Aggies win big despite slow start
Freshman quarterback Kent Myers had four total touchdowns and junior wide receiver JoJo Natson rushed for a career-high 124 yards en route to a 41-7 win over San Jose State.
“I’m proud of our kids for fighting each and every week,” said USU head coach Matt Wells. “For finding a way to win each and every week.”
Myers had a season-high 92 rush yards on four carries and scored three touchdowns on the ground.This is the fourth straight game Utah State has had at least two players with 50 or more rush yards in a game.
“It feels good … I finally had the opportunity to break away and that’s what I did,” Myers said. “It takes a lot off of me to know that I have athletes around me that can do the same thing … it takes the pressure off of me.”
The Aggies, now 9-3, 6-1 in conference, ran for a season-high 313 yards but allowed the 3-8 Spartans to rush for 191 yards on 51 carries.
“It’s back-to-back weeks we have rushed the ball really well,” Wells said. “It has looked different every week. It was Devonte last week, this week a little more Kent and JoJo. We’ve got to go out and find ways to run it and move it.”
Defensively Utah State was led by senior linebacker Zach Vigil who had 19 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks. Brothers Zach Vigil and Nick Vigil combined for a sack on the first play of the game that injured San Jose State starting quarterback Blake Jurich.
San Jose State ran the ball for 150 yards in the first half and were only down 14-7 at the break. The Spartans lone score came in the second quarter when backup quarterback Mitch Ravizza ran in a touchdown from one yard out.
“I thought we played very poor in the first half,” Vigil said. “Second half we did a much better job controlling the run game and stopping the draw play. Overall I think the defense rallied in the second half and played much, much better.”
The Aggie defense shut out the Spartans in the second half and held them to 66 total yards in the final two quarters. USU scored four second-half touchdowns to win in blowout fashion.
“First half we came out slow we didn’t execute and it showed with the score,” Natson said. “Second half, we tightened it up in the locker room. We came out and executed. Coach called the right plays for us and we made plays.”
— kalen.s.taylor@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @kalen_taylor