The 1971 Utah State Aggies football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

during the

1971 NCAA University Division football season The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, rema ...

. In their fifth season under head coach

Chuck Mills Morton J. "Chuck" Mills (December 1, 1928 – January 18, 2021) was an American college football coach. He served as the head coach at Pomona College (1957–1961), Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1962–1963), the United States Merchant Mar ...

, the Aggies compiled an 8–3 record and outscored all opponents 243 to 183. The team's statistical leaders included

Tony Adams Tony Alexander Adams (born 10 October 1966) is an English former football manager and player. Adams played for Arsenal and England, captaining both teams. He spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre back at Arsenal, making 672 ...

with 2,035 passing yards, Ed Giles with 510 rushing yards, Bob Wicks with 862 receiving yards, Jerry Hughes with 60 points scored (six touchdowns), Alan McMurray "Madpup" (soph all american) lead team with 104 tackles, (record 19.5 sacks) and Tom Murphy with 81 total tackles.2018 Media Guide, pp. 154-155. In December, the team traveled to Japan for two games against Japanese university students. The Aggies were the first American college football team to play a game in Japan since the sport was introduced there in the 1910s. The American players reportedly had a height advantage of and a weight advantage of per player.

Schedule

References

{{Utah State Aggies football navbox

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

Utah State Aggies football seasons

Utah State Aggies football The Utah State Aggies are a college football team that competes in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, representing Utah State University. The Utah State college football program began in ...