Aggies left wondering Y
If only the game were three quarters long.
After falling behind early to No. 8 BYU, the Aggies fought back against the Cougars. Despite a valiant effort, USU fell to their ranked rivals, 34-14.
Turnovers killed the Aggies during the first quarter on three consecutive drives. Those turnovers led to 17 points for the Cougars, putting the Aggies in an early 24-0 hole.
“Those turnovers were a huge factor,” USU head coach Brent Guy said. “They capitalized on all those like a Top Ten team will do to you.”
Had it not been for the turnovers, this could have been a completely different game. Once the Aggie offense stopped giving the ball to the Cougars in USU territory, the defense stepped up, shutting down BYU’s high-powered offense. Both teams were held scoreless in the second quarter, sending USU into the half trailing, 24-0.
“I don’t want to say we came out tentative, but I think we came out in a way that we were trying to feel our way through,” Aggie running back Robert Turbin said. “We just made some big mistakes. . . we were moving the ball on them, but we just have to hold (onto) the ball.”
Coming out of the intermission, BYU took the ball down the, but their drive stalled inside the Aggies 10-yard line. Cougar quarterback Max Hall was none to happy with the decision, but the Cougars settled for a field goal.
On the ensuing kickoff, USU’s Curtis Marsh fumbled and BYU recovered. With a first and 10 on the Aggies 20-yard line, it looked like it would be another quick score for the Cougars.
Enter Kejon Murphy.
The junior DB came up with one of the best defensive plays of the night when he intercepted Hall in the end zone and returned the ball to BYU’s 40-yard line.
BYU would go on to score later in the quarter when Hall found wide receiver Austin Collie for the duo’s second touchdown of the game. Heading into the final quarter of play the Cougars held a 34-0 advantage and looked to be on their way to a third consecutive shutout.
That’s when things started to get interesting.
After moving the ball to BYU’s 40-yard line, Turbin took a handoff on a stretch play to the left. He raced around the corner of the line before cutting back into the middle, leaving a couple Cougar defenders in the dust he raced down the right sideline for a touchdown.
The Aggie TD was the first score that BYU had allowed in nearly three games. The Cougars hadn’t allowed a point in exactly 166 minutes, 15 seconds before Turbin’s scamper, and the Aggie’s weren’t done yet.
USU held the Cougars to a quick three-and-out, and the Aggie offense took the field again starting from their own 37-yard line. Now with confidence, Utah State again moved the ball down the field.
On a first and goal from the 5-yard line, sophomore quarterback Diondre Borel faked a handoff then rolled out to his left. Borel found freshman tight end Tarren Lloyd in the back of the end zone for a score. The play was reviewed, but upheld as a touchdown. With just over 9 minutes left in the game, the Cougars lead had been cut to 20 points.
“I give Utah State credit, especially their defensive players and their young quarterback in the second half,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “They showed a lot of grit and determination, and on coach Guy’s behalf they have a lot to be proud of.”
With the momentum and with time running out, the Aggies decided to try for an onside kick. Kick off specialist Chris Ulinski hit a perfect kick that bounced around before being recovered by Turbin.
The Aggies looked to be in business until a strange blocking penalty was called on USU. After much deliberation, the Aggies were forced to move the ball back and re-kick. Ulinski hit another good kick, but BYU recovered and had the ball in Aggie territory.
Despite that unfortunate turn of events, the excitement wasn’t over yet. The Aggies blocked a Mitch Payne field goal attempt and began to drive the ball down the field again.
Penalties and strange plays on both sides filled the final drive of the game, however, and eventually the game would end when Borel was sacked.
After the game, Borel contrasted the Aggies performance to that of the Utah game.
“We had more heart this game. . . Everybody just stayed up and was more motivated than in the Utah game,” he said. “We kept our heads up and just kept playing.”
The Aggies will look to take that motivation on the road this weekend when they travel to San Jose State and resume WAC play. The Spartans opened up WAC play with a win on Sept. 28 at Hawai’i.
“We have confidence that we can play with anybody, especially with the schedule that we have in front of us,” Turbin said. “We just have to keep playing with the fire that we had in the second half all four quarters.”
Game Notes:
- After falling behind the Cougars 24-0 in the first quarter, the Aggies outscored No. 8 BYU 14-10 the rest of the game.
- USU led BYU in many statistical categories including: Time of possession, first downs, and rushing yards. . . unfortunately for the Ags they also led in turnovers.
- Cougar quarterback Max Hall was picked off twice by the Aggie defense after throwing only two in the previous four games. The Aggie defense also recorded the first sack on Hall of the season with 4:02 left in the game. Hall also completed only 60 percent of his passes after averaging a 75 percent completion rate.
- BYU was flagged 12 times during the game for 123 yards while the Aggies had eight penalties for 72 yards.
- The Aggies outrushed the Cougars by 26 yards, 129-103.
- Friday’s attendance was USU’s biggest of the season at 23,101.
-t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.ed