Utah State will have open quarterback competition

The Utah State Aggies are in the market for a new starting quarterback after Chuckie Keeton went down with an ACL tear on Friday night against BYU. Junior quarterback Craig Harrison finished out the game against BYU, but with subpar results where he completed just 18 of 41 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown.

After that performance, head coach Matt Wells is opening up the competition between Harrison and true freshman Darell Garretson. Wells was not going to give the media any insight on who will start and will make this one and only statement on the quarterback situation:

"You'll know on game day. That'll be about the last time I answer that," Wells said. "Those two guys are going to work together. We're going to see who settles in the best, and whoever it is, that's who we're going with."

We all saw that Harrison is not the athlete that Keeton is, but who really can say that, and the offense was mainly a passing attack with a traditional running game. There was little to no read option or seeing Harrison take off and running with the ball.

The same can be said for Garretson who is a pocket passer coming out of the 2013 class, but he was highly regarded as he earned a three-star rating from Rivals. While being rated as a three-star recruit, Garretson's other offer came from San Jose State and interest from some mid-level Pac-12 teams.

The two spit reps 50-50 on Monday's practice, and coach Wells wants to have his starter known in the next day or two so that a firm game plan can be made against Boise State.

If Garretson does win the job over Harrison then the Aggies would be burning his redshirt for half of a season, and that may not be the worst thing for Utah State. The Aggies should be favored in most of their games the rest of the way and a bowl game is definitely still an achievable goal, so if it is a tie between the tie then might as well get the younger guy the playing time since he will still be around once Keeton is fully recovered.

More from Mountain West Connection:

• Week 6 simulated BCS standings: Fresno State holds steady at No. 22
• Week 7 early college football lines: Boise State a touchdown favorite over Utah State
• VOTE: Mountain West preseason player awards
• San Diego State vs. Air Force: Monday could provide game status update
• PODCAST: Week 6 Mountain West football recap
• 2013 Week 7 Mountain West football coverage