Utah State Takes Steps After a Taste of the Postseason
Utah State Takes Steps After a Taste of the Postseason
It's easy to overlook Utah State.
The Aggies play in the Rocky Mountain Conference with some higher-profile teams, such as BYU, Utah, Air Force, Colorado, and Colorado State. But USU has done pretty well for itself as a rugby entity, and last year made the semis of the D1A Challenge Cup.
Nobody else might have expectations, but Utah State does.
"We saw where we could go in the Challenge Cup," said flyhalf and team leader Matt Gatherum. "Before going into that we hadn't thought about it, about how we stand up on a national level. But we think we can pick up where we left off."
Opening the season, Utah State beat Air Force 40-29. Gatherum scored twice and fullback and captain Austin Clark added a try, two conversions, and a penalty. Lock Holden Mickell and hooker Franco Tellechea also scored tries, with Tellechea adding two penalties and a conversion.
Adding to that was scrumhalf Calvin Wilson, who showcases a high work rate and keep the tempo of the game moving, and outside center Roman Walker, who has developed nicely in the midfield.
For Gatherum, this
For Gatherum, however, this is a team that is starting to embrace the idea of making a splash nationally.
"We came out of the Challenge Cup realizing that we need to be better at execution," said the flyhalf. "Against GCU it wasn't what we wanted and we learned a lot. We have kept our character and we're working well as a team, but we needed to execute."
Against Air Force, that execution helped them score 40 points. But, Gatherum said, they still need to do better.
But it's a start, and already an indication that the idea of the Challenge Cup has legs. Playing and winning, as the Aggies did against UC Santa Cruz in the first round of last year's Challenge Cup, gave them a taste of success outside of their conference. Losing to GCU told them they still have a ways to go.
But you don't get there if you don't start moving.
