts and prayers go out to freshman defensive end Brady Holt, who was injured in a car accident this past Saturday.

— USU Football (@USUFootball) May 16, 2016

The Utah Highway Patrol said Holt's SUV struck large wooden spools in a construction zone before it went back across the road and rolled in the median, per Mark Green of Fox 13 in Salt Lake City. Holt wasn't wearing a seat belt, and he was ejected from the vehicle. Paramedics flew him to Ogden Regional Hospital after reporting to the scene.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.

Utah State University quarterback Chuckie Keeton sprained the MCL in his right knee, head coach Matt Wells announced on Tuesday. He did not disclose when Keeton suffered the injury.

Continue for updates.

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Keaton to Miss 4-6 Weeks

Tuesday, Sept. 22

According to Dan Gartland of SI.com, Coach Wells told reporters on Tuesday that Keeton will miss the next four to six weeks after spraining the MCL in his right knee.        

Knee injuries have been a major issue for the redshirt senior, as his last two seasons have ended with knocks to the left knee. In 2013, Keeton tore his ACL and MCL, and he reaggravated the injury last season as well. 

Keeton threw for 537 yards in Utah State's first three games while rushing for an additional 75, and the Aggies are 1-2 entering conference play in Week 4.     

While his time has been limited at Utah State, he still has put up numbers, as the Salt Lake Tribune's Steve Luhm pointed out:

Chuckie Keeton has played 12 games since 2012 . Still, he's tied for first in career touchdowns at Utah State, second in total offense.

— Steve Luhm (@sluhm) September 22, 2015

Utah State has four other quarterbacks listed on its roster, and according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), sophomore Kent Myers will take over for Keeton. 

Myers started four games last season—all wins for Utah State—and appeared in the team's New Mexico Bowl victory over UTEP. So at least the Aggies won't be moving forward with an inexperienced quarterback. 

The sophomore will be thrown right into fire, though, as Utah State will face Mountain West Conference opponent Colorado State on Oct. 3. In a balanced offense that has seen the Aggies run 101 pass plays and 97 rushing, it looks like Myers is going to be busy. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.