Derek Hoke once lived in Utah County, so while he's not a BYU fan, it's clear that he knows many.

Or, at least they know him. The Utah State senior offensive lineman has received an abnormally large number of ticket requests for Friday night's game in Logan with the No. 8-ranked Cougars.

"Normally 10 to 12 will come see me play a home game," said Hoke, who grew up in a Pleasant Grove household with parents that went to BYU. "But I'll have about 22 to 24 tickets distributed this week, a lot of people coming out of the woodwork that have never done it before."

Hoke, on a 1-3 team that has already been blown out by two nationally ranked opponents, is no fool -- he knows some extra visitors are inclined to be cheering for that other blue-clad team.

But he's set down rules for anyone who capitalizes on his generosity and persistence (remember, USU players only get four tickets per game, so he's got to do some leg work to get the rest of his supporters in Romney Stadium).

Hoke's fan club cannot wear BYU gear, and has to cheer in part for the Aggies.

Whether there will be much reason to keep rooting for USU remains to be seen. There was a 66-24 loss at Oregon, then a 58-10 loss in Logan to Utah on Sept. 13, a showing that Hoke says left him "absolutely disgusted" at the lack of competitive spirit.

The Aggies have been in flux, particularly at quarterback. Sean Setzer is a traditional dropback passer who started the first three games. The senior showed sporadic results.

He shared time with sophomore Diondre Borel, who was a wide receiver last year and has a knack for running with the ball. Borel finally started against Idaho two Saturdays ago (like the Cougars, USU is coming off a bye week) and led his team to a win. It had 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points for the 42-17 decision.

The quarterback quandary has meant two styles of blocking for Hoke and Co. The job appears to be Borel's now, however.

"Both quarterbacks have very good arms," Hoke said. "Diondre is fast and quick, and a lot of that works to our advantage. There's a lot more to guard when he's in the game."

Hoke graduated from Pleasant Grove and walked on at Utah State in 2001 before serving an LDS mission. Now he's a member of one of USU's best units, one that must perform well to keep BYU from taking over the stadium scoreboard and noise.

"For us it is going to be a great challenge. We have to get in the game early. We can't try to play catch up," Utah State head coach Brent Guy said. "We have to match and play with them during the football game to have a chance to compete.

"Our challenge is to hold on to the football. The answer to how to stop their offense is keep away. We need to hold the ball, get points and take time off the clock. They are not a team that you go into the game saying you can shut them out."

Hoke and teammates may not be able to shut out BYU fans from attending the game, either. But that's not such a bad thing, considering USU's perilous attendance statistics that may see sanctions. School officials are aware that the NCAA requires an average of 15,000 fans during what is deemed "rolling two-year periods." The Aggies are barely below the mark at their 25,000-seat stadium after getting about 19,000 fans for the Utah game and just above 10,000 to see Idaho.

"You know, we're loving it that BYU is coming to our place," Hoke said. "BYU is a highly ranked team and very deserving. We believe coming off a win and a bye week that we've settled some consistency issues we had before."