Taking an optimistic and pessimistic view at the midpoint of Utah State’s season

It’s fair to say Utah State’s first half of the season has been disappointing, especially on offense.

The Aggies have scored a league-worst 11 touchdowns and started the season on the wrong foot after losing 29-17 at home to Idaho State. Since then they’ve improved some, but Utah State still enters its bye week with a 2-4 record.

There is an optimistic and a pessimistic way you could view how the Aggies’ season has gone so far.

The optimistic view would start by recognizing that Utah State derailed the start of the season with its performance against Idaho State and by starting quarterback McCae Hillstead.

There was plenty of excitement at quarterback after the Aggies named Hillstead the starter following spring camp. But on-field results show Utah State needs to focus on Grady Brosterhous as the QB1 going forward.

The path with both Hillstead and Brosterhous was shaky through the first six weeks. After Hillstead started and threw three interceptions against the Bengals, Utah State leaned on Brosterhous in the following weeks.

For a while, it was unclear whether that was due to an injury Hillstead sustained in that Week 1 loss or whether Brosterhous was the guy going forward. The Aggies tried playing both Hillstead and Brosterhous against Boise State, and brought Hillstead out for long-drive situations.

However, Hillstead didn’t produce, and the Aggies went back to using Brosterhous exclusively in Friday’s 17-16 win over Washington State.

Brosterhous has improved as the season has progressed. He’s cut down drastically on turnovers and has at least shown he can run the ball.

Eli Wood has also been the offense’s brightest spot. He’s made some highlight-worthy catches and leads the team with five touchdown receptions. He’s been by far Brosterhous’s favorite target.

Javon Robinson has shown the ability to catch and run for big yardage. Demick Starling had some big catches in the win over the Cougars.

While running the ball is a big weakness for Utah State, Javen Jacobs has had moments when the offense has fed him.

Frankly, the offense hasn’t been good enough this season, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t shown flashes of talent.

The optimistic view would be that Utah State can now focus solely on Brosterhous at quarterback, move forward as a more cohesive unit, and keep improving every week. The defense has been outstanding through most of the season, and even just a middling offense could be enough to fight for a bowl game.

But there’s also the pessimistic view, which may be just as true as the optimistic. That starts with understanding that Utah State simply doesn’t have, and likely will not have, a quarterback who can lead it to a bowl game.

While Brosterhous has been better than Hillstead, he’s still been very inaccurate and sometimes slow to make decisions. It also hasn’t helped that last year’s Achilles heel, the offensive line, hasn’t been fixed. Utah State leads the Pac-12 with 19 sacks against its quarterbacks.

Utah State has also been the worst Pac-12 team at running the ball. The offensive line has kept it from running the ball well this season, but it’s not the only reason. So far, Jacobs has been the only consistent running back. He’s run for 393 yards this season; the next closest running back is Noah White with just 12 yards.

Then comes the lack of discipline, which showed heavily in the road loss to Boise State and nearly cost it a game against Washington State. Through six games, Utah State has given up 50 penalties for 438 total yards.

The next closest team in the Pac-12 is Washington State, which has given up 384 yards on penalties.

Even placekicking is another weakness for the Aggies. Kicker Kian Afrookhteh has made only three of his six field-goal attempts.

With the offensive struggles and lack of a consistent placekicker, it’s easy to see why head coach Bronco Mendenhall has punted on fourth-and-short around midfield.

The offense hasn’t shown it can consistently move the sticks, and field-goal range has to be more conservative. With the defense being by far Utah State’s biggest strength, it is often better off playing to field position.

The pessimistic view ends with the idea that this is just who this year’s team is — that the Aggies don’t have the talent pool to recover from the poor start and their improvement just isn’t fast enough to get them there.

Either way, the season moves on, and Utah State has to win four of its six remaining games to prove who it is and why it deserves a bowl game.