Freshmen lead Ags in final football game
The Utah State seniors went out with a bang, winning 34-25 over New Mexico State, but it was the Aggie freshmen that led the way.
Chris Forbes ran for a season-high 137 yards – more yards than the entire team had ran for in any previous game this season.
Kevin Robinson had 92 total return yards on 4 returns and Toriano Taulougo ran an interception back 44 yards for a touchdown and added a sack for the Aggies.
“There’s a lot of good young players here,” head coach Mick Dennehy said. “There’s some guys that, if they get a little bit bigger and stronger and get a little bit more in tuned to what it takes to compete and the Division-I level, are going to be pretty darned good.”
Going into Saturday’s game, Robinson led the country in punt return average with 23.7 yards per return. He had one punt return for 28 yards in the game. Robinson also led USU with 54 yards receiving.
The TO Zone
USU and NMSU combined for eight turnovers on Saturday. Six of them came between the NMSU 27 and 37-yard line.
USU fumbled at the NMSU 30 and 32-yard line in the first quarter. Travis Cox then threw an interception from the NMSU 35 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, NMSU fumbled at its own 35-yard line then fumbled again at its own 27 in the fourth quarter. And finally, NMSU quarterback Buck Pierce threw an interception to Taulougo from his own 37-yard line.
Third-down defense solid
NMSU was 4-of-13 on third-down conversions Saturday. Going into the fourth quarter, NMSU only had 59 of its 346 total yards coming on the crucial down.
Taulougo said USU had been working on third down and other clutch situations in practice.
“We did that so when it comes game time, it won’t be any different,” he said.
Slash Dombrowski
NMSU Aggie Paul Dombrowski had 95 total yards for NMSU. He had 14 yards rushing on 4 carries and had 81 yards receiving on 4 receptions.
The catch is that he is listed as the NMSU backup quarterback. He threw four passes for 37 yards and was one of three NMSU Aggies to take a snap at QB.
By the Numbers:
15, 238 – Total attendance
1,006 – More fans than were needed in order to average the NCAA mandated 15,000 per game
33 – Temperature at the game
20 – Gallons of ice water dumped on Mick Dennehy toward the end of the fourth quarter
8 – Turnovers between the two Aggie teams
2 – Failed NMSU conversions.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu