Aggies' Dennehy basically concerned

Since Day 1 of spring practice and then again in the fall, Utah State head football coach Mick Dennehy has preached the fundamentals.

In the Aggies' 40-20 season opening loss to the University of Utah Thursday, it was the little things that let them down.

"I like some of the signs I saw, but I think we were too inconsistent," Dennehy said. "There are some fundamental things we have to get better at if we are going to get more consistent."

Those fundamentals: tackling and penalties.

"We didn't do a good job of getting our bonnets on them and wrapping up and tackling with our legs and our eyes," he said. "Fundamentally, that's one area I'm very concerned about."

Senior safety Derrek Shank concurred.

"We didn't stop the run and didn't tackle well," he said. "We lost our focus on the things we usually to everyday — the fundamental things."

Defensively, the Aggies (0-1) allowed 382 yards total offense (202 rushing and 180 passing). Utah running back Brandon Warfield rushed for 173 yards on 33 carries. Receiver Paris Warren hauled in seven catches for 103 yards.

"It was a lack of focus, that's all it was," Shank said. "We didn't play together as a team and we didn't trust each other. We'll get that fixed in any way — personnel, scheme, whatever. They're going to find people to play."

As for penalties, the Aggies were flagged eight times for 70 yards and one negated a 100-yard interception return by Mark Estelle early in the first quarter.

"That was one of those big momentum changes," Shank said. "We would have had more emotion from that. It's just one of those heartbreakers."

In the first half alone, the Aggie offense was inside the Utah 35-yard line four times, but scored only three points.

Numbers-wise, the Aggies did a much better job than last year in their 23-3 loss to the Utes. They surrendered 447 yards total offense (282 rushing) and turned the ball over three times.

Offensively, the Aggies amassed nearly 200 yards more than a year ago with 357 total yards. In his first start at quarterback, Travis Cox threw for 280 yards.

The biggest difference from last year, the Aggies rushed for 77 yards as opposed to a minus nine a year ago.

"There are some things we need to clean up," Dennehy said, "I think the big picture can be good."

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com