Aggies Begin 2012 Football Season at Home Thursday Night

SOUTHERN UTAH at UTAH STATE

GAME ONE INFORMATION

Date: Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012

Kickoff: 6 p.m.

Location: Logan, Utah

Stadium: Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium (25,513)

Series: Utah State leads, 2-0

TV: KMYU (Comcast Ch. 22, Dish Network Ch. 12, DirecTV Ch. 12, Over-the-Air 2.2); Mychal Clanton (Play-by-Play), Kevin White (Analyst)

Radio: Utah State Sports Network; Al Lewis (Play-by-Play), Craig Hislop (Analyst)

Live Stats: UtahStateAggies.com

Twitter Updates: /USUFootball

YouTube: /USUAthletics

Facebook: /USUFootball

Tickets: 1-888-USTATE-1

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
 

• Utah State will kick off its 114th season of football Thursday, Aug. 30, when it hosts Southern Utah at 6 p.m. USU is 494-507-31 (.494) in its previous 113 seasons.
• Utah State will be opening a season at home for the first time under fourth year head coach Gary Andersen and for the 12th time since the 1959 season. Furthermore, USU will be opening a season with consecutive home games for the 25th time in school history, but for just the third time since the 1954 season as it hosts Utah Friday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m.
• Utah State is 36-14-1 (.716) all-time when it begins a season at home, and the last time it started a season at home was Aug. 30, 2007, when it faced UNLV (L, 23-16). The last time USU started a season at home with a win was Aug. 31, 1996, when it defeated Utah (20-17). Overall, USU has lost each of its last three home openers to start a season.
• Utah State is playing Southern Utah for the third time in series history and holds a 2-0 all-time record against the Thunderbirds as it defeated SUU, 30-14, Sept. 7, 2000, and then posted a 53-34 win against SUU Sept. 26, 2009, with both games being played in Logan.
• Utah State has 55 players on its roster from the state of Utah, while Southern Utah has 45 players on its roster from the Beehive state.
• Utah State head coach Gary Andersen spent the 2003 season as the head coach of Southern Utah, leading the Thunderbirds to a 4-7 record. Overall, Andersen is 1-0 in games versus Southern Utah with USU's 53-34 home win against the Thunderbirds Sept. 26, 2009, which was his first home game at the Aggies' helm and his first USU win.
• Utah State will be looking for its sixth-straight regular season win dating back to 2011 and that five-game regular season winning streak ranks tied for the eighth-longest active streak in the nation along with Baylor. LSU has the longest active regular season winning streak at 12, followed by Georgia (10), Arkansas State (9), Northern Illinois (9), Louisiana Tech (7), TCU (7), Virginia Tech (7), USU and Baylor.
• Utah State has won each of its last two home games and is 10-7 at home under Andersen, including a 5-1 non-conference record and a 3-0 record against in-state opponents. Those five non-conference home wins were against Southern Utah (53-34, 2009), Idaho State (38-17, 2010), BYU (31-16, 2010), Weber State (54-17, 2011) and Wyoming (63-19, 2011), while its one non-conference home loss was to Colorado State (35-34, 2OT, 2011). All-time, USU is 115-95 (.548) at Romney Stadium.

UTAH STATE OPENS 2012 SEASON AT HOME AGAINST SOUTHERN UTAH

Utah State will kick off its 114th season of football Thursday, Aug. 30, when it hosts Southern Utah on Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium at 6 p.m. The game will be televised regionally on KMYU (Comcast Ch. 22, Dish Network Ch. 12, DirecTV Ch. 12, Over-the-Air 2.2) with Mychal Clanton (play-by-play) and Kevin White (analyst) on the call. Live audio and streaming of the game is also available on www.UtahStateAggies.com. Live stats will also be available through GameTracker, while Twitter updates — @USUFootball — will also be a part of Utah State's game day coverage.

A LOOK AT UTAH STATE

Utah State returns 19 starters (O-8, D-6, S-5) and 44 lettermen (O-19, D-20, S-5) from last year's team that finished with a 7-6 record and tied for second-place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 5-2 mark as it participated in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (L, 24-23 vs. Ohio), its first bowl game since 1997. Highlighting Utah State's returners is junior center Tyler Larsen who earned first-team all-WAC honors a year ago. Along with Larsen, USU returns seven other starters on offense (WR-Matt Austin; WR-Chuck Jacobs; QB-Chuckie Keeton; QB-Adam Kennedy; LT-Oscar Molina-Sanchez; RT-Eric Schultz; RB/KR-Kerwynn Williams), six starters on defense (FS-McKade Brady; LB-Bojay Filimoeatu; DT-Al Lapuaho; CB-Nevin Lawson; LB-Tavaris McMillian; CB-Jumanne Robertson) and five special teams starters (P-Tyler Bennett; PK/H-Jaron Bentrude; KO-Jacob Haueter; LS-Nate Needham; PK-Josh Thompson).

**Read much more in the full summary at the Athletics website (http://www.utahstateaggies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082612aab.html)

Utah State Football Game Notes

Southern Utah Football Game Notes

Additional Aggie sports news is available at the Athletics website.