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As the offensive coordinator, Kevin McGiven is accustomed to game-planning for a new situation every week. However, those game-planning efforts normally are more about Utah State's opponents, not his own offense.
But this season has been very different, with the Aggies forced to use four quarterbacks as Chuckie Keeton, Darell Garretson and Craig Harrison all have had their seasons cut short due to injuries.
It has been quite the season, McGiven admitted.
Now, McGiven's latest project is freshman Kent Myers, who will start for the Aggies the remainder of the season, provided he can stay injury-free.
The Aggies face Wyoming on Friday at 6 p.m..
"It just seems like every single practice is a new situation, or every week," he said. "It's not just going in and presenting a game plan to a player, it's working on fundamentals."
McGiven's task has been crafting an offense designed around the agile Keeton, then a passing-oriented attack with Garretson. The plan was to go more conservative with Harrison under center, but the Aggies were still adjusting when he suffered his knee injury against UNLV and was replaced by Myers.
Myers is more of a dual-threat, allowing the Aggies to be more versatile in scheming, but he is a true freshman, and that element is something the Aggies must address, making McGiven's work a little harder.
Myers set a Mountain West single-game completion record against Hawaii, going 14 of 15 for 186 yards and three touchdowns, but McGiven noticed there were some things that needed attention, such as his footwork.
"You do have to address those things and spend some individual time working on fundamentals and implementing a game plan at the same time," he said.
McGiven was in a similar situation last season when Keeton went down and Garretson became the starter. He has seen similarities in the way the two youngsters approached the challenge.
"I can't say I was totally shocked by either one of them performing the way they did with their first start," he said. "I knew Kent was very athletic, I think it was only a matter of how he would handle it mentally. He was able to handle the game plan mentally and he prepared really hard through the week. I could see a changed player in the time we made the decision to go with Kent to the time it was time to start that football game."
McGiven made his job sound simple in that he just game-plans for whoever he has available, but coach Matt Wells acknowledged the difficulties his second-year coordinator has faced.
"It's a major challenge," he said. "You're opening up the playbook, but you're also being selective about what chapters you're opening up. When I say open it up, I don't mean just the first and second chapter. We're going to pull out from the back and now the middle. I think the staff has done a really good job, not just for Kent Myers, but it's helped at other positions to solidify some things and maybe downsize some things."
Granted, the Aggies' offense isn't exactly lighting things on fire, with the Aggies ranked fifth in the league, averaging 27.6 points a game, and eighth in total offense, averaging 387.7 yards a game, but the statistic that matters most to the team is the W-L column.
There, they are about as good as they could hope to be considering all the circumstances.
"We got our first league win on the road at Hawaii," Wells said. "This team knows if you want to be a great program, you have to win on the road in this league."
Win in any form or fashion.
Twitter: @lyawodraska —
USU by the numbers
USU's offensive scheming has been tested with the injuries at the quarterback position, yet the Aggies continue to win. Here is a look at how the offense rates in the MWC:
Category Rank Avg.
Scoring offense 5th 27.6
Pass offense 5th 238.6
Rushing offense 9th 149.1
Total offense 8th 387.7 —
Utah State at Wyoming
O Friday, 6 p.m.
TV • ESPN2