Utah State will kick off the 2024 season at home, just the second time since 2016 the Aggies will play their opening game on Merlin Olsen Field (though it’s also the second time in three seasons, so take that for data). USU will take on Robert Morris in the first full showcase of the season, a team out of the FCS side of Division I.
This is the first in a series of 12 opponent previews that will go in-depth on each of the Aggies foes for the 2024 football season.
Game Info
- Game Day: Aug. 31
- Location: Merlin Olsen Field (Logan, UT)
- Kickoff Time: TBA
Quick-Hit Numbers on Robert Morris
- 2023 Record: 4-7
- Returning Production Rank: N/A
- 2024 Preseason Consensus Ranking: N/A
History of Utah State vs Robert Morris:
This is the first-ever meeting between USU and Robert Morris. The Colonials have only ever played FBS teams (when said team was in FBS or 1-A at the time) a total of four times, all of which have occurred since the start of the 2019 season and all were blowout losses. Utah State has lost a total of seven games to lower division opponents since 1978 with only one (to Weber State in 2022) happening since the year 2000.
RMU Players to Watch
- Anthony Chiccitt (QB)
- Noah Robinson (WR)
- Landen Lucas (TE)
- Jamar Shegog (LB)
- William Barber (CB)
- Tizlan Muhammed (DE)
The Colonials in 2023
To start the year, the Colonials bounced between double-digit losses and double-digit wins. Their first game, against Air Force, was understandably a blowout loss but that game was followed up by a 31-21 win over Saint Francis, a 48-28 loss to Youngstown State, and then a 46-0 win over Lynchburg. Then things took a turn for the worse as Robert Morris lost four consecutive games to put its season record at 2-6. But, to close out the season they won two straight nail-biters, a 21-20 win over Southeast Missouri and a 14-12 victory against Charleston Southern which secured two wins in the Colonials final three games to have at least a 4-7 record, which appears a lot better than the 2-9 record they could have been staring in the face had those two late wins tipped the other way.
2024 Season Prospects
The Colonials are returning virtually all of its top players on the offensive end, from their quarterback, to their leading rushers and receivers. To this group they add Pittsburgh transfer Isaiah Stewart at wide receiver and also Nik Ognenovic, a former three-star tight end who spent time at Kentucky and Akron.
Even the offensive line is almost entirely intact, with only one player (who was a part time starter) out of the top seven linemen no longer with the team. The offensive line is of particular interest as five of those aforementioned top seven were underclassmen last year -- two of them redshirt freshmen. Internal development is the name of the game for Robert Morris' offense.
An offense that should be ready to hit the ground running contrasts the defense which is losing multiple key players. Linebacker Joe Casale, defensive back Jam Jackson and interior defensive lineman Noah Steverson, among others, will leave a lot of holes to be filled by up-and-comers. Though there are several poised to fill that gap. Seth Verilus at linebacker and Nathan Carabatsakis, a defensive end, played more limited roles last year but could step up big. And there are multiple key returners , namely linebacker Jamar Shegog, edge rusher Tizlan Muhammed and defensive back William Barber. All played big roles last season and should do so again.
If the holes on defense are patched up well enough and the offense shows significant improvement, there's plenty of room to believe Robert Morris can take a big step forward back to the team from the late 1990s and early 2000s that were dominant 1-AA squads, and less like the mediocre (or sometimes bad) teams from the mid 2010s.
Preseason Game Prediction: Blowout Win
If you’re not projecting a victory, a big one too, in games against FCS teams there’s something very, very wrong. Sure, we’ve seen the Aggies lose these games. Recently, too. But that’s usually seen as a disaster of a result and is never a realistic expectation. Utah State should have bigger, faster, stronger players as is typically the case in FBS vs FCS matchups. If the assumption of a blowout win is true, the most telling aspect of this game could end up being how many points Robert Morris is able to get while starters are still in. Last year, Idaho State was able to put together a few decent scoring drives, including its first possession of the day, that one could argue foretold some of USU's defensive struggles the rest of the season.
