Call it defiance, optimism or naiveté, the Aggies believe they can turn things around

Nate Dreiling said it first. Then Ike Larsen followed, maybe not exactly word for word mirroring his coach but the sentiment was the same.
In the immediate aftermath of Utah State’s 32-point loss to Boise State over the weekend, neither Dreiling nor Larsen could be sure of exactly what Utah State football’s record is at the moment.
Or they didn’t want to be.
“What are we, 1-4 or 1-5?” Dreiling said.
“We are 1-4 or whatever,” Larsen said moments later “I don’t care.”
Why the outright dismissal of the Aggies’ record?
After all, wins and losses are ultimately what college football — really, sports at practically every level — is ultimately about.
Like Herm Edwards said when he was the coach of the New York Jets, “You play to win the game. Hello! You play to win the game.”
So again, why ignore the Aggies’ current standing, which is not good right now, all things considered?
Well, for one, USU is almost singularly focused on Mountain West Conference play at this point in the year. And as Larsen later said, the Aggies are 0-1 in conference play with six more league games to go. Sure, USU lost to Boise State, but that loss doesn’t mean the Aggies can’t win out and contend for the conference crown.
It is more than just that, though.
The Aggies are also aware that the schedule they’ve played thus far this season might be the most difficult in program history.
With USC, Utah and Boise State, Utah State played three teams that have been ranked in the top 25 this season.
Winning the majority — or any of those games — wasn’t a realistic possibility. And from here on out, outside of this Friday’s game against UNLV and a matchup with Washington State in early Nov, Utah State should be at or near the level of its competition every weekend.
As such, the 1-4 record really isn’t really indicative of how Utah State compares to the majority of its competition.
At least that is the hope.
More than anything else though, the dismissal of the team’s current record is about belief.
Call it defiance — which feels appropriate in Larsen’s case especially — or optimism, maybe even naiveté. Utah State believes that it has a special team this year. A group that won’t give up and is going to continue to work until the breakthrough comes.
“It has been a pretty rough start, not really what anybody wanted,” offensive lineman Cole Motes said. “But you know, this team, what we’ve found out about this kind of start to the season is we’ve been able to really lean on each other, through the adversity and all the stuff that has happened. It has been tough but also filled with a lot of learning experiences. Coaches say you learn a lot more from a loss than you do from a win, so we’ve been able to learn a lot these last couple of weeks and have really been able to lean on each other.”
He added: “We are really close and I believe we are going to get things rolling.”
Motes echoed what Dreiling has said all season, namely that the Aggies are missing on just the small details. A few plays made here and there and they may be 2-3 or even 3-2. Those plays haven’t gone USU’s way yet, but there is still a real belief that things are going to turn.
“I feel really good about this team,” Motes said. “Especially being on the offensive side of the ball. We mostly have the same team as last year up front and we feel like we’ve got all the things we need to be able to turn this thing around. We know that we are so close and one or two plays during the game could’ve been a big difference in these last couple games, the Utah game especially. We’ve been right in there.”
Motes, Dreiling, Larsen, whoever you talk to they all say that the Aggies’ haven’t given up either.
Even in the face of multiple blowout losses and the damaging loss at Temple.
“At the end of the day, I think we will be fine,” Larsen said. “If this group quits, I’ll be really surprised.”
As defensive lineman Bo Maile tells it, that belief comes in large part from Dreiling himself. Per Maile, USU’s interim head coach hasn’t wavered one bit this season since taking over the team in July.
It doesn’t matter what is happening, Dreiling has worked equally hard each and every day and his players have seen it.
“Obviously not the start we wanted and there were a lot of things that happened this year leading up to that,” Maile said. “The way I see Coach come out every day and continue to work has motivated me. And we will continue to take his example. He comes out every day regardless of what has gone on, and I think that motivates each and every one of us. Me personally, he has been a big inspiration for me.”
Belief is great and all, but the task of turning things around remains significant for Utah State.
Friday’s game against UNLV stands as another fierce test and the Aggies are dealing with significant injury issues on defense, a unit that has struggled mightily this season even when healthy.
Defensive tackles Miguel Jackson and Taz Williams are both out for the year, defensive end Enoke Miago is out for at least another month, another defensive end in Blaine Spires will miss at least a month and a half and yet another defensive end in Gabe Peterson has a rib injury that he tried to play through at Boise State but ultimately he couldn’t finish the game.
Dreiling won’t use the injuries as an excuse.
“Everyone’s got injuries and no one really cares about yours,” he said.
But the reality is the Aggies have to find/develop depth on the fly while trying to turn their season around. With the competition lightening some but not by all that much.
Can they do it? Dreiling thinks so.
“It is all about developing depth and getting people you can trust out there,” Dreiling said. “We don’t have a lot of guys coming back on defense up front so we just have to make sure we continue to get better.”
That kind of sums up Utah State right now.
Even with the odds against them, they still believe. Whether it be developing more talent or winning games. And they believe that turnaround can start this Friday against the Rebels.
“Going into this Homecoming Week, we know it is a big game,” Motes said. “We know it is a big event in the valley. So we are going to be ready to roll.”