Oct. 17, 2008
LOGAN, Utah -
Complete USU Supplemental Notes at Nevada in PDF Format 
GAME CAPTAINS -- Utah State football selects different captains each week. Those selected for the Nevada game are #10 senior QB Sean Setzer for the offense, #1 junior CB Kejon Murphy for defense and #2 senior CB Roy Hurst for special teams.
NO TV -- Saturday's USU-UNR game will not be televised.
ON THE AIR -- All Utah State football games are carried on KVNU 610 AM and KLZX 95.9 FM in Logan; 1230 AM in Salt Lake City; on KLZX 105.3 FM in Montpelier, Idaho, and on the Internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com by clicking on "Listen Live"... Al Lewis handles the play-by-play duties and Craig Hislop provides analysis.
ON THE INTERNET -- Saturday's Aggie-Wolf Pack game is streamed on the Internet by clicking on the "Watch Live" link at www.UtahStateAggies.com.
LIVE STATS - Fans can follow Saturday's game through live stats by clicking on "Live Stats" on the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com.
USU EMBARKING ON NEW FRONTIER -- For the first time ever, Utah State is able to fly out of out of Logan-Cache Airport... Previously, the team has had to bus from Logan to Salt Lake City to get on a charter flight... The difference in departure and arrival airport is expected to cut down at least two hours on either side of the trip... The team will have only a 10 minute bus ride from campus to the Logan airport compared to the previous trips of an hour and a half to two hours from campus to the SLC airport... For its first flight of the season on Aug. 29, the flight from Logan to Las Vegas, Nev. took 1:02, faster than the previous time from Logan to the SLC airport.
TRAVEL PLANS -- Utah State will fly from Logan to Reno, Nev., on Friday afternoon, and return on Saturday night after the game. Zach Fisher (C: 435-213-0318) of the athletic media relations staff will travel to the game.
A USU WIN WOULD...
• Be the ninth visiting win in the last 10 meetings in the Aggie-Wolf Pack series as Nevada's win in 2006 was the only home victory in that stretch.
• Snap Nevada's three-game winning streak in the series.
• Be USU's third win over Nevada at Reno in the Aggies' last four visits there.
• Snap Nevada's three-game winning streak in the series.
• Be the Aggies' first win in the state of Nevada, snapping a two-game losing streak in the Silver State.
• Improve Utah State to 2-1 in WAC play for the first time in the Aggies' four seasons in the conference and be USU's first 2-1 league start since opening Big West Conference play 3-0 in 2000.
• Be USU's third road win in six away games, as the Aggies have gone 2-3 in their last five road games, winning the final two away games last season and losing the first three of this year.
• Turn the "A" Blue.
A USU LOSS WOULD...
• Be USU's second loss in a row at Reno.
• Be the Aggies' third-consecutive loss in the state of Nevada.
• Be Utah State's fourth loss in a row to Nevada.
• Be USU's fourth road loss in a row after consecutive away game victories last year.
• Be the Aggies' 22nd loss in their last 25 games, 27th loss in the last 31 games and 33rd loss in the last 39 games.
• As always, be not as good as a win.
USU IN NEVADA -- Utah State is 9-9 (.500) in games in the state of Nevada, going 6-4 at UNLV, 2-5 at Reno and 1-0 at Las Vegas, winning the 1997 Las Vegas Bowl, 42-33 over Ball State, the Aggies' last bowl victory... USU has lost its last two games in Nevada, losing at UNLV in the season-opener, 27-17, on Aug. 30 and losing at Nevada, 42-0, in 2006... This is the first time since 1997 that the Aggies are playing two games in the state of Nevada, when USU played at Nevada, winning 38-19, and then playing in the aforementioned Las Vegas Bowl... Overall, USU has a 16-20 record against teams from the Silver State.
110 / 116 -- USU is taking the field for the 110th season of football in 116 years. The Aggies beat Utah, 12-0, in 1892, but then did not field a team until 1896, when they again only played one game but then played every year since with the exceptions of 1918 when to World War I and influenza cancelled the season and 1943 due to World War II.
BRRRRING YOUR LONG JOHNS -- The annual Utah State-Nevada match-up has meant chilly temperatures the last three meetings, as the average temp has been 41... Last season at Logan, it was 36 at kickoff with cold and rain... In 2006 at Reno, it was 46 at kickoff but the mercury dropped rapidly and the wind, rain and snow with it... In 2005, it was clear, but only 42 degrees.
WATCH LIST PLAYERS -- Saturday's game features two different award watch lists, as both teams have a Rimington Trophy Award watch list, honoring the best center in college football: USU features senior Ryan Tonnemacher while Nevada counter with senior Dominic Green, those are two of the four centers in the WAC... Saturday will also feature three of the four Butkus Trophy watch list linebackers from the WAC: USU totes senior Jake Hutton and junior Paul Igboeli while UNR has Josh Mauga.
OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOUGH -- Utah State's senior twin brother tandem of cornerback Joshua (#23) and safety Caleb Taylor (#39) are a brotherly duo that are one of just eight pairs brother teammates in Division I. The Taylors are one of three tandems who are twins... Below is the most recent listing of current brothers starting for the same college team, including San Jose State's brother tandem of Carl and Duke Ihenacho... Last Saturday's Utah State-San Jose State match-up is this season's only such regular-season occasion involving two teams from this list:
School Brothers (Positions)
California Eddie (Jr., LB) and Sean Young (Sr., WR)
Ole Miss John (Jr., OL) and Peria Jerry (Sr., DT)
Rutgers Twin brothers Devin (Jr., CB) and Jason McCourty (Sr., CB)*
San Jose St. Carl (Jr., DE) and Duke Ihenacho (So., LB)
Temple Twin brothers Elijah (So., OLB) and Elisha Joseph (So., DT)
UTAH STATE Twin brothers Caleb (Sr., FS) and Joshua Taylor (Sr., CB)
Virginia Tech Cam (Jr., OLB) and Orion Martin (Sr., DE)
Wyoming Marcell (So., CB) and Tashaun Gipson (Fr., CB)
*Devin McCourty redshirted his freshman season at Rutgers while his twin brother Jason did not redshirt, thus their different years in school.
The Taylors have 43 combined starts and played 74 combined games, believed to be the most combined starts and games played among the brother tandems.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE -- According to the NCAA, Utah State has the toughest schedule in the WAC for both games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams (ranked 35th overall) and for all games including games against FBS and Football Championship Series teams (No. 32 overall)... Nevada has the second toughest in the WAC in both categories:
FBS Only:WAC NCAARank Rank Team Cumulative Opposition Record Win Pct.1 35 Utah State 32-25 / .5612 T-65 Nevada 25-25 / .500
FBS and FCS:WAC NCAARank Rank Team Cumulative Opposition Record Win Pct.1 32 Utah State 41-25 / .6212 45 Nevada 38-26 / .594
GRASS VALLEY TRIO -- It's not the name of a traveling folk group, but three Utah State players hail from Grass Valley, Calif., a mere 87.6 miles from Reno according to Google maps... Juniors #3 S James Brindley, #16 K Chris Ulinski and #61 OG Brennan McFadden are all from Grass Valley and all three went to Nevada Union HS... Ulinski attended Nevada for one year, but did not play football, instead playing another sport involving an oblong shaped ball, playing on UNR's rugby team... Nevada has one player from Grass Valley in #20 sophomore SS Kevin Grimes, but he went to Bear River HS.
NUMBER OF FRESHMEN WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN 2008
Team Freshmen RS-Freshmen TotalFlorida State 22 9 31Georgia 12 12 24Eastern Michigan 11 13 24SMU 15 8 23Virginia Tech 9 14 23Miami 21 ** 21Alabama 15 6 21Toledo 15 6 21Minnesota 14 7 21Colorado 7 13 20Colorado State 5 15 20UCLA 11 8 19Arizona State 10 9 19Mississippi State 7 12 19
RECORD BOOK WATCH TACKLE CHART -- Senior linebacker Jake Hutton entered his final season in Aggie blue and white with 218 career tackles, in need of 95 more to reach USU's top 10 list, as Blake Eagal currently holds the No. 10 spot with 313 career stops from 1997-2000... After nine tackles in the San Jose State game, Hutton currently has 270 career tackles, leaving him 43 shy of cracking the top 10.
OSKIE RETURNS -- USU junior safety James Brindley tied for the team lead with three interceptions last season but led the Aggies with 96 return yards, a mark that ranked fourth in the WAC and was good for ninth on USU's single-season list... Brindley's 32-yard interception return in the Idaho game gives him 130 interception return yards for his career, moving him to No. 8 on USU's career INT return yardage list... He needs five more to reach No. 7, currently held by Grant Matrinsen (1964-66), while Chuck Detwiler is No. 6 with 140 yards from 1966-68.
JUST KICKIN' IT -- Placekicker Peter Caldwell is 44-of-44 (1.000) on PAT's, one of three Aggie kickers with a perfect career PAT percentage... Caldwell is now 16-of-26 (.615) on field goals for his career, needing three more makes and attempts to reach USU's career top 10 field goals list.
THREE USU PLAYERS NAMED TO PHIL STEELE'S MID-SEASON ALL-WAC TEAM -- Three Utah State football players were named to Phil Steele's Mid-Season all-Western Athletic Conference team, announced Wednesday by the publication. Senior LB Jake Hutton was named to the first-team, while senior DL Ben Calderwood was tabbed to the second-team and senior OC Ryan Tonnemacher collected third-team recognition.
Hutton, a native of Pocatello, Idaho (Highland HS), currently leads the Aggies with 52 tackles, ranking fifth in the WAC and tied for 41st in the nation in tackles per game with 8.7. He has 5.5 tackles for loss, including four in last Saturday's game at San Jose State, as well as one forced fumble. For his career, Hutton has 270 tackles, needing 43 to reach USU's career top 10 tackles list.
Calderwood, a Smithfield, Utah (Sky View HS) native, has 18 tackles on the season, ranking second among the Aggie defensive linemen and 10th on the team. He has a team-high one and a half sacks as part of three and half TFL's. Calderwood also has a recovered fumble, which came in the end zone for a touchdown in the Idaho game.
Tonnemacher (pronounced Tawn-uh-mawker) is a native of Chandler, Ariz. (Hamilton HS), and is a two-time Rimington Trophy Watch List honoree, an award given annually to the nation's most outstanding center in college football. Tonnemacher has made 32 starts in his Aggie career, tied with Hutton for the most among USU's active players.
Nevada had 13 players recognized, in QB Colin Kaepernick, RB Vai Taua, WR Marko Mitchell and OC Dominic Green on the first-team, OL Greg Hall, DL Dontay Moch, K Brett Jaeckle and P Brad Langley on the second-team and OL Alonzo Durham, DL Mundrae Clifton, LB Josh Mauga, LB Brandon Marshall and DB Uche Anyanwu on the third-team.
EACH OTHER'S LAST TIME LIST -- Nevada is referenced three times on Utah State's "Last Time" list: USU's last punt return for a touchdown was against Nevada last season, a 70-yarder by Kevin Robinson... Nevada was the last USU opponent to have 300 yards rushing against the Aggies, as the Wolf Pack ran for 302 last year... UNR's Luke Lippincott was the last opposing individual to amass 200 yards rushing on the USU defense, tallying 244 last season on 36 carries with two TD's... Utah State is not on Nevada's "Last Time" list, though Robinson's punt return for a TD is the last WAC opponent to do so, and the last before Texas Tech's Eric Morris had an 86-yard punt return for TD earlier this season on Sept. 6.
-USU-
