| 82. Utah State Aggies |
| #5 in Mountain West |
Matt Wells probably built up enough good will in his first couple years in Logan, that retaining his job after last year wasn’t a massive surprise. But he might not want to extend Utah State’s streak of losing seasons from three seasons to four. Fortunately, the Aggies are a prime candidate for a bounceback season, returning 18 starters, including a freshman quarterback from a team that still went .500 in conference play, despite going 0-3 in one score games. Senior Kent Myers began the year as the starter, before splitting time, and eventually giving way to redshirt freshman Jordan Love. It’s not like Love lit the world on fire. Aside from a big game in a 52 point explosion at UNLV, his QBR was below average in his other 5 starts. Wells bet on him being the future, and was betting that Wells himself had a future with Utah State. They’ll get tested out of the gate, opening on the road at Michigan State. What the Spartans will notice right away is an offensive line that doesn’t look like your typical mid-major offensive line. All five starters, including a pair of all-Mountain West players return, led by left tackle Roman Andrus. At 6’4” and over 300 pounds, he looks like an NFL prospect. He is joined by senior Quin Ficklin at center, a BYU transfer, who is 25 years old, and a converted fullback. With a lack of experience under center, he’s is the vocal leader of the offense. The program has been built on defense, and it remains to be seen how defensive coordinator Kendrick Shaver’s move to Washington State will impact an experienced defense. One thing the Aggies will do, is hit you. They are led by a pair of inside linebackers in Suli Tamaivena and Chase Ferguson who combined for over 200 a year ago. Gaje Ferguson is listed as a safety, but hits like a linebacker, and comes up into the box frequently. They do need far more production from their outside linebackers in a 3-4 defense. Neither Dalton Baker or Justus Te’i recorded a sack a year ago, and that is a near necessity in this scheme.
Key Players| TE | | Dax Raymond, Junior |
| T | | Roman Andrus, Senior |
| K | | Dominik Eberle, Junior |
| . | |
| LB | | Suli Tamaivena, Senior |
| LB | | Chase Christiansen, Senior |
| S | | Gaje Ferguson, Senior |
| 81. Rutgers Scarlet Knights |
| #13 in Big Ten |
Rutgers is nowhere near where they need to be, but defensively they are getting there. The offense is still leaps and bounds away from even being competent. By S&P+, the Scarlet Knights had the 5th worst offense in the FBS a year ago, mainly due to a non-existent passing game. Rutgers fell behind, and had no means by which to catch up, averaging 115 ypg through the air, on only 5.0 ypa, 2nd worst in the nation. Louisville transfer Kyle Bolin was supposed to be the fix, but he was benched after 5 games with a QBR of 27.7. Only Michigan’s Wilton Speight had a worse one among Big Ten starters. Sophomore Giovanni Rescigno was a little better, but not much. In the horrible season finale against Michigan State, where they had only 12 minutes of possession, they finally turned to Johnathan Lewis, and he may have been the worst of the bunch. Ash turned to Rescigno with an eye to the future, but it’s likely he isn’t the future, that is likely arriving in true freshman Artur Sitkowski, an early enrollee, and Miami flip, who was Rutgers’ highest rated recruit in 2018. Depending on how he looks, the more mobile, but far less polished passer, Jalen Chatman, who is also there for spring practice, could be the backup. The defense was supposed to be in much better shape, particularly the secondary. However, the unexpected decision of Kiy Hester to transfer has left a gaping hole. He was easily the best player on the Scarlet Knights’ defense, and helped erase a lot of errors in front of him. Damon Hayes is a sure thing at corner, but it was Hester who made the entire defense work. Although it’s transfer in, transfer out. After losing his starting spot in Chestnut Hill last year, Rutgers added Jon Hilliman as a grad transfer from Boston College (who may get Hester), who has run for over 2,200 yards in his career. Running behind all-Big Ten Tariq Cole would be smart, because the rest of the line could be a mess.
Key Players| RB | | Jon Hilliaman, Senior |
| TE | | Jerome Washington, Senior |
| T | | Tariq Cole, Senior |
| . | |
| LB | | Trevor Morris, Senior |
| LB | | Deonte Roberts, Senior |
| CB | | Damon Hayes, Junior |
