FACTS & STATS: Site: Spartan Stadium (30,000) -- San Jose, California. Television: None. Home Record: USU 1-2, SJSU 2-0. Away Record: USU 0-2, SJSU 1-2. Neutral Record: USU 0-0, SJSU 0-0. Conference Record: USU 1-0, SJSU 1-0. Series Record: San Jose State leads, 19-10-1.

GAME NOTES: Back on a regular schedule, the Utah State Aggies take their act to San Jose this Saturday to do battle with the Spartans in a Western Athletic Conference showdown. Last week, the Aggies hit the field in Romney a day earlier than usual as they entertained eighth-ranked BYU, a meeting that resulted in a 34-14 win for the visitors. The setback was the fourth in five games so far this season for a USU program that opened its conference slate with a 42-17 triumph versus Idaho back on September 20th. As for the Spartans, they've been alternating wins and losses since the campaign began with a 13-10 win over UC Davis at the end of August. Most recently the program posted yet another three-point victory, this one a 20-17 final versus Hawaii back on September 27th in Honolulu. Last season, San Jose State picked up a 23-20 win over the Aggies, pushing the squad to a 19-10-1 advantage in the all-time series. Although it has no bearing on this week's game, the Spartans began the series by shutting out the Aggies in five consecutive meetings between 1940-1955. Utah State has defeated the Spartans just once since 1985, posting a 24-17 triumph at home three seasons ago.

By the time the Aggies put their only two touchdowns on the board against BYU last week the team was already trailing by 34 points and eventually fell by 20 at home. The passing duo of Diondre Borel and Sean Setzer converted 16-of-27 passes for 193 yards and a score, with the former being sacked three times and intercepted once. Tarren Lloyd had just a single catch in the outing, yet it was the lone scoring toss made by Borel. After five games this season the offensive line has still found it difficult to keep both Borel and Setzer standing upright, allowing an average of 2.8 sacks per game to rank sixth in the WAC and 110th in the nation entering this week. Extremely slow starters thus far, the Aggies have scored a total of just seven points in the first quarter to this point, compared to 69 points for the competition. Borel, who is second on the team in rushing with 257 yards on 68 attempts, has completed 56.7 percent of his passes for six touchdowns and three interceptions.

Less than 14 minutes into the first quarter the Aggies were faced with a 24-0 deficit and were never able to recover. Oddly enough, in that first frame USU's defense limited the Cougars to a mere 3:18 of ball possession, which just goes to show how some stats came mean so little in the grand scheme of things. Jake Hutton and De'Von Hall tied for the game-high with 10 tackles apiece, while Ben Calderwood made both of his stops behind the line of scrimmage and logged the only sack of the game for Utah State. Hutton leads the program with his 43 stops thus far, with Calderwood tied for the lead with 3.5 tackles for loss. Giving the Aggies the most trouble has been opponents and their running games, at this point allowed to generate a whopping 195 ypg which means USU ranks 103rd in the nation. Add that to a pass defense that is giving up 240.8 ypg (94th nationally) and you have the 114th-ranked scoring defense in the country this week, permitting an uncomfortable 40.4 ppg.

On the ground the Spartans have been led by Yonus Davis with his 326 yards on 59 attempts, an average of five and a half yards per carry, yet he has just a single touchdown to his credit. Similarly, Brandon Rutley has gained 182 yards and is averaging almost six yards per attempt, but he too has made it into the end zone only once. On the other hand, quarterback Kyle Reed seems to be calling his own number quite a bit when down in the red zone, with four of his 60 carries going for scores. Reed has done rather well by converting 72.8 percent of his pass attempts, yet he has just four touchdowns to his credit, against two interceptions. As a unit the Spartans currently rank not only last in the WAC but also 101st in the nation in total offense with just 311.6 ypg. A big part of the problem falls on the pass production, or lack thereof, considering the team is second-to-last in the nation in sacks allowed with four per game. That sort of production makes it easy to see why the group is 106th in the nation in scoring with a mere 18 ppg.

Despite having a shoddy offense, the Spartans seem to know how to put together a strong defense for the most part. The squad has held three opponents to 17 points or less thus far, with only a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska really getting out of hand in the second week of the season. The pass defense that head coach Dick Tomey has put on the field is third-best in the WAC and 42nd in the country with 186.6 ypg allowed. More importantly, the unit has a pass efficiency defense rating of just 96.54, which is tops in the conference and ninth in the nation behind power programs such as top-ranked Oklahoma, Arizona, Cal and Penn State at the moment. Turnover margin seems to be a key factor in that stat, with the team now first in the conference and 12th in the nation with a plus-1.20 turnovers per game. In addition to his three forced fumbles, Carl Ihenacho is first on the unit with seven TFLs and tied with Justin Cole with his five sacks in as many games.

With as many sacks as the Aggies give up these days, Ihenacho and Cole will be licking their chops when they approach the line on every snap. Assume the pair will cause enough havoc to cause Utah State to fail in its bid to pick up a rare road win this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: San Jose State 23, Utah State 10

Saturday, October 11th, 8:00 p.m. (et).